Pam, living with both COPD and emphyzema and not being able to sleep at night because the wheezing was so loud it would wake me up, thought of living on oxygen the rest of my life................really makes you think very long and hard. VERY LONG AND HARD.
How many tomorrows do I want to have just because of a yesterday of smoking.
To me the decision should be ever so much easier for you and me.
Do I love cigarettes????? I sure thought I did, but they are the ones that gave me the two listed above conditions. I think it was more the habit that I liked, not the cigarettes themselves, and habits can easily be replaced. Hopefully for better ones though.
No, today I can say that I hate them, I hate everything about them, I hate what I let them do to my health and I never want to be around them again.
My younger sister tried to get a hold of my 92 year old mother yesterday and we could not find her. She is never gone from her house long and I told my sister if she wasn't home in 45 minutes I would drive to her house and check on her. All the kids just chipped in for a medical neck alarm for her to wear. She is very independant, and we do not want to take that away from her.
Four hours later we can't find her and one of my other aunts is calling looking for her and another sister. They were in the ER. My aunt had had stomache problems and was in real pain and asked my mother to take her to the hospital. My sister who is a nurse called the hospital and then went there.
My aunt who is in her 80's, but in great health, and a fanatic about everything she eats or buys found out she had two spots of cancer on her liver. An oncologist will be in to see her today. She never smoked, she watched what she ate and she walked two miles every night. My husband told me if she has it in her liver then it started somewhere else.
So do I hate cigarettes......you bet your darn tail end I do. They are cancer sticks.
It is one day at a time, and you will find yourself breathing better. I don't even sleep sitting up anymore. I haven't slept with the oxygen for a week, that is how fast I started to feel better.
I don't know about you, but I want all those tomorrows and I have kissed all the yesterdays goodbye.
