I was certainly worried coming into Cancun 2024 that not being able to drink as much would ruin the experience. I have always been a drinker. I love getting a little buzzed, usually on beer, at lunch. I love the 5:30 cocktail hour. I had been a Tagarey Martini man for a while but recently have been drawn to Tequila. pretty much just straight up with a finger squeezed strawberry in a frozen glass. Wine is wonderful with dinner and at 8:30 I am prone to a couple 8% plus beers and low call snacks. I am known as someone who knows beer. I regularly run beer tasting at our summer home.
Doctors have always told me that I had a fatty liver. I guess they did ultra sounds. This year, I don’t really think there was a particule trigger event but they went further, got a liver sisman to look at my ultra sounsds, proscribe one of his own and lots of blood work. He came back with the diagnosis that I was just one step away from cirrhosis. He suggested that I stop drinking.
I’m not very interested in that. I am hoping that if I can cut back from the very high consumption level that I have subjected my liver to over the years, that maybe in return it will give me a few more years of moderation. I have never been a shot man, I love the taste of alcohol too much to race through it. I am a haevy drinker but I have no DWIs, no job related problems. My family certainly does not like to deal with me when I have been drinking. I think I am a pretty happy drunk but they have to be the judge of that.
A story my wife might tell is that we were in Lisbon, a city I visit regularly on my way to bike in Lagos and I love the beer scene. My wife had come along for a few days. I went out and she stayed in this night. She was horrified to hear me and find me struggling to try to work the number code pad on the door. She would have many more adjectives to describe the scene but I think you can image a fairly intoxicated old man who has managed to find his way home and up the stairs of the airbnb apartment but is struggling with the last key pad challenge.
Enough, too long an introduction. I am a bit of a obsessive compulsive, do the same thing over and over. Bike in Cancun, California and Lagos each year. In other situations I have found that I can turn this personality trait to my advantage in molding additions. Starting in like September, I made some major changes and pretty much cut my drinking back to 2 drinks a day, with complete leeway for thins like Christmas and some social events.
Cancun 2023 involved quite a bit of tequila at lunch. A large Margarita and maybe a couple shots, sipped slowly of course and I am not kidding. My normal dinner is a cocktail, wine and then a beer, Back at the apartment I would put myself to bed with a couple high alcohol beers and maybe a little tequila. So that could easily total the equivalent of 9 shots a day. I have never gotten hangovers. I never had trouble getting up at 5 to start riding at 6AM. I did do a fair amount of napping, especially after lunch!
So you can see I might entertain the idea that some moderation might allow my liver to survive this hoe stretch. The first challenge was the daily lunches at Surfing Burritos where I do all my socializing. I was saved by the smoothies. I had never had one. I found that 2 each lunch were just what I needed and I had an easy easy time of avoiding the others. I first found low alcohol beer, like 4.2% for my bedtime and then found non-alcoholic beer. I was able to avoid alcohol completely after dinner. I did consume a lot of cookies, chocolate, sweets etc. One thing at a time. I think I can substitute with a lot of low cal snacks, I just did not spend the extra effort to find them.
Then at dinner I usually allowed myself one beer or a glass of wine or a shot of Tequila. Most enjoyable, no problem.
I am worried that Lago may be a little harder. I ride a couple of hours to lunch and usually have a bottle of wine. Maybe I can take a bottle of non-alcoholic with me? I do ride with a back back that includes lots of weight like binoculars and water so adding a bottle of wine would be no problem.
Next in Logos is the cocktail hour. Like Surfin in Cancun. it is my main social event. We have a bar tender and several of us gather at 5pm and enjoy the time and drinks. She actually puts together the group by attracting regulars. I have been known to bring beers and mixing ingredients for her to share with those in attendance. Just to show off a little, in the last incarnation of the bar, where the keep was part owner, I would pick up a case of mixed high quality beer in Lisbon. Bring it to her, and she would dish it out to me regularly and I would offer it to the patrons. The story was that I offered 2 shots from 2 different beers, saying we are thinking about expanding our beer offerings, which of these would you choose? It was just a ploy to allow the old man to talk to women. Amazing what you can do when an owner is a enabler. Bottom line, I will probably use my one a day drink here and just have to come up with other things I can enjoy drinking like the smoothies at Surfin. Hopefully at dinner and and to put myself to bed I can gain access to non-alcoholic wine and beer.
So that is my story. We will see what the blood tests say in 6? months and how the life unfolds!