Help! Doctor said I cannot smoke until my ankle healed.

[Braznor]

OP, How is the non smoking going?

Still miserable. :|

 

[Nograts]

Still miserable. :|

I just hit a week. Not sure what day you're on but after 4 it was all down hill. I still have cravings but nothing crazy and less and less frequent. It gets better!

 

[brainhulk]

 

[Stopsignhank]

Still miserable. :|

Good, that means you are not smoking! It does get better.

Congrats to you to EP.

 

[alzan]

Tobacco use is heavily related to kidney cancer and bladder cancer. In fact in the US, if you have bladder cancer it is from smoking. The same chemicals that cause cancer in the lungs get absorbed, circulate in the blood, filter to the kidneys, and sit in the bladder until you urinate.

Kidney cancer loves to go to the lungs. Most common site of metastasis.
With cytoreductive surgery (removing the kidney it came from) and immunotherapy (drugs that basically give you the flu) there is a 6 month survival benefit. Kidney cancer doesn't respond to chemotherapy or radiation due to a mutation that allows it to basically pump toxins out to keep producing more cancer.

Bladder cancer and Kidney cancer fight over the 6th and 7th most common cancer in the US.
Muscle invasive bladder cancer is a maneater. Without treatment it has 2 year survival. Stage 3 and 4 have about a 6 month survival.
The cure is a radical cystoprostatectomy where the bladder and prostate are removed completely as well as most of the lymph nodes.
Usually a piece of bowel is cut out to make an ostomy and the ureters (the tubes from the kidney) are attached so allow urine to be collected into a bag.

Funny how Philip Morris doesn't feel the need to make a "truth" commercial about smoking making it that you have to drain pee into a bag on you abdominal wall. Or one where they mention it can turn your kidney into an immortal cancer that chemotherapy and radiation can't touch.

I am very sorry about your cancer, but smoking probably played a factor.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9610793

Cool, so I probably did screw myself. Funny my oncologist, urologist or primary care never told me about that connection.

So I probably shouldn't apply for disability because I brought this on myself.

I should probably take up cigarettes again as well and stop the chemo; no sense in getting treated for a condition that I caused.

Really? Grandparents were from Belleville, IL and Grandpa's Dad worked on the railroad from Union station. Spent a lot of time on the Hill too.

I love going back there for the White Castle, Steak N Shake, and Maulls BBQ.

Heh, my oldest brother lives in Idaho; whenever he comes back for a visit it's White Castles 1st stop after leaving the airport.

We're just off the Hill, close to Ted Drewes.

 

[alzan]

God bless and stay strong man. Were gonna throw you a HUUUGE 80th birthday man! Like Jeebus picuteres Danke portraits and a pome from manlyhands

Sounds like a plan! I'll be the one with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes!

I too had a malignant tumor removed from my right kidney. Any chance you carried a blackberry on your right side?

Unfortunately I wasn't carrying the blackberry until after my kidney was removed

 

[Geekbabe]

Your Doctor just gave you a gift, not smoking could increase your life span considerably.

 

[infoiltrator]

Twenty years ago the doctor gave me a choice. Quit or quit breathing.

Responsible pregnant women give up smoking and drinking through pregnancy.
I suppose..

fwiw people smoke near and in the entranceway of my building. Smells bad and lingers to my nose.

 

[Fritzo]

My grandfather died a painful death at 62 from emphysema, and my father-in-law has COPD and struggles to breathe at 68. Screw smoking. If you're lucky, you're young enough to stop for good.

 

[Carson Dyle]

My grandfather died a painful death at 62 from emphysema, and my father-in-law has COPD and struggles to breathe at 68. Screw smoking. If you're lucky, you're young enough to stop for good.

My Dad was 46 when he stopped smoking. He was easily a two pack a day smoker, from the time he was 18. Just one of those strange things you remember... At the funeral of my Grandmother (his MIL) not long after he stopped smoking, I overheard him talking about it with someone and saying "I could eat that sofa over there". He put on some weight after he stopped, but later lost most of it. He ended up living to be 81 and was only ever sick the last couple of months, never had any lung or breathing problems or cancer.

It's well worth quitting.

 

[Regs]

I quit smoking several years ago. Now I am addicted to extreme amounts of caffeine and masturbation. By the time I make it to the door, I squeeze the handle and pass out.

 

[olds]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2422680

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mg-leonard-nimoy-smoking-20150227-htmlstory.html

 

[brainhulk]

I am high on life

 

[olds]

I am high on life

Plant life?

 

[TheVrolok]

I appreciate SirStev0's candor and realistic information. I have little to add in the regard, however, I would like to leave this relatively recent recommendation from the USPSTF given it's fairly germane to the ongoing discussion.

The USPSTF recommends annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in adults aged 55 to 80 years who have a 30 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. Screening should be discontinued once a person has not smoked for 15 years or develops a health problem that substantially limits life expectancy or the ability or willingness to have curative lung surgery.

I was fairly surprised when the recommendation was finalized given the NLST data, and had some reservations about the recommendation on a population level; however, I have seen some significant benefit on the individual level. For those who meet the above criteria here in the US, consider opening the discussion with your physician. To clarify, a pack-year is (packs per day) x (years smoked) ie a 2 pack per day smoker who has smoked for 20 years has a 40 pack-year history.