Smoking

[tlhudson]

Just a question about how many smoked before surgery and successfully quit and how many didn't stop smoking and
were there any complications ?

Has anyone started smoking again after surgery - any
complications ??


I am trying to quit, love my little cigars!
But know I need to for the breathing.

 

[Nancy]

Terry-

Now you know the answers to your questions don't you?? Fortunately, Joe never smoked in his life. He's had the three heart surgeries and also two lung surgeries.

Your lungs and heart are thoroughly integrated with each other. If your lungs are compromised in any way, it will have an adverse effect on your heart.

Please stop smoking today, even though it will be extremely hard. It just means that your lungs will have one less day to get filled with black tar.

Please

 

[joy]

Terry, both my shusband and I used to smoke. I quit when I was in a coma...never will start up again-ever! My husband quit in March of this year, and he said he wouldn't start up again either! We both agree that it is a yucky habit...in fact, I run a daycare, and there is this lady who comes in with her baby after smoking around her 19 month old child(which upsets me anyways), and it STINKS! Yuck, the first time she walked in,I almost threw up. YOu'll feel the same way when you quit. Just ask your surgeon. It isn't worth having the surgery, if you are just going to destroy your lungs and heart by inhaling tar, nicotine, and all the other nasty chemicals that are in a cigar. Take it easy, and QUIT TODAY

 

[Les]

No greater wisdom than what Nancy posted...

 

[Perrster]

Pee-Yoo!!!

Pee-Yoo!!!

Yuck!

I seriously try to avoid any place and thing that smells of smoke.

Time to quit for the sake of others if your personal health is not the issue.

Good luck.

 

[Kevin M]

I smoked from when I was 15 until my first surgery in my early 20's. I then quit for 5 years and started smoking again when I was about 26. I did so socially - maybe 5 cigarettes a week. I justified it to myself in that I thought it wasn't that much, so it didn't matter.

I hate myself for starting again.
I quite totally two years ago and since then have now developed a total disgust for the habit.

Non-smokers don't get it. If you haven't been addicted to cigarettes before, you don't know how hard it is to quit.

It's the same a when you are overweight or inactive. You know you should do something about it, but some people don't because they are blocked somewhere and find it difficult.

If you can - please try to quit. I GUARANTEE that you will feel much better for it. Even if you are an occasional smoker like I was for several years. When I stopped, my energy level increased and my ability to exercise became far easier - just from getting rid of 5 cigarettes a week.

I recognize that it doesn't make me that popular that I started smoking again after my first surgery. Believe me, I'm still disgusted with myself for it, so please gang, keep the preaching to yourselves. There is nothing you can't tell me that I've not told myself. The important thing is that I quit for good and that is another guarantee that I'm willing to make.
Kev

 

[hensylee]

Well, Ter, looks like I'm 'it'. Probly nobody else will own up to it, but I will.

I smoked long and hard for most of my life. My dear ex taught me by asking me to 'bring me a cigarette, Hon' all those many yrs ago. Well, any fool nowadays knows that's a good way to get hooked, but in those days everybody did it (I am old, you know) and even drs got on TV, radio (all the media) and told you which was the best cigarette to smoke and why - all liars, by the way. And so I smoked, as many of us in VR did (but may not own up to it). My little son tried to get me to quit (he's 36 now) and I just couldn't seem to, but the day prior to my heart surgery (quad bypass - not valve replacement), I watched him drive up toward my house from far away to be with me during surgery. I was smoking - I put it down, and out and said never again. That was 3/8/2000 and I never even had withdrawal. THEN (story's not over yet) in March, 2001 a set of circumstances put me in close contact with a constant smoker, meaning I was also smoking - I soon bought a pack and it was like I never quit. My children were soooo disappointed in me. But this year, in the last few months, I have gotten quite short of breath and knew I was just killing myself. I finally picked the day (the hardest part), smoked that last cigarette at least six times (a bit at the time) and haven't smoked again. Quitting smoking is like losing your goodest friend, because it is comforting always and forever 'there' for you when maybe nobody or nothing else is and it's 24/7. It has a calming effect, somehow. Non-smokers will never ' get it' on this point but I bet those of you who gave it up know what I mean. There is one thing that I have to agree with the others about - how the h*** do I get the stink out of my house, because it really does.

And so, Ter, I don't know if this will help you any at all beause it is nigh to impossible to quit. When you say this is the 'last pack', you hurry up and smoke it ALL so you can start quitting, but then you say, well, one more pack and THEN.................well, you know. I will never condemn a single soul in this world for smoking - I will say ' Bless your heart, I sure understand" and I do. God bless

 

[hensylee]

Hey, Kev - we had same idea same time - you weren't there when I started my post but when I clicked the button yours was right there and we pretty much said the same thing, didn't we? Aren't we brave - we owned up in front of this bunch. Now do we have to duck?

 

[RonT]

Hi hensylee,

I hear what you are saying! Been there, done that. I was smoking three packs a day when I quit (cold turkey) fifteen years ago. I finally realized that the cigs were running my life and I had to get it back! One of the hardest things I ever did!!!! Bless my wife and daughter for putting up with me (put me in the basement and threw me some raw meet every couple of days) because I was not a happy camper! My dad died of lung cancer in 1981 and even watching him waste away didn't slow down my habit. Glad I quit. I found that ya gotta really want do it!!!!!! Keep up the nonsmoking habit!!!!!!

Ron

 

[Scottie]

I'm a smoker !

I'm a smoker !

I'm a smoker ..the Drs knew ...one even told me that the time before my surgery was probably not the right time to give up as I was so stressed ...so I didn't ...on the day before my surgery in the hospital I was so uptight that the ward sister told my hubby to take me to the coffee shop across the road from the hospital to have a cigarette and some coffee .
I had all the breath tests and xrays at the hospital before my op and they told me they would never have known I was a smoker . Everything was in the normal range.
After the surgery I didn't smoke for two weeks ...too busy being sick ....but now I'm back smoking ...not the best thing for me I know ..but that's how it is ..
Take care
Scottie

 

[Kevin M]

Wow, so much honesty!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to keep fighting the monster. It's an awfully hard habit to lose. I am soooo glad I was finally able to quit.
Kev

 

[tlhudson]

Well just wanted to say thank you to all that have replied.
Wow "such honesty" seems like an understatement.

Also as a note, I am trying to quit. Been four days now with out a cigar. It'll be tough this weekend having a beer and watching football! Drats and Double drats

Thanks again for all the encouragement.

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi,

Yuppers.. I was a smoker too. I was a gym rat, still am, ate right, but I did have smoking as a vice I enjoyed.

I stopped smoking the day of my emergency surgery 3/23/00, and haven't had one since. In fact, I still remember sitting on the sofa having a smoke, just before the dissection hit!

The doctors said that since I could have a connective tissue disorder which caused my dissection, smoking would be extremely bad for me, since it hardens the arteries. Also, as a result of my dissection I lost some use of my legs, circulation wise that is, and hardening of the arteries is the last thing I need in my legs.

MY wife still smokes, and I sure love the sweet smell of it. I don't think I will ever get over that, or the urges to fire one up, but I also realize that the urge will pass in a few minutes, so I try thinking of something else until that happens.

I'm not one of "those" X-smokers that condemn smokers. Hell I still wish I was one too!

Ahhh... nothing like a "virtual" puff on occation.. Puff puff puff.... Ahhh..


Rob
puffff puffff pufffff ahhhhhhh

 

[Nancy]

Good for you Ter-

Just wanted to say that once you get going in the right direction, don't ever turn back, not even for one little puff. It's been 26 years for me and I know if I took one puff, I'd be right back where I was 26 years ago in about a week. I still dream about smoking.

I even hate the smell of it now, so go figure?? It's a very powerful addiction to say the least.

 

[wlaldridge]

Golly,

I am a "born again" reformed smoker. I did it "cold turkey"

The last time I quit was 22 years ago, but I had gone 4 and 9 years on other quits. Never sure I am cured, but don't like the smell of the stuff anymore, a good sign maybe. I hope.

Must say I was thankful that I didn't smoke when I had my surgery. I had also given up cafiene about 6 weeks prior to surgery. Wanted to give myself the best shot I could.

I remember a good friend of mine 30 years ago had CABG at Cleveland Clinic and they flat told him they would not take a smoker for surgery till they had been off smoking for more than a month. No emergencies allowed.

I know that my recovery has been remarkable and gentle compared to many here. Have to think the non-smoking had something to do with it.

Get off em and stay off if you can. It is not a fluke that life insurance is cheaper for non-smokers. But have to say it is like alcoholism and AA. I do it(or don't) one day at a time hoping I will never have to quit again.

Good Luck.

Bill

 

[cookie]

smoking still?

smoking still?

OK OK OK!! I'll fess up. I still smoke although I "quit" for six weeks after my surgery. My husband smokes and it is just about the worst thing to have to do to sit and watch him smoke and not have one! I have tried several times to quit. My kids don't smoke and hate the fact that we do. We have a new Grandaughter and absolutely no smoking around her! Well I spend a lot of time with her so why not quit all together? I DON'T KNOW! I've never had to do something this hard except for open heart surgery!! Believe me, I have had all the arguements with myself and told myself how DUMB smoking is after what I went through, but you know how a smokers mind works! I think abut quiting all the time but..........................

 

[Rain]

"I found that ya gotta really want do it!!!!!!"

"I found that ya gotta really want do it!!!!!!"

Ron T hit the nail on the head!

I smoked for about twelve years. I quit when I was 32. I had tried to quit several times and was unable to. Several things happened that really helped me get determined... Like finding out I was pregnant again, also my heart was really starting to beat wacky about that time. And every time I smoked a cigarette it felt like it was going into a-fib. The cigarettes were really messing with my heart. Even still it was really hard to quit. I didn?t do it cold turkey. I ?allowed? myself so many cigarettes per day... until I was down to one and then none. I know.... crazy Rain.. but Hey! It worked for me. My husband thought I was completely nuts doing it that way. He also quit at the same time (cold turkey) and that helped a lot! It?s much harder when you are living with a smoker to quit.

I can?t stand the smell of them now either. And just being in a smoke filled room will still make my heart beat faster and more irregular. I don?t think smokers realize how much they bother other people. But I?m not gonna gripe them out either.

Like Rob says..... I still take a ?virtual puff? occasionally Hilarious!! So you go, Ter... get determined, you can do it!!

Rain

 

[RonT]

Thanks Rain.

I was a professional quitter for years until I made the choice for the right reason....I really wanted to quit!!! At that time I was a musician with a day job. We played in smoke filled clubs four to five days a week until closing. I would then get up and go to work smoking cigs most of the time (long days). One Sunday morning I coughed up some nasty looking things and decided I needed to take my life back.
Rob...I still feel the urge at times even though I can't stand the smell anymore. I think I'll become a virtual puffer!!!!!

Ron

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi Ron,

Hmmm.. Think we heed to setup a virtual smokers lounge here on the board!

ACtually, I don't care for the smell either especially on peoples clothing when I am near them. But, I still really enjoy the smell of one that was freshly lit. When my wife lites up in the car, whew.. so tempting at times.. Oh well.. I used to just say, " Fire one up for me too" Those were the days!

pufff pufff pufff pufff puffff.... ahhhhhhh...

Whew... I needed that!

Happy Motoring!

Rob

 

[Perrster]

Perhaps somebody can get some use out of this junk spam-mail I received?

Attention! If you are a smoker age 21 or older, you can enter to win a
Flat Screen TV worth $2000! Click here to complete the smokers survey
and enter to win!

http://www.planetfreebee.com/z/wintv.phtml

I really would hope you quit instead!