wilde wrote:But at least lung cancer is very treatable.

Sure, until you die.

You have got to be kidding, I mean really, you must be kidding. Lung cancer is deadly, I have watched three people die of lung cancer. My mother in law died last year after batteling the disease for three years. Yes, she received treatment, but in the end, she is dead, dead, dead.

Lungs have the capability to repair themselves. For anyone who is currently smoking, please, please keep this in mind, and save yourself from the agony of chemo and radiation, and the agony you put your loved ones through by watching you die from something that is preventable.

And for those who have quit, congratulations! Its the best gift you could give yourself!

Suzanne, I think wilde was being sarcastic. So far, I am the only active member of this thread who currently smokes and has no intention of giving it up in the near future. wilde was responding to my reasoning, saying she'd rather not be the cause of her own death, and then suggested that lung cancer is very treatable in a sarcastic way to show me what I have to look forward to should I continue to smoke.

Is my interpretation accurate, wilde?

I'm well aware of the consequences, but as I've said before, I've been through plenty of misery and pain, there are few things that are "bad" for me that I can indulge in anymore, and as I don't plan on living forever and don't particularly want to live to be very old (no offense to those who are and are still living a full life, I just can't see myself wanting to feel even older than I do now, which isn't very old in the grand scheme of things), I don't mind leaving myself open to some future health problems. I'll die one way or another, and if smoking can help me de-stress now, I won't give that up to save a few years of life or pain down the road. It's my decision and my body and I'm not asking any of you to even share breathing space with me, so I don't need the lectures on the horrors smoking could cause me. If I'm digging my own grave, so be it.

Congratulations to those who have quit, because I do believe that if you feel it is the right thing to do and you do it no matter how hard it is, it is something worthy of my congratulations, even if they may seem hypocritical.

I can live with that.

Never have.

Okay, maybe my choice of words was a poor one. I should probably be more clear. I didn't mean "treatable" as in "easily cured/fixed without any problems."


All I meant was that you'd be more likely to survive from breast or lung cancer than brain or pancreatic cancer or something. I'm not an idiot; I know all cancer is deadly. My grandfather died of pancreatic cancer and my other grandfather will probably get lung cancer from smoking, so let's not get too personal, hm? I had no way of knowing about your mother in law, just like you have no way of knowing about my grandparents.


I do have a sarcastic sense of humor. And kudos to you, bleachededen. It's always important to live with one's decisions. (That wasn't sarcasm by the way, but it kind of looks like it was to me)

I just watched my father die a slow and horrible death from lung cancer two years ago. Even discussing the subject with smokers is hard for me because there is no soft way to tell them of the huge mistake they're making. At some point in the discussion it becomes an argument and the smokers get upset. I think they get upset because they know what they're doing has a good chance of killing them, but the addiction has already taken control. I feel bad for them on one hand, because most smokers developed the addiction before it was widely understood to be so deadly, but on the other hand I feel frustrated with them for doing something today that is going to cause their loved ones so much heart ache in the future. I'm a bit resentful that my father kept smoking long after the signs were there that it was hurting him. His selfishness and lack of will power caused the entire family a great deal of pain as we took care of him and watched him slowly wither away in the hospital bed. I sure wish he was here today so he could see the children my wife and I aspire to have. But our kids have been robbed of the opportunity to meet and get to know their grandfather.

See, even the words I just typed can be hurtful to a smoker! I just spoke the truth. I have no desire to hurt a smokers feelings and say they need to work on their will power. But what else is keeping them from dropping the habit? It's a tough habit to break, but it is literally killing them. Everyone is supposed to not ever say a word to the smokers lest we be accused of trying to control their rights to live how they want to live. I don't think this is fair. I don't want to control anybody. I just can't deal with too many people I love dying the way my father died. Maybe I'm the selfish one.

My father died 10 years ago from complications of Emphysema or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. My ex-father-in-law died of it last month. Both men were smokers, beginning in their teens. My dad died at 67 years old; way too young.

Chris, I am not offended by your words, but I am touched by the sentiment, and I am sorry your father died, and that he died because of something he would not stop doing which seems, to you, selfish, and as though he died by his own hand, which, essentially, he did. I can understand how you feel (obviously not entirely, since I have not gone through it myself), and your warning to smokers, like me, is not taken, at least not by me, as a way to control anyone, but to try to help them save themselves from such a terrible death, and I am not angry with you or hurt or offended, but sorry that you had to lose your dad.

I am glad you shared this, and of course I realize the harm I am doing to myself, but it is far less than the harm I have done to myself in the past (which I really don't want to go into, which is why I keep referring to it so vaguely), and so I would rather die of lung cancer later in life than the other kinds of death my previous actions would have led me to. I'm not trying to promote pride among smokers or fighting for their right to smoke, simply stating why I do and why I am ok with this choice. I may quit one day, but not now, and besides, one can never really quit something until they want to, 100%, as I have seen in myself with other issues. So for now, I may be bringing about a slow, painful, cancerous death, but so be it, because it's still sometime down the line and less painful for my family and loved ones than other deaths of mine they could have witnessed earlier.

And Chris, we are all selfish when it comes to those we love. We want them to be around forever, even if it is their wish and even in their best interest to die. My great-grandmother died of lung cancer, not because she smoked but because she was old and it just happened, and I didn't get to see her before she died because she lives in a different state, and my mother went to visit her without me, and I never knew the phone conversation we had while my mother was there visiting would be the last time I spoke to her. I was upset that the doctors didn't try harder to keep her alive long enough for me to see her again, and that my mother didn't let me come with her to visit, even when it would have been more painful for her to be kept alive and for me to have seen her in so much pain. She was 98 years old, so by the time they found the cancer, she would have been too weak to undergo any treatments, so they just set up hospice and let her die naturally, which, honestly, once they found the problem, didn't take too long, only a few months.

We always want our loved ones to live forever, and no matter how they die, we will always try to find someone to blame, if not them then the doctors, or our other family members, God, someone. It's the worst pain in the world, to watch someone you love die, so I feel for you, Chris, and I understand your anger, and I have no comforting statements to make or any way to make it hurt less, but I feel for you, and I hope that the pain and anger will ease in time, and you will be able to remember your father as he was in life, and not the choices that may have led to his death.

If I have said too much, please let me know and I'll edit. I just want you to know you are not alone, and that I take no offense from you when you tell smokers to stop their filthy habit to save their own lives. I understand where you're coming from, I just choose my own way. Again, thank you for sharing.

I just quit smoking about six months ago so technically I'm Non-Smoking now. In reality it just means I'm past the short term effects but still have several years yet before I clear the crap out of my lungs. I still have nostalgia from time to time but nothing like the cravings I suffered the first couple weeks when I went cold turkey. I tried drinking as my new vice, but I like to read in my spare time, and it's annoying not being able to remember what I just read 5 minutes ago.

I have been a smoker for four years, and I don't know if I will ever quit. I love smoking, absolutely love it.

Bleachededen, that post is too funny, I have always sad that I like Djarum Blacks because I think they taste like christmas!

hmrush wrote:I have been a smoker for four years, and I don't know if I will ever quit. I love smoking, absolutely love it.

Bleachededen, that post is too funny, I have always sad that I like Djarum Blacks because I think they taste like christmas!

Thanks. lol, I just love them.