Though I Quit Smokes 30 Years Ago My Exam Shows Bad News

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
I put the butts down 30 years ago but I had a complete physical and past smoking was listed as a factor in the moderate risk of an early death. I have read many times your lungs are clean after six years of no smokes but that ignores the impact on the heart. Actually I regret more the money I spent over those years.
 

The bad choices we made in our youth...I am paying for my own too. Really slowed me down over the past few years. Avoiding a complete physical. Don't want to hear the words "enlarged heart", "coronary artery disease" or "heart failure" just yet. Ah it's the price we pay for having too much fun.
 
My dad was a 2-3 pack a day guy. He smoked from 17-62. At 75 he got emphysema, at 85, lung cancer took him out. I believe the whole trip about "If you quit, now, you will be fine, in time," is total nonsense, when it comes to those who pass some unidentified tipping point for indulgence in potentially fatal bad habits.
 

I smoked for 40 years and quit about 10 years ago.

I have a similar notation in my medical file only because I told the PCP that I had been a smoker.

As far as the impact on my longevity smoking is just one of many factors that may have an impact on it.

I'm more concerned with the quality of my life than I am about the length of it. I've had some very close friends/family that lived fast and died young. I've also had friends/family that lived long and died slowly over many, many years. If I have a choice I'll opt for the express checkout.

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Aunt Bea said:
I smoked for 40 years and quit about 10 years ago.

I have a similar notation in my medical file only because I told the PCP that I had been a smoker.

As far as the impact on my longevity smoking is just one of many factors that may have an impact on it.

I'm more concerned with the quality of my life than I am about the length of it. I've had some very close friends/family that lived fast and died young. I've also had friends/family that lived long and died slowly over many, many years. If I have a choice I'll opt for the express checkout.

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Definitely! I never understood those who greedily held onto life, through constant, great mental and physical pain, in their later years. My dad never let the emphysema get him down, staying very active, amazingly so, until he got the cancer diagnosis. Then, he was gone in a month. I miss my dad. I still talk with him, on occasion, as I do my (also late) mom and sister.
 
Frankly, I think we are all pretty much in the same boat, unless we lived with a crystal ball. And of course we never know for sure what will take us out, or when. Do we want to know? I do not.
 
treeguy64 said:
Definitely! I never understood those who greedily held onto life, through constant, great mental and physical pain, in their later years. My dad never let the emphysema get him down, staying very active, amazingly so, until he got the cancer diagnosis. Then, he was gone in a month. I miss my dad. I still talk with him, on occasion, as I do my (also late) mom and sister.
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"Definitely! I never understood those who greedily held onto life, through constant, great mental and physical pain, in their later years. "

So are you saying that we should pick a point, then end it at our own hand?
 
rgp said:
"Definitely! I never understood those who greedily held onto life, through constant, great mental and physical pain, in their later years. "

So are you saying that we should pick a point, then end it at our own hand?
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You bet! That being said, here is my disclaimer: My views are my own, and, in no way, am I an advocate of anyone following my advice. Each person must decide what is right for him/her.
 
Judycat said:
Maybe a nice arrhythmia during the night while asleep?:unsure:
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My old grandfather is my "hero". He was a farmer, and worked hard all his life. No one ever remembered him going to a doctor other than a couple of times that he hurt himself on the farm. In his later years, he spent Summers with an uncle on the farm, and Winters with my folks in Denver. Every day, he would go for a nice walk...weather permitting...then come back for an afternoon nap before Supper. One day he took his nap, and never woke up for Supper....at age 96.
 
My gf's grandfather got up, at 5 AM, and plowed the lower acreage until noon. He came home, sat down on the front porch swing, and grandma went in to get him a lemonade. When she brought it out, he was "looking" straight ahead. He was gone, at 92.

My drummer's grandpa came into the house, after working on his tool shed, told grandma he was going up to take a nap. She went up to check on him, an hour later, and he was gone. 89.

I aspire to go the way the two, above, did. Sometimes, when hanging in the trees, gunning my chainsaw, pruning limbs, I wonder if I'm pushing things, too hard. I wonder the same thing when I'm loading heavy wood and brush, a few hours later, in 100°+ (F) temperatures. Then, I think to myself: I hope I can get home, get comfortable, grab a lemonade, and take a nap!
 
treeguy64 said:
My dad was a 2-3 pack a day guy. He smoked from 17-62. At 75 he got emphysema, at 85, lung cancer took him out. I believe the whole trip about "If you quit, now, you will be fine, in time," is total nonsense, when it comes to those who pass some unidentified tipping point for indulgence in potentially fatal bad habits.
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I agree with this. My father was a tobacco farmer and smoked unfiltered cigarettes most of his life, even the day he died. He had melanoma, likely from all the years working in the sun, which eventually metastasized in various organs. He died of colon cancer shortly before his 80th birthday.
 
Judycat said:
The lucky part is, in bed, not on the toilet.:eek:
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https://allthatsinteresting.com/nelson-rockefeller-death
On Jan. 26, 1979, at 12:20 a.m., former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died from a heart attack while sitting at his desk at Rockefeller Center, working on a book about his personal art collection.

At least, that was what the papers said.

In reality, on Jan. 26, 1979, at 12:20 a.m., former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died from a heart attack while flat on his back and shoeless, in a secret apartment with Megan Marshack, a woman almost 50 years his junior.
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I was a heavy smoker until 2010.
There is a scan now and most health insurers cover it, that if you've quit less than 15 years ago, it's covered.I had it done in December of last year.
 
C'est Moi said:
I agree with this. My father was a tobacco farmer and smoked unfiltered cigarettes most of his life, even the day he died. He had melanoma, likely from all the years working in the sun, which eventually metastasized in various organs. He died of colon cancer shortly before his 80th birthday.
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A friend of mine that worked inside the tobacco industry maintained that unfiltered cigarettes were not the real problem....it was/is the filter that caused the lung problem? He did however admit that nicotine was addictive, and that high tar levels created their own problems/concerns?

He btw, died of prostate cancer way to young, at 60!
 
im 61. i smoked from age 30 to 50.
i miss the fags because they take my mind off food.
but my mother died of lung cancer at 66. Poor gal. Had 7 boys and worked her butt off for us just to die young.
I cant get the image of my mum with a ciggie in her mouth ironing handkerchiefs out of my head.
 

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