Smoking is disgusting. I would know – I used to dabble recreationally in this wonderfully addictive practice (hola madre and dadder, sorry!). They don’t tell you in 5th grade why people smoke – it’s awesome, calms you down, and is cheaper than lunch. They also don’t make it clear, aside from the obvious cancer and death, how it actually impacts your life… for example it makes your walk up seem like Everest base camp 1, leaves you smelling like Hudson’s worst gastric illness, and makes you look pretty stupid considering the negative health implications. Potato, potahto. If you’re reading this and smoke – cheers, I loved smoking. No one’s perfect.
To clarify I’m talking about cigarettes here – but, although I’m no scientist, I think we can all agree “smoking” of any genre negatively impacts health. And no, I don’t care if you disagree. And also no, I’m not citing sources because this isn’t hell and I’m not rewriting my thesis. Or maybe this is hell but I’m still not providing evidence, k?
I digress. So smoking is bad. It causes all sorts of terrible health problems – one of which I was able to witness firsthand when my mother went through treatment for throat cancer. Let me preface this by saying my mother never smoked. Smoking cigarettes or anything for that matter did not cause her specific trip to cancertopia. BUT, the cancer my mom had CAN and is OFTEN caused by smoking. What I want people to take away from this blog post is that her experience during treatment (which was horrifying) negates any of the pros of smoking… seriously.
Pay for the lunch. Find another outlet for stress. Breath in that gritty city air and thank god you’re not having your neck radiated into next month. Say a silent thank you that you aren’t having your bloodstream flooded with a cocktail of drugs so strong doctors literally calculate what will kill you, pick a dose slightly lower and tell you to hold on for dear life. That’s radiation and chemo, people. It’s a wild fucking party. One I got to attend as mom’s plus one and one I’d never like to RSVP for again.
During my mother’s treatment extravaganza (read: shitstorm), I sent out several update emails to her nearest and dearest describing how she was feeling and what the next steps were. I’ve provided links to those below. You’ll notice the gradual decrease in jokes and humor imbued in each subsequent update… imagine living it. Mom did.
Mupdate #4: Cancer is not a Nancy Myers Film… but we will try like hell to make it one.
And, while in mom’s case her cancer was caused not by smoking but by a virus, I implore all reading to consider not doing something that might yield the diagnosis she received in March of last year. We thank god every day that she has beaten it. And, in four years when she has had no recurrence …we’ll celebrate Mom’s official designation as CURED. But, today, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her last day of treatment, I just wanted to remind everyone that moderation in life is key – except when it comes to smoking.
Only an idiot would say otherwise.
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