I called Rene on Wednesday to see if her visitor (Russ) arrived ok and she told me that he was there, but now he is gone. He got there, in bad physical shape, exhausted and went straight to bed. When she went out to check on him a while later, he was shivering and had a high fever, so she called 911. They took him to the nearest hospital in Clinton but he needed so much more care that they transferred him to Kansas City. It sounds like he has serious liver problems and has spent the last few days detoxing. My hope is that he goes into a rehab program after this and is able to clean up before returning to Rene's house. She was able to have a good conversation with him and he does want to get sober.
Addiction has been such a scourge on my family and it just makes me feel so sad and helpless. My Dad and five of my seven brothers (three have already passed) have been affected.
Tom and I had a really nice chat on the phone yesterday and we both agreed that we would like to see each other more often. I am going to look into a visit there in February, maybe about the time of his birthday on the 27th?
It has been beautiful here this week with temps in the upper 50s. Yesterday afternoon when Joey and I walked past Sue's house, she was out cleaning up her yard. We hung out in the back yard and talked for quite a while - she is such a fun person to be around.
