Thread: Hey Tap

Thanks for the kind words. I bet your Dad could go with a little help. Those Pa guys are tough. This give me a chance to relate a little story. Smoking.. If you don't smoke,don't start,If you do smoke try to quit. I don't believe in preaching on this subject but allow me to tell all of you what Salem slim lights did for me.
I smoked my first cigarette (Wings 17cents per pack) when I was 14 years old Pretty well hooked by age 17 and by age 55 or so,I was buying my second pack by noon.
Lungs pretty well shot but I paced and pushed myself and managed to get by. At age 69,I noticed blood in my urine and went to see the urologist. BLADDER CANCER. Leading cause of bladder cancer is smoking. Kidneys filter the toxins and place them in the bladder for elimination. At any rate, they removed my bladder and in the process, really cleaned house. They also took out my prostate,lymph glands,appendix and gall bladder.
The doctor was great and did a fine job. I pee into a bag thru a hole in my abdomen.(Urostomy). Minor inconvenience when you consider the alternative.
I'm able do do everything that I did before except two things. Wear a belt ( suspenders now) and get an erection. The suspenders I don't mind the other,I curse cigarettes every day. I thought quitting was going to be hard. I tried at other times and only made it for an hour or two. Once the VA gave me a grocery bag full of patches and pills but I put them in the closet waiting for the right time. It would have been the right time but I was too dumb to know it then.
You need motivation,When they told me I had cancer and why, I quit right then. No patches,no pills,no gum just plain quit. Scared out of my mind. Surprising how easy it was.
Hope that maybe my story might motive some or even one. I have no idea how much money I spent on smoking thousands I'm sure I had the habit so bad that I would smoke a pipe and when I finished,I would light a cigarette.
Inhaled everything.pipe,cigars,cigarettes.
I'm 75 now . Cant run or walk any great distance because of the shortness of breath. Because of good genes.I am still able to pass for 10 to 15 years younger and the ladies find me attractive. But to what avail?
Smoking is not worth it. believe me.

I look at my dad and certainly don't want to be in the shape he is in when I'm his age. He had quadruple bypass some years ago, has only partial blood flow through his carotids but due to his poor health they cannot do anything about it. His circulation is so bad he's always cold. He's 74 but can't walk up a flight of steps without heavy breathing. There are so many people his age that are living life to it's fullest, its sad to see him in such poor health. He is the reason why I fish for crappie every weekend. It's strange for me to see someone who was so passionate about fishing to just lose all interest due to his poor health. My father in law was also a lifetime smoker who had quintuple by pass and then a few years later had a stroke, spent most of his next two years in a bed and then he passed on at the age of 73. I know we have a lot of smokers in this forum and most of them are older folks who are set in their ways. I don't want to sound like I'm preaching to them I'm just speaking of my experience with my father and father in law. For a lifetime smoker your 70's are not real pretty years if you're fortunate enough to make it that far. (I know that one in 100 smokers lives to be 90 but those are rare and far between.)

WOW !!! That was pretty much moving to me....I am sitting here going through post and hit this......I went to the other end of this house and got my gal and said let me show ya something....she a non smoker came into my smoke filled office and read this stuff rolled her eyes and left only after pausing and continuing to roll eyes and leave.......

My father died of lung cancer at 56,,,my mother has lost both breasts and all lipnodes and battles every day .....whew!!!!!

You know things do look different from the outside in,,, I smoke at leaste 2 to 3 packs of reds a day ........

I am working at it and appreciate this dearly........Slabenomics (Frank)

I reread my post and I dont like the ending. what I'm really trying to get across is that in as much as it is a smelly, expensive bad habit.(burned holes in all the vehicles upholstry) the real kicker is that loss of your manhood(no matter if you use it or not) is a terrible price to pay,just so you can look like the Marlboro man.

To some maybe quitting is impossible. It is a very strong addiction. My dear wife,A nurse,is still smoking after standing with me through all this. One would think that it would be easy for her to quit. When she was working she would have a smoke before leaving home for the hospital at 5am and not have another until returning at 7pm or later. I think that if I could have gone without that long I would have quit years ago. But as I said it is a powerful addiction and you need hit between the eyes motivation like I got.

What ever it be ...Good luck.

i started smoking when i was tweve i was up to smoking 3 packs a day then i tried chantix and i haven't smoked a cigarette in over a year

Originally Posted by dedawg1149

i started smoking when i was tweve i was up to smoking 3 packs a day then i tried chantix and i haven't smoked a cigarette in over a year

Great. Keep it up.
I have heard bad things about Chantix however.Mind altering drug.you can do this on your own.

Mother and Dad both smoked..Father gone at 69, mother 76....

I started smoking the day I went in the Navy, 1960..Quit the day I drove out of gate 3 NAS norfolk, 1963...Never picked up another cig..46 years....

I use to smoke two packs a day. November 1 has been 18 years since I had a smoke.

I somked sence I'm 12 years old. I watched my dad die with lung cancer at the age of 59, that was 24 years ago and I have been trying to quit sence than. I tried everything and just couldent stay off them for any length of time. Jan 1st 2008 I decieded to give them up and I have been smoke free for almost 2 years now. I got to say I still miss them from time to time but I don't think I'll ever go back to somking. Good luck to all who are trying to quit, let me just say that most of the adiction is in your head. If you can get your mind right you will have a chance. Oh yes, I smoked for 49 years. Slab you can do it if you put your mind to it, lots of luck.

this brings back memories of my dad who passed 3 years ago heart problems. this past feb i started having slight chest pains and thought it was heart burn but it was not getting any better so my wife took me to the hospital and the docks said my ekg showed no signs of a heart attack but the blood test said something was going on. the next day they ran a camera to my heart and found a 100 percent blockage but i had two blood vessels go around the blockage to supply my heart. i was told by my surgeon that i was lucky but my fishing mentor said that there is no such word in the bible that i was blessed and yes i quit smokeing that day. still got to many crappie left to catch. tite lines JIM.B all you guys that smoke QUIT now........ you can stop frank!!!!!!!!!