cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Share your quitting journey

smoking hazards years later

janicesullenger
1 6 63

most of you don't know me.  i'm not on here much anymore.  brief rundown on me then on to my husband.  i quit Jan 4 2012.  and haven't started back.  i quit due to multiple dvt's and bilateral embolisms.  2 weeks in CCU was all it took and i quit cold turkey after smoking 38 years.  unfortunately, my husband didn't quit with me.  i tried many times to get him to.  2 years ago this November he had a stroke.  they said it was a mild stroke, sent him home the next day and said he could go back to work in a couple days.  i didn't think so.  i didn't like his coloring and something was just strange but i couldn't figure it out.  so i took him to his primary dr who felt he needed to stay out for a month.  he didn't like his coloring either.  4 days later, at 4;30 in the morning i heard him fall.  was coming out of the bathroom.  had to call the paramedics.  he had a bi-lateral brain stroke.  more than likely it was smoke related.  his other test were ok.  he lost his short term memory and to this day it has never come back.  we relive most days over and over.  now, up to date, aug 22, the day before my birthday, he was really emotional.  this is nothing new since his stroke.  i asked what was wrong, he said he didn't know, he just didn't want to die.  asked if he could have a sandwich which confused me why he was asking.  he got up to go to the kitchen and had no balance and both the dogs ran to him.  i thought he was fixing to have another stroke the way he was acting.  i started asking questions just in case it was just a bad day and he would stare through me and half answer me then babble.  told the pups to get in the pen and they went with no issues and that alerted me too.  i turned to ask him something and he went into a full blown seizure.  i got ahold of one of the kids to get the others and i had 911 on the phone.  ended up med-flighting him to Vanderbilt.  he was gone 3 weeks 5 days.  he had never had a seizure before.  he can't drive for 6 months now and that's only if he doesn't have another one.  they said it was stroke related from the stroke he had almost 2 years ago.  if you are on the fence on quitting, reread this plz.  i almost died from smoking and my husband almost died twice.  i didn't write this for sympathy or to hear good job, i wrote this for me and for you who needs to hear what smoking can do to you

6 Comments