He had the flu

My ex-husband is diabetic, and, he’s an alcoholic.

When I went to retrieve our daughter from his house the other day, he was having a diabetic episode again. I didn’t know he was back to drinking (he had supposedly quit), but, I know now. The beer bottles lying around everywhere sort of gave it away.

The last time he had our daughter overnight, she called me at 3 a.m. in hysterics, because he was having a serious diabetic reaction and he was talking and crying and telling her stupid shit and not letting her sleep. When I went and got her, I called his mother and she said he’d been fine lately, but maybe this was triggered by a bout of the flu he’d just had.

Then he claims to have had the flu last week, too.

Unless the flu virus is transmitted via Becks Dark, I don’t think so.

Diabetes + alcohol = The Big Stupid. He was in the hospital six months ago, and his sister told me he was down to 25% liver functioning and was on a liver transplant list (but his sister is a drama queen, and not above stretching the truth to serve her own purposes). Whether or not his liver is shot, he’s going to die if he keeps drinking. While it’s sad, it’s his choice, and as an adult he gets to make his own choices.

I thought once we divorced I’d be out of his sucky whirlwind of craziness. Now I can’t even sleep at night when our daughter is over there, for fear that I’ll get another middle-of-the-night panicked call and have to get her. I don’t think he’s drinking while she’s there, but if he drinks a couple of days before she goes over, it triggers the diabetic reaction. She only stays over two nights a month…you’d think it wouldn’t be that difficult.

He wants me to sign The Document, a fictional piece of paper he’s supposed to be creating that will let him move his girlfriend into his house, which is contrary to our custody agreement. And I’m considering it, because at least if she’s there, my kid won’t have to deal with his nonsense on her own. Besides, it’ll be interesting to watch that relationship implode as a spectator. What kind of woman starts dating a still-married alcoholic diabetic? Odds are ten-to-one that she’ll get sick of being his babysitter in a damn hurry.