Originally Posted by
batchel9 
Sorry to hear this Sasha. As much as we might expect it or have thought about it, I’m sure it is still shocking.
Did you know he was that bad off? Struggling with my own XAH. Based on some of his recent behaviors, it feels like only a matter of time before he kills himself or lands in jail. Every time he goes MIA or I get a random call I am hoping he is in jail. Never works though unfortunately. I just find myself wondering how long this lasts...?
I knew that he had had at least one heart attack which had damaged the heart muscle, making him vulnerable to sudden cardiac arrest (which is most likely what happened). His heart was also enlarged (cardiomegaly), which can happen when alcohol damages the muscle fibres of the heart so it can't pump efficiently, meaning that blood pools in the heart and "stretches" it. He told me that doctors had told him he was at risk for a fatal arrythmia and that he would most likely need a pacemaker, but who knows if that was true?
I also knew he looked really unhealthy (tremors, bloated, bad skin tone), and other people had commented on the same thing (as in "holy #!@$! I just saw ex - what on earth happened to him?").
So I knew this was a possibility, and not even a remote possibility. It was still a shock when it actually happened. From my Al Anon group, I know a lot of other people whose husbands/children/siblings died in their early to mid-50s from alcohol-related causes - it's when the bills really start coming due.