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bsmeaton · 10-16-2007, 03:29 PM

I smoked since I was 16 years old. Still puffing at 49 years old this last June when the Cardiologist sent me to the Pulmonologist because I couldn't maintain 83% Oxygen on the treadmill. A few tests later and I'm told I have Stage II Emphasyma and will be on Oxygen 24/7 for life.

I set the smokes down right there and haven't touched them since. Nothing cures the habit more effectively than being told I smoked one too many and none of this can be fixed. If I continue smoking I die a rapid and miserable death.

I think back a lot about all of the times people warned me to quit smoking. If I only would have listened. Now I watch my 12 year old son help me carry oxygen cylinders to the Montana so we can go on a trip. I go nowhere without it. Forever - (I can take it off just about long enough to take a picture like the one below. Note the Liquid Oxygen dewer below the slide on the Montana - nowhere without it!)

I either didn't listen well, or I didn't understand. I get angry when I see people older than me still smoke and they don't need oxygen. I wonder why me. I always thought I could stop before anything bad happened. Not true, the damage starts the moment you light up. How fast it kills you all depends on that DNA string you carry.

You did so well!! Don't give up! Ask your doctor for an oxygen canula and try it on to see how you look. Make a list of things you would have to give up to be on oxygen such as swimming, dancing, sitting near a campfire...... Spend some time in the waiting room at a hospital that specializes in pulmonary diseases and watch the people. Chat with them - imagine yourself............

YOU CAN DO IT!

10-16-2007, 03:29 PM	#12
bsmeaton Montana Master Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Lone Tree Posts: 5,615 M.O.C. #6109	I smoked since I was 16 years old. Still puffing at 49 years old this last June when the Cardiologist sent me to the Pulmonologist because I couldn't maintain 83% Oxygen on the treadmill. A few tests later and I'm told I have Stage II Emphasyma and will be on Oxygen 24/7 for life. I set the smokes down right there and haven't touched them since. Nothing cures the habit more effectively than being told I smoked one too many and none of this can be fixed. If I continue smoking I die a rapid and miserable death. I think back a lot about all of the times people warned me to quit smoking. If I only would have listened. Now I watch my 12 year old son help me carry oxygen cylinders to the Montana so we can go on a trip. I go nowhere without it. Forever - (I can take it off just about long enough to take a picture like the one below. Note the Liquid Oxygen dewer below the slide on the Montana - nowhere without it!) I either didn't listen well, or I didn't understand. I get angry when I see people older than me still smoke and they don't need oxygen. I wonder why me. I always thought I could stop before anything bad happened. Not true, the damage starts the moment you light up. How fast it kills you all depends on that DNA string you carry. You did so well!! Don't give up! Ask your doctor for an oxygen canula and try it on to see how you look. Make a list of things you would have to give up to be on oxygen such as swimming, dancing, sitting near a campfire...... Spend some time in the waiting room at a hospital that specializes in pulmonary diseases and watch the people. Chat with them - imagine yourself............ YOU CAN DO IT!