After 20+ years experience in healthcare, I've come across what could only be described as some very nice case studies for why people shouldn't smoke. I'd like to say these case studies are few and far between, but in fact, they're all too commonplace. Everyday in the hospital, I was one of about 10 therapists who would see on average 30 patients in 12 hours. Of these 30 patients, more than 20 were there due to a smoking related illness.
Now multiply this scenario out by the other 20-30 metropolitan hospitals in the metroplex and then again by all the long term care facilities and nursing homes found in our fair city. Now multiply this number by everyday of the year, year after year, after year. So it's safe to say, I've seen my share of pain that smoking can cause. I would like to talk about one such case today.
This was a 68 year old man who smoked on average one and a half packs of cigarettes per day for over 30 years, but he quit when he was 49. He first came to our hospital when he was 53 years old, 4 years after he stopped smoking. His symptoms began with shortness of breath and a cough that wouldn't go away with over the counter medications. Over the 15 years he spent coming to our hospital, he was diagnosed with the following diseases: emphysema (COPD), respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation (life support machine) three times, congestive heart failure (CHF), pneumonia (multiple times), coronary artery disease, CVA (stroke), renal insufficiency, chronic bronchitis, acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and several more maladies related to the above diseases.
He was prescribed home oxygen at age 58 and was dependent on respiratory inhalers and cardiac medications for the duration of the time he first came to us at age 53. He eventually died at the ripe old age of 68 in our emergency room from respiratory failure. The wife decided he had been through enough and chose not to revive him.
This is just one example out of literally millions, of what smoking can do. I did not add any hype to this story for dramatic affect, it simply is what it is. I shudder to think what his life would have been like if he hadn't stopped smoking when he did. But, imagine what would have happened if he had quit when he was 30 years old. He might have been able to enjoy life a little more, maybe travel and see the world. He might have been able to see his grandchildren and his friends more frequently, but as it turns out, he couldn't. You see, he couldn't leave his house. He would simply get too short of breath.
This tragic tale plays out everyday in every city. Hey, I know the world is made up of a million other sad stories. My mom has Alzheimer's disease, so I know that sadness comes in many forms, both within and out of our control. But the thing about smoking is, you can choose to stop. You can rewrite the ending of your life story. It doesn't have to end with a breathing tube stuck in your throat, attached to a ventilator pushing oxygen into your lungs until your family decides you've had enough.
You have so little control over what happens to you in life, but you can control whether you pick up that next cigarette - or does the nicotine have that control? Go ahead and fight back. Get some stop smoking help and take your life back. You won't regret it and neither will those who care most about you.
