She's 70 now and has been a functioning alcoholic for most of her adult life.
Ten years ago she had a massive heart attack and it was a miracle she survived...years of not looking after herself took their toll and she did stop smoking but carried on drinking once she'd recovered.
She lives alone and tends to look on the bleak side...she looks back all the time to the 80s when she had it all...now she lives on a pittance of benifits in a large old house she can't look after...her dog died which meant she felt worse...
She confided that she'd been smoking again and I asked her how much and she said "sometimes one after another all day:
I feel so sad and also a bit annoyed.
We can't make her but she could sell her big house and buy somewhere small closer to us...we live an hour away. She could then have enough money to enjoy herself a bit...but she wont!
I've tried everything I can to cheer her up. So has DH. What elsecould we do? We visit her regularly.