Originally Posted by
chicagogal
One of my closest loved ones died a couple of years ago due to complications caused by a lifetime of smoking. Over the span of 10 years, he had open heart surgery, surgery to repair blood vessels in the extremities, treatment for gangrene, and a leg amputated. He finally died post-op from kidney failure. He was 63. For those of you have quit smoking, congratulations. For those of you working on it, please keep trying, if not for yourself, for the people in this world who will miss you when you are gone.
Yes, I know I'm quoting a year old post.
I've never smoked. But I lost the grandfather I loved too soon from cigarettes. He had quit and was married to a woman who brought him alive. I also lost two mentors in my professional and spiritual lives to lung cancer. (Both stopped smoking before I knew them.) I suffered toxic reactions to common chemicals from my years building fiberglass boats. I could not inhale straight cigarette smoke, even outdoors. Diluted cigarette smoke affected me for many hours later, costing me a lot of sleep.
One of my challenges now is accepting cigarettes and the damage they do. (If I don't accept this, the resentment eats away at me, no one else.) I have to accept that the biggest drug dealers who spread by far the most damage in this country will never be punished. (Tobacco company CEOs, board and stockholders.)
Ben