Andee, I forgot to comment to you I didn't say dieing. I said they suffered heart attacks and strokes. I worked in the Icu/Pcu unit for over 6 months, and I stated personally what I saw. I would venture to say 90% of heart attack victims were recent quitters. Not all people who have heart attacks die, thanks gosh.
Alot of smokers have gotten used to the calming effect of ciggies. And without this outside source to calm them, they have to now find another way to handle stress. I think educating them on how to do this, instead of demanding they quit is a priority.
Congrats to you and your family for quitting, it is a very hard thing to do. wendy
This thread reminds me of a gal who used to work for my family years ago. She was a "tough broad" type of gal, I loved her. She smoked non-filters and probably could do serious drinking. She used to bitch about people who preached clean living and told me how her uncle smoked like a fiend and drank like a fish. She said he died unexpectedly at a pretty young age, nothing to do with his bad habits. She said he stumbled out a bar, dropped his lighter in the street and was hit by a car when he went out to get it. She viewed this as a terrible injustice but could laugh at the irony of it. I still don't know if it was a true story or a joke, with her you never know.
A friend of mine has a husband who has smoked for 20+ years, and she has desperately wanted him to quit. When he went into the hospital for major surgery, she thought this was the best time for him to do it. The doctor disagreed and said it would set back his recovery, and cause all kinds of other health problems. While he wants him to quit, that was not a good time to do it. The withdrawal he would face would be harmful. (that was a long time ago, by the way....she probably wouldn't speak to me now)
Just a thought.
Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan) "Those who know, don't say, and those who say, don't know."
I smoked from the age of 14 to 22. Quit when I became a JW. Started again when I left and smoked for about another 12 years. I quit smoking four years ago, and have never looked back. The idea of smoking never occurs to me, even when I'm with friends who do it. I feel so healthy, so clean and capable and just plain good, that I would never again take up the evil weed and ruin it all again.
I used to get out of breath running up a flight of stairs. Hah! Not now, buddy. My endurance sometimes still surprises me. :) Breathing! Smelling scents of things! Ah, life!
Welcome back to Philo. I don't remember you being a smoker?
Anyway, if you recall my post about the people who want to come back to Madeira with us, those one's who huffed and puffed on a gradient that wouldn't cause a greased sparrow to fall out of its nest, yes, they were all smokers who's bodies could simply not absorb enough oxygen to facilitate their perambulation on anything other than a completely flat surface.
It's so pitiful, I zoom up and down a ladder around 200 - 300 times per day in my job, these people have to use a lift to get higher than 2 stories. Then they moan when I moan about their smoke!
