Charlie and delia,
Yes I was a smoker and a very heavy smoker at that. I smoked at least two packs a day for 35 years and never tried to quit, huge mistake. The irony of it is that I started using the patch about two weeks before my diagnosis. Things are fine now, although I must say the two weeks after radiation were the roughest. I did vomit alot but it seemed to be more of a gagging reflex because of taste, swallowing and thick mucous issues. Those things have mostly cleared up, I still have a bit of an issue with swallowing because of scar tissue from surgery. My biggest problem today is I have been having issues with some of my teeth and no one wants to proceed to quickly for fear of ORN, so I sit here in pain, in fact i have another CAT scan in about an hour, they want to make sure that it is not something else before they proceed with any dental work, I wish it all would hurry because tooth pain is maybe worse than anything that I experienced with radiation and surgery. Hang in there Charlie and Delia it does get better.
Always lenny