the body still expelling the bottom-shelf blends
All Gately knows about diverticulitis is that Pat said it’s intestinal and alcoholics can get it in recovery from impurities in bottom-shelf blends that the body’s trying to expel.
Context
Recovery framed as a physical settling of accounts long after the last drink: Glynn's diverticulitis is, per Pat, the body in sobriety still trying to expel the impurities of the cheap liquor it once ran on. The using life is not over when the using stops — it keeps coming due in the flesh, the discount blends exacting their bill through a man curled fetal on his bunk months into being clean.