Thank you kaliope & tnt for your kind thoughts & feedback. Another reason my sponsor & I are so close is that his wife is also bipolar, so he fully understands my ups & downs. I don't announce the fact I'm bipolar at meetings because I feel my alcoholism & mental illness exist separately...Plus, there are still many people who don't understand the disease. While I do feel I self-medicated before being diagnosed bipolar, I feel I would have been an alcoholic without the MI to worry about; there are just too many alcoholics in my family to deny some kind of genetic link. I'd like to find another sponsor who understands MI, but I'd have to disclose the fact that I'm bipolar at meetings to find one.

Both my sponsor & I hate talking on the telephone so, in addition to hitting many of the same meetings & going for coffee a few times a week, we communicate primarily via email. I know I could always call him if I were in a pinch, but I'm convinced emailing helps focus on the issues we're dealing with much more concisely. Here's a paragraph from an email I wrote him today. He has a PhD in Geology, so breccias refers to rocks he's studied his entire life:

We talk a lot about a variety of issues, but one that I seldom broach is your feelings about the Parkinsons. I felt that you'd talk about it if you felt the need. Like your beloved breccias, you've been a rock in the face of your disease. Like breccias, however, fissures will appear & weaken the rock from time to time. It sounds like you're experiencing fissures where your disease is concerned. There's no shame in feeling weak in the face of something like Parkinsons; feel free to share these feelings with me rather than bottling things up so often. It's kind of a male trait to stuff one's feelings, but please know I'm here to listen & help however I can. You're a very important part of my sobriety & my life. I do worry about you & the progression of the Parkinsons but, again, I never ask too much about it because I figure you'll share when you feel like it. Maybe this is one of those times. Please know that whatever your health or your feelings about it, you can count on me for whatever you need. I hope this paragraph doesn't sound too sappy, but every word is true.

I'd try to find a temp sponsor, but I fear there's no one else with whom I could forge the kind of bond we've been able to establish. I'm not religious (I'm spiritual & believe in a higher power of my own understanding), but if you believe in a higher power, please remember Dave in your meditations.

Thanks again for your kind thoughts.