If I haven't died from smoking for the past bunch of years

[MoseyWalker]

what will I die from?

Yes, another smoking thread.

I have been spending the past many weeks with my health nut brother who is getting radiation and chemo for brain cancer, and he continues to give me hell about smoking.

He's going to be dead within a year, and yet I continue smoking, and breathing.

We are all going to die. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.

I don't cause others to "suffer" from secondhand smoke. I can still do what many others can't physically.

I won't die in Iraq.

I won't die in Afghanistan.

I will die, but I'll know that I lived my own life on my own terms, and smoking is just one part of it. Yes, it's an addiction. Big deal. I choose to smoke. I choose to choose my own methods to live life without taking into consideration those who choose to tell me how to live.

peace. and happy new year.

[Warpy]

1. Cancer is the EASY death from smoking

Most smokers get the lingering deaths from congestive heart failure, stroke, and COPD.

That's your real risk, not cancer. Relatively few get the blessing of such a quick death.

[MoseyWalker]

3. You have

a very valid point there friend. I probably shouldn't have posted my thoughts on this because they are still so convoluted. thanks!

[seabeyond]

45. me thinks there are an awful lot of non smokers that dies of stroke, heart

failure. what if... that was my way to go as it is for so many people, (largest factor in death of women, all women, not just smokers) and it really has nothing to do with smoking.

just saying

[Warpy]

59. Just sayin you need to read the literature

A definite link has been proven through epidemiological studies.

Not smoking won't entirely prevent some of the diseases you are genetically disposed to get. However, smoking will greatly accelerate the process of your dying from them.

[walldude]

47. Smoking or Non aside death from Cancer is hardly

easy.. I've had 2 people in my family die protracted and painful deaths from Cancer....

[Warpy]

60. Sorry, I was comparing it to 25 years

of gasping for every single breath you take, of a decade or more in a nursing home in a wheelchair, unable to speak or feed, bathe or dress yourself.

There are worse things than cancer, trust me. I watched my mother take 25 years to die from cigarettes. I watched my father recover from a stroke undoubtedly hastened by cigarettes.

[lonestarnot]

49. Yes that emphysema is not to be taken lightly. And at $48.00 a carton

I'm soon out of smokes. :smoke:

[DemBones DemBones]

52. But lung cancer is NOT an easy death. See

my post below about my mother's death from lung cancer caused by smoking. You're right that cancer's not the only risk, though. My mother also had asthma, emphysema, and heart disease, and at least one TIA.

[pitohui]

65. lung cancer is not an easy death, sorry

i had a friend who was told he was in remission, it went to his brain, he lost his mind (his most prized possession) and his ability to reason, he was in his mid 50s

death stinks, whatever the cause

[Warpy]

75. Easier than COPD, sorry

I watched my mother die over 25 years, gasping for every breath she took.

Cancer would have been much more merciful.

[uppityperson]

2. You will die from lack of life.

If you want to smoke and not inflict it on me, that is fine with me. But realize that you may be paying my salary as a nurse when I take care of your COPD, your foot infections, your pneumonia when you are hospitalized. Thank you for keeping me in work. Peace and happy new yr to you too Mosey.

[MoseyWalker]

6. you are saying something very important also

thank you

[RB TexLa]

19. only if they accept medical treatment n/t

[uppityperson]

29. Hence the "may". nt

[seabeyond]

46. inevitably, dont about all people eventually pay your salary

for one reason or another? i am thinking you have pretty good job security

[uppityperson]

61. Not all, some die of accidents, or don't go to hospital or nursing home.

Being in a nursing home because you cannot breath well enough to stay at home, but having your intellect still there is hell. Unless you like loud cussers or people who can no longer talk wandering in and out of your room 24 hours a day in which case you might as well be in a dorm room.

[NaturalHigh]

4. I got the "quit smoking" speech from my doctor today.

He wasn't nearly as sanctimonious as most of the anti-smoking crowd, though.

[kwassa]

5. My grandfather spent 15 years in bed with emphysema

one of the fun possibilities.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. But.....

It is a free country, and your choice. I just returned from our Christmas travels to find both my and my wife's dads struggling with COPD, no longer able to carry out the garbage without gasping for breath and in a panic. Both strongly regret ever smoking in the first place. I am very thankful that I never started, since it is so powerful an addiction.

[kwassa]

8. and your cancer is preventable, while your brothers was not.

It is your choice. Cancer away!

Though I don't like my insurance rates going up because of your addiction.

[MoseyWalker]

12. I understand what you are saying

and have such a hatred of insurance companies in this company that I wonder if my addiction causes the rate increases more than lack of oversight or the sheer abundance of commercials that they pay for to convince us all that we are ill and need a drug.

peace

[uppityperson]

16. Insurance companies are legalized gambling.

They bet they will make more off you than you will have to pay. They are not there to help you and will try to pay as little as possible and make you pay as much as possible and make as much as they can. That is why rates go up. They want more and more and more. Insurance companies annoy me.

[brook]

27. Y'know...

insurance rates are higher not solely because some people smoke. Obesity, drug use and hypochondria figure in there. And let's not forget corporatist greed.

[pennylane100]

9. Well smoking may not kill you

but there is a chance that it could or has killed someone around you. Unless you only smoke outside and away from other people.

[NaturalHigh]

13. I only smoke outside and away from people...

and I still get grief about it. Some people just want an excuse to be pissed off about something, sort of liberal versions of Puritans who are terrified that somebody might be enjoying something.

[jobycom]

18. A wiff of cigarette smoke

to a non-smoker is painful. It doesn't just smell bad, like a cloud of perfume or BO or auto exhaust. It burns, it hurts. I don't think smokers can tell that anymore.

[NaturalHigh]

So I shouldn't be allowed to smoke outside...

because someone might walk by and smell it from thirty yards away? Unbelievable. Please excuse me while I go outside and fire one (or two) up.

[jobycom]

62. Frankly, yes.

I shouldn't be allowed to throw firecrackers at someone. Smoking is just as bad. Sorry. But you're in denial if you believe otherwise. There's no Constitutional nor ethical right to smoke. There is a right to privacy, to control of your own body, to pursuit of happiness, and a general right to do what you want if you aren't hurting anyone else. But smoking does hurt other people, and it violates other people's rights to privacy, control of their body, etc.

One could easily argue that they have the right to fire a gun indiscriminately around them, as long as they are doing it for the personal enjoyment of it and not to harm anyone. Anyone who gets in the way is just whining because they got struck by a bullet that wasn't meant to hurt them. I doubt you'd back that argument. But you'll light up a cigarette thirty yards away from someone, knowing that your smoke could contribute to any number of fatal ailments in that person, at worst, and at best hurts them. If they have an extreme sensitivity to smoke--allergies, asthma, chemical intolerances, etc--you could even kill them. And you think you have that right. You shouldn't.

I know that argument won't convince you. Your militant denial is obvious from your previous post. But it's true, even if you don't want to accept it. Republicans don't like to accept that their Hummers kill kids in Iraq, or that the few bucks they save shopping at Walmart costs jobs and harms the environment. Everyone has something they deny. Cigarettes are yours, I guess. I would tell you what mine are, but since I'm in denial over them, I can't. :)

[mongo]

63. What a bunch of strawmen and ridiculus arguements

light up a cigarette thirty yards away from someone, knowing that your smoke could contribute to any number of fatal ailments in that person, at worst, and at best hurts them. If they have an extreme sensitivity to smoke--allergies, asthma, chemical intolerances, etc--you could even kill them.

LOL! What a bunch of BS that you have been trained to spew. The ETS study was laughable in itself. If you factor in other environmental factors there is no increased danger in ETS. It was a flawed study for political purposes, not scientific.

If you really believe a whiff a cig smoke at 30 yards can KILL someone, it is you that is in militant denial.

[pitohui]

66. a cloud of perfume far more painful than cigarette smoke

i speak as one w. long term allergic rhinitis

cigarette smoke is rarely an allergen while flowers (often found in perfume) commonly are

i realize people who don't have allergies think that their reaction to cigarette smoke is an allergy, they have no idea

i don't smoke and i don't defend smoking, but neither do i defend anyone claiming that tobacco allergy is as common anywhere NEAR as common as allergies to pollen, cats, dust mites, etc. -- this is something totally unsubstantianted by medical science, indeed, in many cases people completely invent having cigarette allergies, they have no medical history of this

[question everything]

10. It is not death, it is dying

You will not die peacefully in your sleep, and perhaps you will be lucky to be run over by a six wheeler.

Most likely, you will suffer years from emphysema, your cancer will spread from your lungs to your esophagus - which will make it impossible to swallow - and to other organs. Should you choose to undergo chemotherapy, well, you can see from your brother how miserable this process is.

You may want to go to a retirement home or a hospital and actually meet people who are heavy smokers.

[KoKo]

22. Whatever you die from ...unless it's "INSTANT" will be prolonged

maybe over a week with family discussing you on your death bed and doctors telling the family how long it will be before they "cut off life support" for intravenous nutriments. No matter whether you have a "Living Will" or not the hospitals get their dollars before they "cut you off" so that they can get their money's worth ....and the family nor the "Living Will" have ANY SAY SO ABOUT THIS.

You will take a week or more to die...with respiratory therapists coming in and "gassing you" every 4 to 6 hours so that they look like the hospital is doing something...but it's only prolonging your death...and when family members wear out from the "death watch" you might be forced to pay "sitters" to come in and give you a break at $150.00 a day which will break some of your families bank account.

You will have twitches and grab at your relatives and they will cry because they can't help you and the doctors will tell you that you need to "Request Morphine" but they will only allow it at the very END...and you will be there for days watching your family member OR YOURSELF hearing but NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU as YOU GASP AND TWITCH AND CRY OUT FOR LIFE.

It's dreadful...and I just went through it with my Dad.. He died a few days before Halloween..... It was awful...

You are lucky if you go instantly and not from Cancer....especially near the LUNG!

[MoseyWalker]

25. Sorry to hear about your dad

that is truly sad and awful. I wish you the best.

[KoKo]

31. Thanks....I didn't know how the Medical System could FAIL us...until I went

through it. My Dad had a Living Will with No "extra measures to prolong his life" built in. It didn't matter. The hospital did what it needed to do to suck up his Medicare and his EXTRA Insurance he had on Top of It that he paid for in the event that Medicare wouldn't cover him.

I would not want to go out like he did...and he wouldn't have wanted to, either.

Thanks...

[tyedyeto]

39. And perhaps. you will die like my grandfather

a smoker for more than 50 years who passed away at the age of 98.

Emphysema? No. Lung cancer? No. His heart just gave away.

So, if he had quit smoking at an earlier age, would he have lived longer? Probably not. All you anti-smoking fanatics would like to think that anyone who comes into contact with cigarette smoke will die at an early age. That is not always the case.

BTW, my grandmother who NEVER smoked but lived with second hand smoke, lived to the age of 92. Was her stroke and subsequent death caused by my grandfather's smoking? I think not.

[Moochy]

51. Sample size of 2 ?

You should not base rational decisions on a sample size of 2.

"That is not always the case."

No, doubt that anti-smoking people are saying this, but it is certainly more likely that you will get lung cancer if you smoke, and there are brazillions of studies to prove it.

I worked on the National Tobacco Settlement Archives which consists of 7 million+ documents from tobacco industry settlements. They provide ample evidence of the links to cancer known back in the 20's and 30's.

[question everything]

74. You cannot compare this generation to ours

and by "our" I mean those of us born after WWII, where vaccines and antibiotics are a matter of norm.

YOu see, your grandparents started as healthy babies, surviving infant mortality and all childhood diseases that were the norm. They survived - if were infected - smallpoxes, and polio, and rubella and mumps, scarlet fever and any cuts from rusty nails.

Many of us live, so far, thanks to vaccinations and antibiotics and insulin shots and heart by passes, and other drugs to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Will all these modern marvels be able to counteract genetic predisposition? The verdict is out. The first to benefit from it are just now entering their sixties.

We will have to wait for 20 or 30 more years to find out.

[KoKo]

11. You will die anyway...not yet...but you will...whether from smoking early or

where it GOT YOU....But...we all will DIE from something.

[jobycom]

14. Sympathy and well-wishes to you and your brother

I've never cared much whether people smoke or not. If you aren't a kid, you can make up your own mind. I sincerely believe that smoking should be banned within a hundred yards of another human being, though. No smoking just outside the door. No smoking in parks or other public places. Nowhere. A person has the right to smoke, but a person should have the right to not smoke, too. A smoker anywhere near me takes away my right to not smoke, and endangers my life, or my kids'. Thus, ban it all anywhere in public. I'm rather militant about that, to the point of believing that smoking in public should carry the same penalty as assault, or better, attempted murder. It's the same thing.

Seriously, condolences for your brother, and what you are going through. Your post sounds bitter to me, and not just over the smoking issue. Peace to you.

[NaturalHigh]

15. As my best friend once said...

smoking might take ten years off my life, but it's not THIS ten years. For all I know, the last ten years might not be that pleasant anyway.

[MoseyWalker]

20. my brother said yesterday

when watching the 89 year old widow of Gerald Ford:

Who the fuck would want to live that long and go through all that shit?

that's what he said, not me.

[NaturalHigh]

21. Pretty much my way of thinking too.

Quit smoking, eat right, exercise every day...die anyway. We all gotta go sometime.

[brook]

30. A 96 year old relative

asked me to pray for her to die this year. She's not sick - just bored/done with 'life'- done it -finished. Smoked for years and except for some arthritis, is in good shape. I happen to think she's a realist and have already told her it doesn't make me angry when she says things like that because I would/will feel the same way.

I should give up smoking so I can outlive my children and all my friends? No thanks.

[Contrite]

35. My MIL said last night she is glad she is 82 years old

So she won't have to live much longer to see the complete destruction of this country and what it will mean for her children and grandchildren

[brook]

40. Sad as it might be to hear

to me it's a sign that that person is rational. I vacillate between saying the same kind of thing - and wondering if I should hang around to help the 4 year old g-grandaughter cope. Truth is, there are younger family members who will see to that.

[TomInTib]

17. I have dodged so many bullets

Fatal auto accidents
Drowning
Combat
Heroin
Cocaine
Hepatitis A (and I drink 2-3 bottles of wine every night plus a couple of Martinis)

A few cigarettes a day worry me not one whit.

[pitohui]

67. jesus tom

i agree that smoking is a trivial worry compared to 3 bottles of wine a night

you might want to consider that you have a problem that interferes w. living your life the way you want to live it today, that's a huge chunk out of every day you're not available to drive, help out in emergency, talk coherently to loved ones, or perform well sexually just for starters

[The Straight Story]

23. How dare you live your own life without approval from the nanny state :)

You ain't 'living' unless someone else above you tells you how to live ya know.

;)

PS - I roll my own smokes, much cheaper (about $1/pack).

[NaturalHigh]

34. I never really liked cigarettes that someone rolled for me.

Something about them just didn't taste right. Maybe I didn't get enough of a draw because they weren't rolled right. Maybe I just missed all the extra chemicals that the tobacco company was kind enough to throw in for me.

As for cheap, the Indian smoke shops around here are much cheaper than other stores. They don't have to pay all the extra "sin" tax.

[The Straight Story]

55. There are a lot of different tobaccos and ways to roll

Took me a few bags to find a flavor that hit me well. Gambler light does me well, with light filters. I can kick out a carton in less than an hour, and at a $1 a pack is well worth it to me. I could but even better tobacco and make it $2/pack - and still be cheaper than the the $40/carton+ others are paying :)

[KT2000]

24. One of the saddest things

about the singular focus on smoking is that people are missing some really horrible sources of cancer and neurological diseases.
More and more manufacturing is solving problems through chemistry. Our airtight homes have become gas chambers that trap these chemicals and become the air we breathe.

It is turning out that the blood-brain barrier is not as impervious as we thought.

People who live in homes constructed of OSB are dosing themselves with urea formaldehyde - more unstable than the phenol formaldehyde used in plywood. Carpets are loaded with all kinds of chemicals that are nasty for the brain. Furniture is made of particle board (urea formaldehyde). Air fresheners are loaded with chemicals that affect the brain. Fertilizers and pesticides are tracked into homes where the carpet serves as a shoe cleaner. Unfortunately, these products require water and sunlight to break down, so in the home they persist.

If people believe that ridding the world of smoking will stop these illnesses, they are mistaken. Congress in 1990 saw the future and declared it the Decade of the Brain. This was an effort to take action and save the human brain for further chemical assault. Instead the authors of the report - The Office of Technology Assessment (non-partisan advisory group to Congress) was shut down.

[brook]

32. Thank you for pointing this out.

The hysterics need to read more. But banning smoking is such an easy, appealing fix. God forbid they'd have to really concern themselves with the environmental assaults or eating healthier.

[Raine]

26. It's not will we die

it's how we die and dying from smoking is not going to be pleasant but it's your choice. My boyfriend's mother is at this moment dying from the effects smoking, she can't even breath if she lies down, the poor woman is in agony. I know she tried and tried to quit smoking but was unable to. Your brother is trying to save your life even though he himself is dying, I hope you appreciate his concern for you.

EDIT: changed one word for clarification.

[brook]

37. No death

is an A-list party. No matter what the underlying cause, your organs fail one by one. Being bedridden, pneumonia quite often sets in. They used to call it "The old man's friend" because it was a fairly benign death. But the 'marvels' of pharma now rob you of that and prolong the misery. Unless you're 'lucky' enough to either get hit by a truck, stroke out or run into a jealous spouse, death is messy.

[Kingshakabobo]

28. Hooray! Another smoking success story!

Good for you!

Do you rub your brother's nose in it too?

The saddest part of my mom dying from cancer was her kicking herself for smoking. Of course, we consoled her but she knew she made a big mistake....
I don't know why but it was really sad.

These anecdotal "success stories" are offensive to people who have lost loved-ones to smoking. ...

Also, they are offensive to common sense.

[MoseyWalker]

36. not a success story

just an opinion, I guess.

Sorry to be offensive to you, and I sincerely hope you understand that I have some understanding of what you are saying.

Common sense does say that one is a moron to breathe smoke into their lungs, but there you go. Common sense says that we should not have unprotected sex. Common sense says that we should live in the country rather than in a city that has unbelievable amounts of smog/pollution. Common sense says we shouldn't eat animals because they have trans fats and god knows what else. Common sense is whatever common people say it is.

Both lives, my brother's and your mother's are anecdotal. I don't rub anyones nose in anything. I am truly sorry that you went through what you did.

peace.

[Alamom]

33. I am truly sorry, Mosey Walker. I had a dear friend with brain

cancer. His was not treatable nor related to smoking. He just had cancer.



I just wanted to say, Best wishes to your brother and you.

[MoseyWalker]

38. thank you

My brother has less than a year, but doesn't know it yet. It's truly hell.

Thank you for your kind words.

[gollygee]

41. I'm sorry about your brother

:(

I don't smoke. I don't care particularly if other people smoke. I do like having non smoking sections in restaurants though.

[ninkasi]

42. We will all die

My mother, who never took a drink, or smoked anything, died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 42. My oldest brother was killed in an accident when he was 33. His sons, all three of them, died within months of each other, from an auto accident, and a work accident. They ranged from 13 to 19 years old. My non-smoking, health food eating, work-out enthusiastic brother died suddenly at 45, from a previously undiagnosed heart condition His non-smoking wife had died 9 months earlier from viral pneumonia.

My granny, who lived to the age of 91, smoked in her youth, then took snuff for years. Her heart finally gave out. My smoking father survived lung cancer for 15 years, and died of a heart attack. Smoking related? Possibly, but the doctors couldn't really say. With all of the hatred, and violence and suffering in the world, can't we at least be a bit tolerant of others? Before I retired, I saw a co-worker who weighed over 300 lbs. scold a smoker. The smoker was addicted to tobacco, but she was addicted to food. Let ye among you who is perfect, cast the first stone.

Peace to you, Mosey. I hope your brother does not suffer. A dear friend of my husband and mine has a brain tumor, which has grown into the brain at the stem, and is lymphoma. He smokes, and when the doctor had tests performed, our friend's doctors were amazed, because after 40 years of smoking, his lungs are clear, and he has the breathing capacity, according to them, of an 18 year old. One thing is certain...we do not leave this world alive.

[northofdenali]

43. I've been smoking for about 30 years -

started, as usual, as a teenager "wanting to be cool".

I disagree with some (note, SOME) of the over-the-top laws regarding when and where one can smoke, but I am quitting (along with spouse). New drug called Chantrix, and I can be honest and tell you it works, because in 3 days I've had 5 cigarettes, when I usually smoke at least a pack a day.

I'll need guts, luck, and probably a lotta tears before I can truly say I'm off the tobacco jag, but I want to do this badly.

I wish you peace, Mosey - I was in the same place less than a year ago, till I was told that my health would only get worse, and I have SO much more I want to do, and grandchildren to watch and help grow.

:hug:

[seabeyond]

48. i tried chantex, and just gave me tummy ache

twice a day when i took the pill. i am glad to hear it works for you. my inusrance didnt help out on it eith and was 123 for a month of pills. i am working on the will power, and lessing my smoking every day.

wish you the best in it. i am in the battle too

[DemBones DemBones]

44. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who doesn't get lung cancer, emphysema,

chronic bronchitis, asthma, heart disease, etc. Not all smokers do.

But I watched my mother die of lung cancer, caused by smoking, and it wasn't pretty. She couldn't lie down for the last year of her life and even sitting up in her chair she coughed and coughed and coughed and coughed all night and all day.

I hope your brother's cancer will go into remission and he will enjoy more of life, and I hope your smoking doesn't give you cancer.

[madmunchie]

50. Good, you won't die from smoking, and you can see into the future to.

I hope that with all of that thoughtfullness, you smoke in a really confined area and don't expose any people that actually do become ill from it. I hope that you don't throw your cigarette butts, still lit out your car window or in the street or anywhere else.

[MoseyWalker]

54. yes

thank you for your words.

[driver8]

53. My father is being treated for lung cancer right now.

I certainly hope that you never have to suffer through these treatments.

[Skip Intro]

56. I'm on day two of quitting, and I agree with everything you've said -

I know that point of view, I like that point of view. There is a sense of freedom in that. A sense of heightened reality not cramped by any mass thought.

But I decided, after smoking cigs for about 15 yrs, then quitting for about 6 yrs, then, in 06, becoming addicted to those little cigars, cigarillos, the one with the white plastic tips (I don't know why, I like the way they taste...). I did that most of 06, increasing almost weekly the amount of those things I'd consume. I began wheezing, coughing up mucus (I guess that's what it was - mind out of the gutter, you), and less and less time passed between lighting up. But man, I loved it. I loved the way I felt. Nice, calming buzz. Sometimes a head rush that made me have to sit down, but mostly just a nice relaxing state. But seeing how much I was smoking, and noticing the side effects and knowing that it had been worth it to me to quit cigarettes years earlier, and knowing whatever bad crap ciggs did to you, cigars had to be worse, and man, I'm sorry, but knowing that I could wind up with a lower jaw removed or my tongue cut out or have a hole in my throat (how do you keep wind and rain and bugs out of that?) - seeing those images in my mind - I just can't smoke anymore.

I'm going into severe withdrawls as I type this. I'm drinking beer like rush must drink milkshakes. And eating everything in sight. None of it will stop the cravings I'm going through right now, and I know that on a somewhat subconscious logical level. It is like I've got a spoiled brat kid in front of me screaming and kicking demanding its way, and while I must deny it with all force, I long for the taste of the very thing I'm denying the craving of. I want to smoke. I want to. Wow, this is much harder than I remember the first time around.

But in the end, I must keep my word to myself. I gave myself my word that I'd quit - I looked in the mirror and said, "this is something you will do, promise." That might sound a little weird, but that's the strongest reason I've had so far to not relapse. I promised myself, I don't want to figure out what it means if I break that promise.

Anyway, I ramble. I love the freedom of individualism. You're outlook is beautiful.* Makes me smile. Freedom, baby.


*except maybe the "second hand smoke" doesn't hurt anyone. It really might.

[MoseyWalker]

58. what a great reply

thanks for that. I'm hearing you and reading your words. Good luck friend!

[lawladyprof]

69. Good luck--six months here

after 30 years. It was hard, very hard and still is sometimes, but I feel a lot better physically. I'll be thinking about you and wishing you success.

[AirmensMom]

57. You don't always die from tobacco ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRHvZazd4IM

Maybe you will, maybe you won't. A good friend of mine died from emphysema last year. Yeah, he finally quit once he had to be on oxygen all the time.

Sorry about your brother.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. Cancer or CVD.

Most likely.

And before your time.

"I choose to smoke."

Well, you chose to smoke once. Probably when you were a teenager. Everything since is the addiction.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

68. I have absolutely NO problem with you being a smoker.

As far as I am concerned, you can smoke cigs 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the rest of your life. You can smoke as many cigs as you can jam in your mouth at one time. You can smoke as many cigs as you can afford. You can smoke them filtered, unfiltered, mentholated, handrolled, or dipped in PCB for all I care - what you choose to do to your body is your business, and your business only. :shrug:

What I do care about it when a smoker asks me to participate in their choice. I have chosen not to be a smoker, and I don't appreciate it when someone makes me one against my will.

As someone who, in the past, has indeed had to "suffer" from someone else's personal smoking choice, I thank you that you have chosen to be considerate and not make others share your choice.

I have no problems with people choosing to smoke -- I just don't want them taking me with them. :hi:

[LeftishBrit]

70. First of all, I'm really sorry about your brother

All best wishes to him - and to you. It must be really stressful for you as well.

As regards the smoking - I've known smokers who've died pretty miserable deaths from lung cancer and emphysema. And I've known people who smoked and didn't suffer from these consequences - though even some of them had less-serious health consequences (e.g. more frequent colds and coughs than most of the non-smokers I know). Ultimately, it's a risk (not a certainty) and it's up to you what risks you want to take with your own life, so long as you don't harm others. I don't smoke, but I drink too much coffee and sometimes eat unhealthily.

[blues90]

71. I smoke as well however

I do want to quit , partly for the health aspect and alot because it costs so much . I smoke a pack a day and my wife smokes two packs a day . This is half our rent and I have to rely on a low paying job now so we need to cut back on alot of things real sson .

My younger brother died of liver cancer at 45 in 2001 june and they attributed this to smoking but who can say for certain .

There are alot of ways one can get lung cancer , hell no one thinks breathing in car exhaust sitting bumper to bumper is ok but it is worsr than smoking .

All I know is I enjoy smoking and this will be difficult to quit for me . I can think of other ways I would prefer to die and cancer is not one of them .

As far as second hand smoke goes .All my relatives smoked and as children visiting out eyes burned the smoke was so thick but as far as I know no one in my entire family tree has died from smoking .

I would enjoy the freedom of not having to depend on buying cigs and the extra cash to pay for what we really need .

[mondo joe]

72. I don't care about your smoking or what you die of. Only whether you

share your toxins with others who don't want it. Or not.

[RedCappedBandit]

73. i don't care if you smoke

just don't exhale on me or throw your butts all over the planet :hi:

[LuckyTheDog]

76. Here is what a cancer doc told me

About 10% of smokers will get lung cancer. As for the rest, heart disease, emphysema or other problems will eventually get them.

But if you are fine with that, consider this: the problem with smoking isn't that it is killing you. The real problem is that you are poisoning those around you. Sure, your individual smoke won't kill your waitress or bartender. But, if those people keep working, day after day sucking in smoke, then the damage will add up for them, too.