first healthy step - stop smoking
By irisheyes
@irisheyes (4370)
United States
July 31, 2010 3:02pm CST
I really would rather not post this but I feel compelled to post it.
My very best friend in this world was diagnosed awith throat cancer about 3 months ago. She is curently in a Philadelphia hospital with a tube in her throat, no hair and peeling skin on her hands getting chemo prior to an awful surgery which may or may not save her life. Her diagnosis and the upheaval it has caused so many people is the reason I haven't posted anywhere on here in awhile and also the reason I'm posting this.
I, as an X smoker who kicked the habit 18 years ago, badgered my friend for years to quit but it had no effect. I just couldn't get through to her (as so many for so long didn't get through to me).
My friend was constantly doing things like diet and exercise to keep her weight down and be healthy. It always amazed me. I couldn't understand how she could have so much will power in one area and absolutely none in another. I kept telling her she was negating every positive health care move by smoking but she just wouldn't listen.
I've come to realize (even more than when I was fighting to quit myself)that smoking is NOT a bad habit. It's an ADDICTION and other than the fact that it is legal, it is no different than sticking a needle in one's arm.
I probably could not have reached my friend no matter what I did but I just wish that people would realize that there is NOTHING healthy they can do that will cancel out the disastrous effects of smoking.
There's no question at the end of this. I just felt I had to post it and if anybody cares to add to it, please feel free.
1 person likes this
12 responses
@LeeHolt (433)
•
31 Jul 10
So sorry to hear about your friend, and glad to hear that you stopped quite a while back!
I wish I could stop myself, and I know what is coming to me if I continue with it, but I've been smoking for so long and I'va already tried twice and failed twice.
Maybe thrid time lucky, sometime soon! Any tips would be appreciated :P
Lee.
1 person likes this
@LeeHolt (433)
•
31 Jul 10
On my attempts I have tried to keep a pack of cigs hanging 'round, but I always think I will just have that one when I wake up, but never works that way, so the temptation is great.
Also tried without any around but that's just as bad!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Lee.
@hotsummer (13837)
• Philippines
1 Aug 10
i hope this encourage others to stop smoking. i don't smoke but every time i see some of my friends smoke i feel bad for them. i tell them to stop though for i know or heard so many stories of how people suffered laterin life and i am scared just the thought of that and that is why i never smoked. i did a very short try like five seconds but that eas it. never liked it and didn't want to develop any liking to smoking. i know how hard it is to overcome a bad habit. i don't to put myself into sush struggle.
1 person likes this
@hotsummer (13837)
• Philippines
1 Aug 10
my friend asked me to try it just so to see if i know how to smoke or blow the smoke off my mouth. he said i do well but never really to get me into it. and i just tried also to see if it is easy to smoke at first try. it does not seem hard. but i was not interested. i was scared that i might like it. thankfully i didn't so i never smoked again.
anyways, my father used to smoke but not a heavy smoker though. just one to three sticks a day and remember him saying when i was a kid that he would stop it as it is bad to health and scared of the bad effects and he did from that time on. so that was like many many years ago. and maybe that i didn't learn how to smoke.
in my relatives i see some of my relatives who smoke but they don't see to be addicted to it. they seem to be mild smoker who can stop any time they want and get back to it when they want.
@AmbiePam (93885)
• United States
31 Jul 10
I know people think non smokers preach, but it's a message that never loses its importance. My dad told me the story of visiting a lady who ended up with a hole in her throat, so a tube could get in there and she could breathe. And it was because she smoked. My mom's brother has already gotten to where he can't walk without wheezing, and he is in his early 50s. His doctor told him lung cancer is in his future if he doesn't quit. But he won't. He keeps saying he tried, and it is of no use. I believe it is never too late.
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
31 Jul 10
AmbiePam, that's my friend. She's got a hole in her throat to keep her breathing until they can do the chemo (which is brutal in itself) and take out her vocal cords. It's unbelievably awful. If people could see how awful it is, they might think twice. It's not just a "hole in the throat". It's constant coughing with phlegm coming out of the tube.
Sometimes, they make people charged with drunken driving offences go to the morgue and observe the end result of the accidents they cause. I think people who really want to quit smoking should get the chance to go to hospitals and nursing homes and hospices to see what lies in wait if they don't quit. don't know if it would do an good but it might at least precipitate another try at not smoking. It's one thing to tell somebody that lung cancer awaits but it might be more effective to actually show them what that means.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
31 Jul 10
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I know its an addiction, and because it is legal, you can't seem to convince some people that they need to stop
it took cancer to get dad to finally quit, and even that was too little too late
I've seen people outside smoking at hospitals, both patients and staff, you would think at least the staff would know better....
I really hope that your friend recovers, but she will probably never be the same, the chances of you hearing her voice, as you knew it is slim..
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
31 Jul 10
I'm sorry to hear about your dad and you're right about my friend. I will probably (barring a miracle at the end of this chemo) hear her beautiful voice again. She also had an amazing singing voice which I, as a tune deaf person who loves music, always held in awe.
I've also seen those folks outside of hospitals and I continue to see them when I visit my friend. Amazing, isn't it? I just learned that one of the local hospitals here has notified their employees that if they smoke right outside the hospital or within 6 blocks of the hospital while wearing their scrubs, their employment will be immediately teminated. Ironically, it is the same hospital that has had many innovative anti-smoking programs which my friend's doctor and I once tried to get her to join.
1 person likes this
@p3ks626 (6538)
• Philippines
1 Aug 10
I agree with you on that one. I just think that people who smoke are stupid cause they already know that smoking is bad for their health and all of that but they still keep on doing it. My husband was a smoker before and there are times that he laughs at himself for doing those things cause he realizes how stupid he was.
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
1 Aug 10
They are so heavily addicted that it becomes difficult (I don't want to say impossible but it felt that way once for me) What I didn't know when I was trying to quit is that it takes several tries. I felt defeated and weak and totally hopeless. I wish some addiction counsellor or somebody had told me that you just have to try over and over and that was normally how people quit successfully. they say now that the average person quits 8-9 times unssucessfully before finally quitting.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
31 Jul 10
I too am exactly like your friend, I eat very healthy and workout five days a week and am a horrible smoker. As I read your post I can't help but remind myself that I am defeating my purpose when I do all else healthy except for the smoking. It is scary but at the same time very difficult to just say smoke no more.
I hope to quit again and hope I can for good. Thanks for sharing your friends story as it does give me yet another reason to reflect and reconsider my smoking habit. It is just very difficult to do especially while facing so many stressful times.
1 person likes this
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
31 Jul 10
Thanks for your words of encouragement, I will remember them each time I attempt to quit. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend. 
@agito121 (176)
• United Arab Emirates
1 Aug 10
I want my dad to stop smoking, i've been telling him for years but he is just stubborn, my family members have tried to tell him to stop but it just won't work. But there is little improvement, instead of smoking the Full pack, he's smoking the light pack now, but it's still damaging, hopefully he will see the error in his way and stop the addiction.
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
31 Jul 10
For years, it didn't bother me much if other people wanted to smoke even though I'd quit. I'm not judgemental by nature. But now it really gets to me when I see someone smoking, especially if it's a young person. I just want to run up and shake them and scream "Don't you see what you're doing to yourself". I guess that's because of what I've seen over the last few months with my friend.
@nthomas (43)
•
1 Aug 10
Yes..Smoking is realy hazardous to health. But people stick to it completely. No matter how much ever awareness and progrmmes are being delivered to them. Once addicted to it, some just find it very difficult to stop. I've heard of some therapies and support group programs to help people quit smoking. Not sure if it'll work on every one...
@DaKnOb (21)
• Cyprus
1 Aug 10
Even if goverment prevents smoking, it will not stop the smokers.
They have to realize what they are doing and STOP it.
Its nice to hear that you quit!
@buli23 (550)
• India
26 Jan 11
I am totally agree with you in this view. It is a fact that smoking is not good for our health. It is one of the most important cause for our throat cancer as well as lungs cancer. So I thing should leave this bad habit of smoking for our healthy life. It is not that smoking is dangerous for our health but it is also dangerous for our wealth.
