The phone rings

[mohavesam]

Got a call from a friend's wife, she told me he's back in the hospital again. Three stays in a month.

Doctors told him to quit smoking a couple years ago, said his physiology just couldn't keep up. He quit for a few weeks. Since May 6 he has developed pneumonia, respiratory distress and emphysema (stay 1), a measurable heart murmur (stay 2) and now blood clots in his leg.
Back in March he bragged how healthy & ideal weight he'd been and built a dock, re-roofed the garage and painted the eves on his house.
He blames the doctors who "must be money-grubbng the system", not 30+ years of cigarettes and beer.

 

[SamV]

I am sorry to hear about your friend. Many years ago I had an older friend that was a hospital chaplain at the VA. He was beloved by many for his kindness at gentleness. I was always a bit skeptical of those reports as I knew him as a bit of a grumpy curmudgeon. Another friend had to work with him as a young seminarian in training. I asked him if the kind gentle stories about him were true. He said that they were true, but not always. I asked for a bit of clarification. He explained that sometimes the old chaplain went a bit hard on the patient. I asked how so?. He explained that he sometimes a patient with lung cancer or perhaps emphysema from smoking would ask why God allowed him to suffer. Or perhaps it was other health problems from to alcohol consumption. He would listen for awhile. If the patient continued on the theme of God letting them get the horrible disease or blaming God for all their troubles, he would simply stop them. He would say " Look, God didn't do this to you. You just smoked and drank too damn much." I was horrified, thinking that it was profoundly uncompassionate. My young friend explained that he was startled too, not sure what to think. But he said, often the patient would stop and say that the chaplain was right, that they were responsible for their condition. Everyone still wanted healing of some sort, wether it was spiritual or physical. But it seemed to bring people to a point of clarity. And they could approach God without the anger. That old chaplain always seemed to know the right way to minister to people. Sometimes I think we all need a little tough love.

 

[bogus bill]

Maybe he shouldn't have quit? Shock to his system? You said he was fine until he quit.

 

[Mobuck]

It sounds like smoking isn't going to kill him so he may as well continue.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

It sounds like smoking isn't going to kill him so he may as well continue.

Disagree. The only problem with quitting smoking might be the possibility of weight gain and other than that I don't think there are any side-effects from not smoking.

 

[ditto1958]

Maybe he shouldn't have quit? Shock to his system? You said he was fine until he quit.

Yup. Sounds like a shock to his system. Classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

[ChiefMuzz]

Got a call from a friend's wife, she told me he's back in the hospital again. Three stays in a month.

Doctors told him to quit smoking a couple years ago, said his physiology just couldn't keep up. He quit for a few weeks. Since May 6 he has developed pneumonia, respiratory distress and emphysema (stay 1), a measurable heart murmur (stay 2) and now blood clots in his leg.
Back in March he bragged how healthy & ideal weight he'd been and built a dock, re-roofed the garage and painted the eves on his house.
He blames the doctors who "must be money-grubbng the system", not 30+ years of cigarettes and beer.

Tell him if it's the Doctors fault, next time he gets sick, just stay home.

 

[ChiefMuzz]

Maybe he shouldn't have quit? Shock to his system? You said he was fine until he quit.

I hope you're not serious. When you quit you can get refractory phlegm, mucus production as the cilia work to try and clear x amount of years of
Sludge, chemicals and crap out of your poor lungs. If he has emphysema he's already damaged his lungs beyond repair and is probably going to needs meds at this point to help support and maintain the lung function he has left.

 

[Fox Mike]

It sounds like smoking isn't going to kill him so he may as well continue.

Disagree. The only problem with quitting smoking might be the possibility of weight gain and other than that I don't think there are any side-effects from not smoking.

Quit smoking in 1992. Never gained an ounce. Found out in 2010 that I had COPD. Just cause you quit doesn't guarantee that all will be OK.

 

[mohavesam]

Some may have misread the op. He quit for a few weeks, a couple years ago.
Then picked up the habit again and since.

I am not an "I told you so" kind of guy normally. But despite his generosity and community service, he will probably be remembered as the guy who smoked himself into hemmoragic emphysema. I served alongside him as a volunteer firefighter and he held the same wife for 30, but theres not much we can do but get ready to clean up his mess.

Just me bitchin , no purpose here except maybe someone may think twice about sucking down another smoke.

 

[Colonialgirl]

It sounds like smoking isn't going to kill him so he may as well continue.

Disagree. The only problem with quitting smoking might be the possibility of weight gain and other than that I don't think there are any side-effects from not smoking.

Quit smoking in 1992. Never gained an ounce. Found out in 2010 that I had COPD. Just cause you quit doesn't guarantee that all will be OK.

You aint the only one that found THAT out !!
Quit in 1983 (?) found out from the VA a couple of years ago that I've got COPD, Use SPIRVA (spelling) and a CPAP machine at night,) By the way Try "HALLS INTENSE Cough Drops in the black package; 15% Menthol; they'll clear you up in a hurry.

PS: I DID Gain weight !!

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Quit smoking in 1992. Never gained an ounce. Found out in 2010 that I had COPD. Just cause you quit doesn't guarantee that all will be OK.

You aint the only one that found THAT out !!
Quit in 1983 (?) found out from the VA a couple of years ago that I've got COPD, Use SPIRVA (spelling) and a CPAP machine at night,) By the way Try "HALLS INTENSE Cough Drops in the black package; 15% Menthol; they'll clear you up in a hurry.

PS: I DID Gain weight !!

Those are effects FROM smoking, not quitting, except the weight thing. I also have COPD from 30 years of smoking and there isn't any cure but I am sure glad I quit when I did, about 7 years ago, my lungs cleared up, there was no more hacking all the time, having to clear my throat, I could breath better and my mood and attention was better.

 

[bogus bill]

The weight gain can kill you too. None of us get out alive. I am 76. Always was fat and something of a slug. I have seen uncountable jocks and skinny guys die I grew up and worked with. I have buried four women in my life and several of them worked out. I never smoked cigarettes but did smoke a pipe and a few cigars.. Dipped Copenhagen for about 50 years, gave that up about ten years ago. I still crave it. From past experience I am sure if I told myself I will buy just one can again and give it up afterwards I would be lieing to myself. One pinch and I would be back on it. Not many understand my brand of humor. Just saying you can live at the gym, eat right, abstain from all alcohol, wear seat belts, and get T boned going to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. We don't get out alive. The biggest single factor is genetics and we cant do anything about that. This last Christmas I got a reprieve with two heart stents. Doctors told me I was a half hour from the big one.
Had to laugh once many years ago. Some co worker was warning me about my weight. Another worker overheard us and observed, yeah, and cancer gets the skinny ones.

 

[vito]

Stopping smoking at least stops the damage from increasing. I was a heavy smoker for 20 years, over 2 packs daily for most of those years. I quit in 1979, but when I almost died from a lung infection 21 years later, in 2000, and required a thoracotomy (where they cut open your chest or back to get into the lungs to scoop out the infected material, in my case 5 quarts worth of pus) they also removed a section of the lung because despite 21 years smoke free the damage had been so severe from my years of smoking that the lung section was useless to me. And although I am told that I will be at high risk of lung cancer for the rest of my life, so far so good. It's now been 38 years without a cigarette. I have no doubt that I would be dead by now had I kept on smoking. In addition to that lung surgery, I've needed quintuple bypass, plus a kidney removed for renal cancer, but I am still alive. The doctors have told me that both my coronary artery disease and my kidney cancer were likely at least partially caused by my years of smoking. Quit if you can, it never is too late to do you some good.

 

[ChiefMuzz]

The weight gain can kill you too. None of us get out alive. I am 76. Always was fat and something of a slug. I have seen uncountable jocks and skinny guys die I grew up and worked with. I have buried four women in my life and several of them worked out. I never smoked cigarettes but did smoke a pipe and a few cigars.. Dipped Copenhagen for about 50 years, gave that up about ten years ago. I still crave it. From past experience I am sure if I told myself I will buy just one can again and give it up afterwards I would be lieing to myself. One pinch and I would be back on it. Not many understand my brand of humor. Just saying you can live at the gym, eat right, abstain from all alcohol, wear seat belts, and get T boned going to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. We don't get out alive. The biggest single factor is genetics and we cant do anything about that. This last Christmas I got a reprieve with two heart stents. Doctors told me I was a half hour from the big one.
Had to laugh once many years ago. Some co worker was warning me about my weight. Another worker overheard us and observed, yeah, and cancer gets the skinny ones.

Quitting smoking doesn't cause weight gain. Replacing your cigarettes with snack food does. As to trying to live healthy to avoid dying, that's not really the reason. It's too increase the quality of the years you do have, or to stave off chronic disease as long as possible. But to each their own.