Just visited my sister , she has Emphysema

[dieselgal]

My beautiful sister is now 57 and has advanced Emphysema. I just traveled to visit her yesterday and it just makes my heart sick because there is nothing I can do to help her or relieve her suffering. She has been fighting this for some years now but at this time she is pretty much restricted to her room with a bipap and oxygen most of the time. During our visit she tried to leave her room for a while but I could tell it was really tough on her and sent her back to her room.

I wish everyone that smokes could see my sister and see what may be waiting in the wings. I smoked many years ago and thankfully was able to quit. If not I am sure I would be right where she is now. She was the prettiest of 4 sisters and still has a beautiful soul but physically she is almost unrecognizable due to steroids and other meds that keep her alive.

She is married but married life as most of us think of it is not possible with them really. She is in her room on the machine with air cleaners, fans, oxygen and he lives his own life working and taking care of things that she can no longer do. He loves her very much I know but I know it must be so hard on him. It is very hard on her as well because she worries about how hard it is on him and feels like such a burden.

I know this may not be the place for this post but I needed to put down my thoughts and cry some for her and myself because it won't be long before I have lost another sibling.

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[6PtStar]

Sorry for you and your sister. I is a really bad situation. I smoked for a couple of years back in college because it was cool (do they still use that word?). My father was a heavy smoker. He lost one lung to it and still would not quit. It finally took him from us. In my sorrow I quit and that was 45 yeas ago. Sometimes a little good eventually comes from it.


Jerry

[ZZZzzz]

Isn't it gut wrenching to watch a loved one suffer?
Especially something basically preventable.

My dad has COPD and related issues from smoking most of his life.
He was in the Navy for 20 years and cigarettes were a little cheaper to get on the base.
What a bargain, huh...my mom and my siblings get to watch him die slowly as he suffocates.

I want to post before and after pictures in our smoke shack at work for all of the "cool" people that spend their time out there inhaling smoke.

It's true - your habits either serve you or destroy you.

-Bev

[dieselgal]

Yes maybe a before and after picture would keep it in our consciousness.
Not being able to breathe is absolutely suffering.

[sleepycarol]

I lost both of my parents to cigarettes.

My dad died at age 61. The last several years tied to oxygen. It is a slow painful death - or at least his was. I was 22 and my younger sister was 11, with four brothers in between. My sister had to grow up without a father. Really sad. Dad stopped smoking several years before his death, but it was too late for him as he had already advanced in the disease that there was not turning back.

My mother died at age 64. She chained smoked to the bitter end. Hers was a sad and painful death. She fought death tooth and nail and in the end she ended up not knowing us kids. We had to place her in an assisted living facility as she was unable to even turn over on her own. Only then did she stop smoking -- when she was unable to get the cigarette to her mouth.

Out of six children none of us smoke. We saw and lived with the deadly consequences of tobacco.

Unfortunately, our children are grown and didn't learn the lessons taught by the decline of my parents' health and thus smoke.

[JeffH]

I smoked for 20 years and was lucky enough to quit thru the American Lung Assoc. program in '91. It is free and it works. What I liked about it was it was honest. There wasn't any of this "three days and it's over with" crap. They told us at three days you were just getting into the pain of nicotine withdrawal.

I think the one thing that probably helped me the most was someone told me about seven years before I was able to quit that they had realized that they were ONLY smoking to keep from going into nicotine withdrawals. I realized that that was why I was smoking too and it pretty much ruined my smoking. It still took seven years to get there, and I had it bad...I smoked regulars and menthols and carried two packs of cigarettes with me at all times.

The pain of withdrawal lasted eleven days for me. Eleven days of pain for a life time (so far, one day at a time) of freedom. Not a bad deal, and I didn't use any of the drugs / gum or anything else. Cold turkey really makes a lasting impression on your mind...LOL.

BTW, my 80 year old mother still smokes and seems to have no ill effects from it...amazing.