You Need to Stop!

You really need to stop right now. I started smoking when I was 15 years old. I wrote about it before; it is in the archives somewhere. I also wrote about quitting smoking, and how it was the best thing I have ever done for myself (and my family). I wrote about how hard it was to quit; how I would prefer to have a baby or a root canal without anesthesia than to have to go through that again.

I am really proud of myself for quitting. I have proven over the years to be a fairly addictive person, and quitting smoking is harder than most anything. Since I quit 27 years ago, I believed what the info always tells you: that after five years, your lungs are back to the condition they were in before you started smoking. Some of the info even says that your lungs are stronger after you quit than they were before you started. I believed it, I wanted to believe it, it made me even more proud of quitting. Finally, I was going to be healthy!

I learned today that I didn't quit soon enough. I have "a touch" of emphysema. That is the way the doctor described it. I have much to learn about the disease, the symptoms and what to expect. Googling it helps the educative process, but it doesn't answer all the questions. It is part of what doctors call COPD - or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is what my adoptive dad died from (he was a smoker). My birth father died from lung cancer (he was a smoker). For the last 20+ years, I have not lived in a home with a smoker, nor have I been subjected to smoke at work. Mr. Kenju smokes a pipe, but rarely, and he does not do it in the house.

If you are a smoker, young, old or in-between, won't you please stop smoking NOW? Do it before you develop COPD or chronic bronchitis or emphysema. The power is in your hands. Do yourself and your family - especially your children - a BIG favor. Quit while you are ahead, and pray that you have done it soon enough. Please.