Fighting Breast Cancer

My husband is very old fashioned with the way that he deals with stress.  He tends to try to drink them away.  Cancer is different though.  No matter how much time he spends pickled, I still have the disease.  This is posing a problem and not just for the obvious reasons.  On top of him being drunk and shirtless all the time (yes, I said shirtless), he has been in an extremely emotional state.  His drinking has been giving way to crying fits and bouts of extreme rage.  He even outran our local police in an episode I don’t care to discuss in detail, because it’s just too embarassing.  (He was “real proud” though.)  Since I’ve been diagnosed, I honestly feel like my husband is losing his mind.  He’s a licensed banker and really good at what he does.  Now, he turned into a shirtless redneck overnight.  All of his acting out is really starting to take it’s toll on me because tonight….my parents arrive from Michigan.

I have been back to Michigan several times in the four years that I have lived in AZ.  During one of those trips Michael came with me (this is a rare event because we are self-employed and one of us has to stay behind to answer the phones) and he was on his best, sober behavior. 

I just don’t know how my Mom and Dad are going to react to this side of Michael.  You know– the crazy, shirtless side.  For a while I told him to sit in a quiet room and chant “cope and adjust” over and over as a calming exercise, until I found out he was bringing a fifth of Captain Morgan in the room with him and passing out.

One thing is for sure:  I don’t want my parents to worry any more about me than they have to.  It’s bad enough that my cancer is turning the family upside down.  Michael had better get his act together quick.

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