I don't have lung cancer!!!! YEEEEHAAA!
I'm so relieved I feel like I have a new life.
To make a long story short there were some concerns about my lungs that had me scared out of my wits over the last few days.
What I DO have is the beginnings of COPD. Not good, but not so far gone that I can't arrest the progress and live a long, free-breathing, life.
So, the big news is I've finally quit smoking after 36 years. No playing this time.
Today is day 2. I know that's not much yet but it's the longest I've gone in a long long time. It's been interesting to observe but each hour is another step to breathing well and discovering what the non-addicted Flydood is really like. Probably a bigger ass than ever LOL
I can't wait to start smelling and tasting things again!!!!
Of course the beer has to go by the wayside for awhile until I get well past this initial stage but I figure beer will taste a lot better in the long run.
X-Rays are normal
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Flyingcursor
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X-Rays are normal
I'm no longer trying a new posting paradigm
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Nanohedron
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Innocent Bystander
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Glad to hear no lung cancer. Not so glad to hear about the COPD.
A bloke I used to work with had tried to give up smoking two or three times. His boss, who was a charismatic individual, told him "Smoking is not addictive". This was the fundamental thing for him. Once he had his head around it, he gave up and never even bothered worrying about it.
I've no idea why that made a difference to him, but it did.
Olfactory warning. Not all smells are nice smells.
A bloke I used to work with had tried to give up smoking two or three times. His boss, who was a charismatic individual, told him "Smoking is not addictive". This was the fundamental thing for him. Once he had his head around it, he gave up and never even bothered worrying about it.
I've no idea why that made a difference to him, but it did.
Olfactory warning. Not all smells are nice smells.
Wizard needs whiskey, badly!
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mutepointe
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djm
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Is that the sexually transmitted kind?FlyingC wrote:What I DO have is the beginnings of COPD.
I have been a non-smoker now for almost two years. My sense of smell and taste has not come back in any way. In fact, things like radishes that used to be too hot don't even have a taste for me any more, and things like grapefruit that used to be too sour I can now eat without any sugar on them. In fact, I now have a whole grapefruit every day.FlyingC wrote:]I can't wait to start smelling and tasting things again!!!!
If you find yourself getting the shakes etc. that from withdrawal, just let it happen. Don't use that as an excuse to go back to smoking. Let it play out for a few days. It will gradually go away.
djm
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
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missy
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First off - glad for the good news Flydood. 
I used to work with one of our best "off flavorists" in the company (we got stuff when it went "bad" and we had to figure out why). For YEARS, Mike would have to go out and smoke a cigarette before he would "sniff" (which involved standing for about an hour at the end of an instrument called a gas chromatograph and smelling the vaporized effluent that would elude off the end of the column while the column heated up).
He wound up having angioplasty done, was put on beta blockers, and was told in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS he had to quit smoking.
He only worked about a year after that - he completely lost whatever it was that had "calibrated" his nose (he was close to being able to retire anyway). Even the most common (and most volatile and stinky) compounds he had trouble sniffing and identifying correctly.
I used to work with one of our best "off flavorists" in the company (we got stuff when it went "bad" and we had to figure out why). For YEARS, Mike would have to go out and smoke a cigarette before he would "sniff" (which involved standing for about an hour at the end of an instrument called a gas chromatograph and smelling the vaporized effluent that would elude off the end of the column while the column heated up).
He wound up having angioplasty done, was put on beta blockers, and was told in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS he had to quit smoking.
He only worked about a year after that - he completely lost whatever it was that had "calibrated" his nose (he was close to being able to retire anyway). Even the most common (and most volatile and stinky) compounds he had trouble sniffing and identifying correctly.
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anniemcu
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Nothing like a close brush with death to wake one up, eh? 
That's great news! COPD is a whole lot more manageble than lung cancer.
Well... now that you know what the heck your life is worth, live it, my friend!!
Live it well!!
That's great news! COPD is a whole lot more manageble than lung cancer.
Well... now that you know what the heck your life is worth, live it, my friend!!
Live it well!!
anniemcu
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"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
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"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
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http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
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"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
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"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
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http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
Not if you keep smoking!anniemcu wrote:That's great news! COPD is a whole lot more manageble than lung cancer.
Everyone thinks "cancer" is the only thing you get from smoking, but it isn't. COPD, emphysema, gum disease, vascular diseases of all sorts, from coronary artery disease to peripheral arterial disease to . . . wrinkles and sagging skin . . . and to . . . not making this up here, folks! . . . impotence.
Congratulations, Fly!
Cotelette d'Agneau
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SteveShaw
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On February 21 at 8.05 p.m. I celebrated my 30th anniversary of giving up smoking with a bottle of pink Cava. 
. Not one scrap of tobacco product has passed my lips since that day in 1978. I was a terrible addict, not happy with fewer than 30 a day of the strongest I could get my hands on. Giving up was the best decision I ever made. Tell everyone you're giving up. Keep busy. Giving up was acutely hurtful for a month, then I spent the next three months sighing and feeling sorry for myself, then I was free. Just think what a great summer you're going to have!
. Not one scrap of tobacco product has passed my lips since that day in 1978. I was a terrible addict, not happy with fewer than 30 a day of the strongest I could get my hands on. Giving up was the best decision I ever made. Tell everyone you're giving up. Keep busy. Giving up was acutely hurtful for a month, then I spent the next three months sighing and feeling sorry for myself, then I was free. Just think what a great summer you're going to have!"Last night, among his fellow roughs,
He jested, quaff'd and swore."
They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life that'll never, never die.
I'll live in you if you'll live in me -
I am the lord of the dance, said he!
He jested, quaff'd and swore."
They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life that'll never, never die.
I'll live in you if you'll live in me -
I am the lord of the dance, said he!
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Redwolf
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One other thing...don't buy too heavily into the COPD diagnosis.
I quit in 2004, while in the throws of a terrible infection that included bronchitis. I went to the emergency room, they took a chest X-ray, and told me in no uncertain terms that I had COPD. Turns out that's a stock diagnosis for ANY smoker who's experiencing respiratory problems. A non-smoker might get "acute bronchitis" written in their charts, but the smoker will ALWAYS get "COPD" even if there's no indication that the problem is chronic.
I don't have COPD. Never did.
People talk a lot about "taste" and "smell" "returning"...but I'm four years after quitting, and, to be honest, there's not much difference.
There are lots of good reasons to quit...don't get me wrong. They're expensive (mainly because the anti-smoking lobby have chosen to make them that way), and there IS an increased risk of lung cancer and heart attacks (though that's another thing I think the anti-smoking lobby has overstated), and it's really nice to not be addicted to something (though I still LOVE the smell, and occasionally bum a hit from smoking friends). Just don't let the doctors convince you (and, more importantly, your insurance company) that you have a chronic disease when that may well not be the case. If you ever have to buy your own insurance, that may well come back to haunt you. Give it a few years and ask for another X-ray...chances are good that that "COPD" will have magically disappeared.
Redwolf
I quit in 2004, while in the throws of a terrible infection that included bronchitis. I went to the emergency room, they took a chest X-ray, and told me in no uncertain terms that I had COPD. Turns out that's a stock diagnosis for ANY smoker who's experiencing respiratory problems. A non-smoker might get "acute bronchitis" written in their charts, but the smoker will ALWAYS get "COPD" even if there's no indication that the problem is chronic.
I don't have COPD. Never did.
People talk a lot about "taste" and "smell" "returning"...but I'm four years after quitting, and, to be honest, there's not much difference.
There are lots of good reasons to quit...don't get me wrong. They're expensive (mainly because the anti-smoking lobby have chosen to make them that way), and there IS an increased risk of lung cancer and heart attacks (though that's another thing I think the anti-smoking lobby has overstated), and it's really nice to not be addicted to something (though I still LOVE the smell, and occasionally bum a hit from smoking friends). Just don't let the doctors convince you (and, more importantly, your insurance company) that you have a chronic disease when that may well not be the case. If you ever have to buy your own insurance, that may well come back to haunt you. Give it a few years and ask for another X-ray...chances are good that that "COPD" will have magically disappeared.
Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
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WyoBadger
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