Hi again, James!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

JB>  Like Alzheimer's, I curse alcoholism too. I know they
JB>  are both medically diseases, but the later I still can't
JB>  help but to attach a choice to it.


           Hmm.  I've just found a new book... IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY
GHOSTS, by Gabor Mat‚... which may cast some light on the subject.  I'll
probably have more to say once I've read it.  Meanwhile, a member of
Dallas's family comes to mind. We've heard widely varying reports about how
much & how often this man drank and neither of us knew him personally. 
All our informants agree, however, that he'd been a pianist before
receiving a WWI shrapnel wound which caused him great pain &
immobilized one of his elbows.  Maybe he was self-medicating with alcohol. 
If so, I can understand why.  Aside from the constant physical pain I think
he must have found it emotionally devastating to be unable to play the
piano ever again.



JB>  I know that's not fair of me.


           Well... many people regard addiction as either a disease or a
choice. I suspect your intuition is advising you to keep digging below the
surface.  :-)



JB>  I watched a show where a medical examiner volunteered,
JB>  that if a person studies the body parts that can be
JB>  affected by alcoholism, you end up learning anatomy
JB>  completely.


           Yes, but... pardon me!  There's my NT seeing both sides of the
story. I reckon this guy was examining bodies.  In my experience the
medical literature doesn't usually pay much attention to what's going on in
people's minds.  I also saw a comment in one of the recovery echoes where
the writer thanked God for the addictions which had enabled him to survive
to a point where he no longer needed them.  In some cases conventional
medicine may not offer much of an alternative. And while alcohol can wreak
havoc, pharmaceutical drugs can do the same....  :-/



JB>  Like aphasia affecting any part of a brain, I was more
JB>  suprised to learn what can get pickled.


           Strokes may affect any part of the brain.  Aphasia is a loss of
one's ability to use or understand words... often as a result of a stroke. 
I've heard that overindulgence in alcohol kills off brain cells too,
however, and I imagine it tends to accelerate the problems with word
retrieval which come with age.  My point was that a lot of people don't
seem to realize the inability to *generate* language doesn't necessarily
indicate a lack of comprehension.  But I think your point is also valid. 
BTW, the symptoms of a nutritional deficiency may resemble those of
dementia... and alcohol may be a contributing factor either directly or
indirectly (e.g. if the drinker forgets to take medications or to eat
properly).



JB>  you're just not strong in the name-face association
JB>  department?


           Right.  If I have a class list in front of me & I can narrow
down the possibilities by noticing who's holding a saxophone, for example,
I can learn to associate names with faces quite easily.  In other classes
consisting of thirty- six students, several of whom have the same first
name & all of whom are holding the same textbook, I'm doing well if I
can manage it before Christmas... (sigh).



JB>  He was such a dear man. I carry that visit in my heart
JB>  preciously. I parlayed a snippet of our conversation to
JB>  his son, where mom asked, "You know what I think?"

JB>  VERY characteristically, he shot back, "No, not really."
JB>  with VERY typically, astute diction.


           ... and you realized his *personality* was intact?  I had some
of the best conversations with my father during the last two years of his
life while he was in extended care.  Dallas & I still haven't found the
sunglasses he asked me to bring from home, although he was quite convinced
he knew exactly where he had left them.  But he was still the same person. 
He just didn't have the veneer of civilization(?) which tends to act as a
barrier between people.  Another example of a more concrete variety... our
friend who was 90+ decided he no longer wanted to wear the (IMHO obviously
fake) toupee he'd been wearing for the past 40 or 50 years.  Various family
members were beside themselves because it wasn't cheap to buy or to
maintain this thing, because his appearance wasn't what they were used to,
etc.  I considered ditching the toupee an improvement.  He'd always
reminded me of a benevolent but mischievous elf, and now he really looked
the part.  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+