Don't Get It

[daggiesmom]

I must rant and rave, again. Just read about a poor person who hasn't smoked in 30 years getting stage 4 LC. This really floors me. I know that lc can strike anyone, smoker and non-smoker alike. We all know that. However, to think that someone who hasn't smoked in 30 years can come up with stage 4 disease to me is just so outrageous. Where is the justice in all of this. I am really just beyond words. That tobacco continues to be sold knowing full well that it is killing people 30 years down the road, and the government allows this to happen, to me, is the biggest crime ever. They know it's wrong, and they continue to profit. I was just reading something from a very well known doctor in Colorado who, and I sort of quote, since i can't directly quote, says that he doesn't blame the smoker at all, he blames the government for allowing this attrocity to continue. Shame on them. He also has said when asked how many cigarettes does it take to get lc, his response was "one". Knowing this full well, how come our "representatives" don't shut down the tobacco companies NOW. And they are our "representatives"? I am truly disgusted with this whole situation. They continue to create addicts and No one stops them. They make a half-hearted attempt to stop kids from smoking. All they have to do is stop producing cigarettes, thereby there won't be any more addicts. LC death numbers will drop dramatically. People will actually LIVE LONGER. I am so mad about this, i could just........

Joan

[patut]

I heard on the radio today that teen smoking is on the increase again.

Also, there is lots coming out in tv ads about the hazards of second hand smoke. Hmmm…

[Boysmom]

I too am so frustrated with the whole smoking situation. Luckily somehow something affected me that I never even tried smoking once. I just wish I knew why? I have three very young boys and worry about how to keep them from ever even trying it.

When my dad was first diagnosed, my doctor had me see the local onc. to assess my risk factor as there is also other family members that have had breast cancer. The dr didn't feel that I would be at any greater of a risk. So how does that explain how some families have been so affected through generations by this horrible disease? Is there more heriditary factors than the doctors say? And what role does second hand smoke play? I am not worried about myself today, but I did live with second hand smoke for about the first 20 years of my life. It would be naive of me to think I couldn't get it.

If they would quit selling cigarettes and work for earlier detection, so many future worries would be gone.

Leah

[kim]

I agree with you both. I am a respiratory therapist and I see first hand at work the ravages of cigarette smoking; not only from lung cancer, but from COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma, pulmonary fibrosis. The worst thing is seeing little babies who come in and can hardly breath and their parents reek of cig. smoke! They can't get away from it , they are forced to breath that stuff! When asked if they smoke around them they usually say," No, we smoke in another room." DUH!!!! The problem is that smoking is SO addictive. Some studies say it is as addictive as heroin or crack. People don't want to quit; scary, I know, but that is the reality. Smokers feel that it's their right to smoke if they want to, and I have to agree with them in a way. Drinking can cause surosis(sp) of the liver, but they don't put that on a bottle. Education, I think, is the key. We have to try and try and try to reach the younger children, and convince them that smoking will kill you. My son, Nicolas, is 6yrs. old and I talk to him all the time about what smoking can do to you. He knows that is what took his Mamaw Net and Mamaw Alice away, and he says he won't do it because mommy would kill him first!

I'll get off my soap box now, and just say that we must set and example for our children and let it begin with us and those around us.

[WhenStars]

My dad had not smoked in 20 years when he was diagnosed with stage IIIB last fall.

Some people have asked me if I am more intolerant of smokers now - or if I feel angry at people who smoke. Simply, I harbor no anger at people who smoke. The more research I have done, the more I realize that cancer happens and we are all exposed to cancer-causing substances (voluntarily and involuntarily) throughout our lives.

According to one study of autopsied adults who died from non-cancer events, "most people have a tumor somewhere in their body, but it remains microscopic and dormant until it flips a switch that triggers angiogenesis". Further, the study goes on to say that "the autopsies revealed microscopic prostate tumors in over 40 percent of men in their 60s, microscopic breast tumors in more than one-third of women in their 40s and microscopic thyroid tumors in virtually everyone aged 50 to 70. Yet the rates of clinically diagnosed prostate, breast and thyroid cancers in these age groups are 1 percent or less."

I know this sounds a bit depressing... but for me somehow it provides comfort. If cancerous cells are something that exists in most people - regardless of whether the tumors become threatening or dangerous - then cancer seems less unjust. It becomes more of a normal part of human existence for me.

I am so deep in the depression and misery of grief, that reading medical studies on cancer provides me with solace. Now, that's really depressing.

Kate

[lilyjohn]

I certainly agree with your statements about the tobacco companies and the government. Having been a smoker I can understand it only too well.

I know that lc can strike anyone, smoker and non smoker alike

Yes we all know that so having said that I have to ask. Do you or anyone seriously believe that the only reason someone would have lung cancer is because they smoked thrity years ago or because they smoked one cigarette? Can you or anyone believe that knowing that the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat are full of things that were never meant for human consumption?

We all know that smoking is bad for us. We know that second hand smoke can harm others but we also know that there are other things that cause lung cancer!

I think the fact that so many have bought into the idea that smoking is the only cause of lung cancer is the reason so little research is done to find other causes. How can we ever expect to find a cure when we don't know all of the causes?

How many people are diagnosed in the later stages because they were not exposed to tobacco smoke so they are not tested for lung cancer? Yes, let's understand the dangers of smoking and pass that knowledge on to others but at the same time let's demand that research into other causes is escolated.

It is bad enough that that stigma is attatched to those with lung cancer by the rest of the world but please let us remember that there is much left to learn and that can only be done when people get past the cigarette conection and search for the other causes

[lilyjohn]

It seems that I do not know how to use the quote option!

[daggiesmom]

When i was first fighting this battle, I had someone in my family actually infer that it was my fault. The person is married to my niece by marriage. To me, that is almost not related to me. He has no feelings for me, that I know. It was confirmed by his comments that, in effect, it was my fault I was sick. He is a jerk. They were married in August, 200l and we went to his wedding, under very hard circumstances at the time. Long story sort, all the time I was sick they picked up the phone once.

Maybe I should just let it go. Guess I should.

It will be a long time before Lung Cancer will not carry a stigma. Stupidity dies hard. Compassion is hard to come by in this world. As an aside to this, on Friday at work a few people, who know full well that my daughter died, stood around talking about how ugly people look in a casket. I was right there...... they continued to carry on about how one of them went to a funeral of ayoung child and how bad that child looked.

I put on my coat and left. I bit my tounge, because I wanted to scream at them "how can you be so stupid?" I just left.

These same people are the ones that I had to "pretend to be happy" for the Baby shower. The idiot who talked about the dead kid in the box is due in 2 weeks. I bit my tongue.

I'm learning many lessons. I'm also growing up, finally. Life is so hard.

As I have said before, and I'll say it again, Lung cancer will drop in numbers the day our government shuts down the tobacco industry. It is a total disgrace that it continues to function. They are killing people.

The way to get the message out is to tell everyone you know your indvidual experience with LC and every bump in the road you have experienced.

My dr. was published on MSNBC on Friday. He said that tobacco and obesity are the two preventable problems of cancer. If those two things could be overcome, about half of all cancers could be overcome.

Keep praying everyone.

Joanie

[rosegarden]

Yes it will be a long time before LC loses its stigma, but hang in there: we are all with you and WE understand.

[Remembering Dave]

I have read the thing about there being cancer in almost every person's body. It makes sense. we are imperfect beings. I guess the key thing is the trigger. Some of us have genes which are more prone to trigger the cancer, some of us are exposed to carcnigens (sp) that do it, some of us have both . . . and that is why it is so important to take care of our bodies, eat healthy, not use known poisons like cigs. of course you can do all that and still get cancer.

I don't have an answer for the big cig debate. I used to think and part of me still thinks, that anything in moderation can't be that bad. there's no question that cigs are very addictive and that makes them pretty hard to use in moderation. Lots of us use alcohol in moderation and I see plenty of joking about it, but to some people alcohol is a pretty bad addiction as well (but no one wants another prohibition). There are alot of farmers down this way growing tobacco, which I understand is a very difficult crop to grow AND robs the soil of nutrients quickly, so the best first step I guess would be to encourage them to grow something else. Then gradually the entire cigarette industry, from the growers all the way up to the manufacturers/distributers, will go into another business until the whole thing is shut down. I guess.

I dunno. The big debate.

Karen