hi Neasa,
Well....the gangrene analogy doesn't fly with alcoholism/addiction. 'If we could just remove the addict, the illness will go away' logic just doesn't work. Instead we learn to look inward. What we find is a whole lot of healing needs to happen inside us. With compassion, perseverance, and the help of our HP we can heal. That's all we can do. But that's a lot.
warm wisjes,
Reikihelps
p.s. You're not babbling. You're processing your thoughts and that's a good thing.