Hi everyone.  I too have been reading and I might add we have had this discussion in the past and I truly do not feel it is misplaced here.  II'm not sure it is bickering or hostility you are hearing because I didn't quite hear that but what I do hear is frustration.    As long as we can agree that there is validity ot all of our different viewpoints then I would hope this could be a place to express them and frustration.    As many of us have said this is a place where we come for support.  Some of us need help to understand how we got here in order to be effective caregivers or to take care of ourselves.  I don't want some of my issues with my mother's drinking to affect how I care for her because that part is over.  And understanding others experiences has certainly helped me understand my own.  I really don't know how I would feel if she still were drinking but I do know that it certainly isn't productive or help in the treatment of WKS. 

 

Amanda you sound like you have so much on your plate and it sounds to me like you are doing the very best that you can do given the obstacles that you are facing and Trevor, I think your activism is to be admired but here in the States we are not getting the kind of recognition you seeem to be getting.  Seminars, specialized facilities, signs in ERs!  Its very encouraging and I applaud your work with Jen.  Your insight that the effects of WKS as indeed a brain injury and could be treated as such certainly has given me a new way to look at things and offered a little hope.  I think that separating out the treatment of alcoholism from the WKS can work depending on the degree of alchohol abuse.  Its not always possible. 

 

Anyway that's my free flowing thoughts.  I'm sure I have more to add and I hope we can continue to exchange our feelings without inhibition and that we can all respect each other's different life experiences.  Thanks and take care, Kathy