There are two different kinds of lung cancer... small cell and large cell. The predominant cause of small cell is SMOKING - and as you know - you don't even have to be a smoker. You can get it by simply living with someone who smokes or working in an environment where people around you smoke all the time. This is a FACT. Will everyone who smokes get cancer? no... Cancer can be random. It can be caused by environment and lifstyle as well as genetics.

I am not arguing the merits of smoking when most of the medical world will tell you point blank it can cause a variety of cancers. Oral being one of them.

"Smoking

Tobacco smoking is by far the leading cause of small cell lung cancer. Most deaths due to small cell lung cancer are caused by smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

Grabbed this from one of many websites available. It's in medical texts too.

"Smoking is clearly the strongest risk factor for lung cancer, but it often interacts with other factors. Smokers exposed to other known risk factors such as radon and asbestos are at even higher risk. Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, so other factors like genetics probably play a role as well."

There aren't direct links to ALL cancers, however there are certain types of cancers that do have direct links. For example - usually with small cell - its rarely random - often they have been exposed to either cigarette smoke over a long term or other carcinogens listed above.

I totally disagree with you that stopping smoking won't help a cancer patient after he or she has been diagnosed.
As I stated in my previous post there are several drawbacks to smoking during treatment.

I am sorry you have issues with fibrosis, and tissue perfusion etc... however you are comparing apples to oranges in this case. Unfortunately it is the radiation that has caused your issues, (just as damaging to the body as smoking can be in some ways)

However if someone is relatively healthy and a smoker, and they give up smoking then overall there will be an improvement in circulating O2, and thus improved tissue perfusion/healing etc.. - take away the fact that you are inhaling all those toxins, and crap and the CO2 every 15 minutes and there is space left for the O2 to fill.

In your case your fibrosis is preventing proper tissue perfusion and exchange of O2 and CO2 and this causes a systemic imbalance which can cause breakdown of other tissues. It's the same process different cause.

And I'm sorry to say. Drs are human. Even the most caring drs in the world have to make difficult decisions. I used to be a nurse. I can tell you that despite it being against the Hippocratic oath what I have said is reality... it's not a guess it's not a supposition I have heard it from the mouths of drs. and know other people in the same field who have as well. It's a true. A dr. will not tell you this to your face. And some are definitely more compassionate than others however, if having to choose between treating two patients with a similar diagnosis (this is done in the ER ALL THE TIME - It's called triaging - most important to least important) lifestyle does come into play - I'm not talking someone's penchant for wearing leather or anything I am talking things they do that have direct impact on their immediate health - smoker? drinker? heavy drug user? there are biases... it's not pretty but its true. Even when considering patients for things like liver transplants... lung transplants - the medical establishment wants to know.. if you were a heavy drinker and destroyed your liver and are up for a transplant they want you clean for a certain amount of time before even considering you for it. Same with lungs. Don't tell me the bias doesn't exist it's all around us.

sorry folks.. I am not out to try and change someone's mind. If they want to smoke go ahead and do it. But really if your health is already tentative - you have cancer - a disease that can potentially KILL YOU - and YOU ARE ALREADY TERRIFIED - does it not make sense that do whatever you can to make sure you are in TOP SHAPE to get through the battle you are facing?

I'm done.