Carwrecks & BigMacs are not even in the same ballpark. No one in the world is going to tell anyone of you smokers anything because your not willing to listen to the facts. What I find it hard to understand is at the bottom of each one of your replys, is what smoking has done for you.
That we all have incomon. Squamous Cell. I got it from Smoking because I would not listen to people tell me it is BAD. You don,t have to stop keep puffing away, I made a choice not to don,t want my children to nor do I wish it on any of my love ones. Barb T now maybe after reading this you can see your not alone, they have every reason in the world to keep smoking, really Sad.

I did not open this topic to get everyone upset... i just had a question and wanted answers...it is each and everyone of our own choices what we do in life and as some of you said "yes we know its a bad choice" and i know cancer is a bad thing and i know you dont have to be a smoker to get it, smoke is in the air no matter where you go, and im aware that smoke doesnt even play a role in some cancers, i know its a habit to smoke, i have bad habits of my own, smoking not being one of them but the diet pop can be just as addicting and im sure it can cause health problems too..what doesnt cause health problems in the world anymore?
But to all of you who responded i do have compassion for you all and i know what its like being with a person with mouth cancer, i would do anything in the world for EzJim,,it just upset me when he lit that first cigarette after his surgery but it is HIS CHOICE and no matter what i will be here for him..who ever said nagging will get me no where is right it only makes the whole thing worse.. so i give up on that.. as i said its HIS CHOICE...
thanks for the information you guys all gave me i do guess it helps me to understand some of what i needed to know... THANKS AGAIN BarbT

Barb,

I think your question was just fine. So do not feel bad for asking it. It was a good question.

My husband quit smoking 13 years ago, but heres the catch.. he chews now. My son quit smoking too... he chews now. You can imagine my up set with this!! I have told them both to quite the chew, and I would rather see them smoke. (not really) The chew is worse. I just know I will see one of them start down this path I just got off of.

I love that saying from Movie "Stupid is as Stupid does" Something like that. Well it seems to Run thick in my house.. Ha ha..

Take care,
Diane

We

Dogman, where in the world did anyone in this thread condone smoking after treatment? I know I don't smoke and I don't believe anyone else on the thread does either. What I said to you is why are you angry at anyone but yourself? Don't worry about other smokers, it's their choice just as it was YOUR choice when you were smoking. If you want to be angry with YOURSELF fine, but it makes no sense to strike out at or judge other people that smoke. So you're "you smokers won't listen" lecture was way off base and out of line.

I went with Dennis to Johns Hopkins today. He will have to face surgery this time around.........base of tongue reconstruction, lymph nodes removed, trach, feeding tube (again!)....and most probably, radiation to the tongue graft.

The doctor smelled the smoke on his clothes, and went through the whole speech on why he had to quit. My husband does not lie....never has to my knowledge....he looked at this doctor, promised he would quit, and promptly left to find a smoking area.

It may be easy for you to sit back and pass judgement on someone you find inferior, but, you don't know this man. If you did, you would understand how far he's come, how hard he works for his family, and never asks for anything in return..........he just smokes.

It's not fair to judge anyone....and especially someone who already feels quilty for putting his family (not to mention himself) through the cancer treatments. How dare you?

Love,
Mandi

Dogman the subject is emotive and your presentation of it is down right apalling.
As the widow of a man who paid the ultimate price for his failings i know from many months of posting on these boards, that the one thing you should do before writing,is to consider the affects your callous remarks may have on others who are not as saintly as you.
The subject is a great discussion point but not a chance for a reformed smoker to get on his soap box and condemn others who may be trying but havent succeeded.

You might just as well ask why a woman who's husband beats her black and blue stays with him rather than runs for the hills.Human failings are not something the layman should criticise leave that to the experts who at least have some degree of sensitivity.

liz

I would like to say something on smoking i am recovering from cancer of the tongue and smoked from when i was sixteen ,if you were sixteen you were allowed to smoke at my school in break periods in the smoke room with the teachers which we did , this was a grammar school at which i stayed till i was nearly eighteen happily smoking away ,the teachers did it so it must be OK , perhaps i should sue them for a bad education (better at smoking than grammar you poss have noticed ) anyway i smoked until i was told i had cancer then stopped , then started again telling myself it would be OK till i started treatment ,then stopped again this was in march this year while i was in treatment i was so ill i could not smoke even though i watched my wife smoke who is a nurse( it never ceases to amaze me how many in our health service smoke ) , the problem is now i am feeling better it is almost as hard not to start smoking again as it was having cancer ,i have spent hours on the Internet trying to find some info on smoking ( in moderation ) would possibly not that harmful or perhaps cigars or a pipe maybe ,it is as hard for a long term smoker to give up smoking as it is to fight this disease so i certainly would not criticize any one with cancer for not being able to stop it hard enough fighting the cancer, hopefully as the recover (if they do) they will see that they are a lot more likely for it to come back if they carry on , i am not smoking now but i hope i can carry on not smoking i have had a go but it tasted horrible so i now i would have to teach myself again ,what i am trying to say is leave people alone with there smoke problem they know what they are doing let them get on with it , and if any one finds a site that says smoking is good for you let me know , and lets have some moaning about drinking because you are just as likely to get throat cancer through drinking ( well nearly ) and i don't think i will ever give that up , cheer everybody Allan

Dogman - I am glad that you made the comments you did. They were honest and you and all of us have a right to our own feelings. I'm sure it represented what many of us non-smokers were thinking but were afraid to express. I am also grateful to Barb and everyone else's comments and especially Brian's post. It has helped me to understand my son Paul's anger at why he (non-smoker) got cancer and his brother (smoker) did not. It has also helped me to understand and be more patient with my older son's difficulty in quitting. Certainly, no one "deserves" to get cancer, whatever the cause for its appearance. I prefer to be angry at the cancer beast itself especially if it helps me to fight it.

Brian,

You made an excellent point regarding the often times comment of the doc delivering the Dx to the tobacco using patient. This is exactly what my ENT did in April of '06 when handing down my verdict. I told her that I obviously caused the cancer from almost 40 years of smoking and she tried to shift gears. She said "don't kick yourself while you are down. 8% of all base of tongue cancer victims have never used tobacco". Yeah, at first that sparked hope until it sunk in that. . .DUH!. . .that means that 92% of BoT victims were/are tobacco users. A little voice then told me, "Bill, do the math".

Bill D.