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

Share your quitting journey

Why????

OldBones-Larry
21 26 352

Why do I post the Caravan Blogs?
Because I like to spin tales or tell a story?
I suppose that could be one of the reasons, but not even close to the real reason.
Because I can attribute the passing of my brother, mother, and my father to smoking?
Just that fact is a really great reason to post as I do.
This is probably the biggest reason that I post the Caravan though.
I have aluded to many reasons before.
The things I saw while working in the ER and the hospital itself.
The autopsies that I assisted at on victims of smoking.
The damage I saw at those was horrible to witness.
Lungs black with tar. Hearts swollen three times there size. Tumors filling tissue. Blood vessels choked closed with plaques.
Those are good reasons as well as just wanting to help others over the rough spots of giving up those death sticks.
I have never told anyone the main reason though.
I have been keeping a secret for close to five years now. I feel I can finally talk about it now, so here it is.
As many of you know, I underwent bypass surgery in 2013. October 22 to be exact.
Things went very well for 11 hours.
They opened my chest and at about the one hour mark I went onto the machine. My body now survived with a machine breathing for it and keeping the blood flowing.
No breathing or pulse for me as they needed no movements in my chest while they worked.
I guess you could call it a pseudo-death.
Now comes the reason I work so hard on helping others on this journey....
The time came to take me off the machine. They re-warmed my body and watched for a return of activity to my heart.
Nothing happened!!!!
My heart just lay there with absolutely no movements at all.
My heart would not start again. They tried many things and worked for some time, but things were not looking good.
I seemed to be gone for good and they stopped their efforts.
Just as they were going to give up, Creator Above decided that I was still needed here on Earth Mother.
My heart began beating on it's own.
I was sedated in ICU for several days, then moved to the floor.
I recovered and was sent home to continue healing.
I also made my quit journey and crossed NML. I did it one step at a time, the same as my recovery from surgery.
The Caravan was born during that journey.
Was it easy? No!! With the help I found here I made it across that desert though.
I vowed during that journey that I would do my best to help so nobody would be in the position I had been in that day.
I can only offer help when I can now. I hope Creator will not regret his decision that day.
As you cross that desert, know that I am watching to offer help if I can.
That is the secret I have kept for all these years, and the main reason I post the Caravan.
Travel safe my friends.
One step, and then another, will get you to where you want to be.
Larry the Caravan Master

Tags (1)
26 Comments
About the Author
I am a male that underwent coronary artery bypass X3 (triple) on 10/22/13 at the age of 55. I was living on about 20-30% of one coronary artery and my left heart output was only 20% to 25%. I spent a week in the hospital after surgery and went home. Then had to go back a day later for another week because I had pneumonia. Finally a few days because of a slight arythmia. All told it has been about 2 1/2 weeks. I am past the cravings by now and only have the urges to contend with. I really don't suggest that anyone quits smoking using this technique though. I'll have to carry the scars from that day for the rest of my life. The large one down the center of my chest, and the ones from several "silent" infarctions. I came that close to the next world. Never again will I subject my body to that (at one point in my life I was smoking 5 packs of cigarillos a day). I now have to say N.O.P.E. (Not One Puff Ever) every day of my life. TheOldGoat-Joan, I miss you terribly my friend. Elder Lists Guilia's: (/blogs/Giulia-blog/2017/06/18/elders-list-ao-december-7-2016 ) or Smorgy's (Chronological Elder List)