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Post by James T. Kirk on Jun 26, 2022 8:24:44 GMT -6
I got two bits of sad news this morning. My best friend since high school texted me and said one of his sisters passed away overnight.
Thirty minutes later I saw a fire truck, followed soon by an ambulance, pull up in front of my cousin's house who also happens to live a few doors down. He passed overnight in his sleep as well.
Both were life-long smokers until they were stricken with Emphysema and COPD in her case and lung cancer which went to the liver and other places in his case. He was in his early 70s and she in her 60s.
I admit, like others in my youth, I smoked some for a year or two. I'm so grateful I stopped very quickly. My father's death at 49 weighed heavily on my quitting.
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Post by lowell on Jun 26, 2022 12:05:21 GMT -6
I smoked for 20 years starting with college. I resolved to quit after learning that it was harder to quit tobacco than heroin. I didn't like thinking of myself as a junkie. Even so it took a half a year to quit. Nicotine stuns the cells that move phlegm out of the lungs. After quitting for a day they begin moving the flagellum that accomplishes this. The cells are bruised and painful. Knowing this I realized that the sensation in my lungs that my mind interpreted as the desire for a cigarette was actually the healing process for these cells. So when I felt the "desire" for a cigarette, I would make a pre-emptive couple of coughs to help move the mucus out of my lungs. This worked quite well. I also changed to low tar low nicotine cigarettes that I disliked the taste of.
I never expected to live this long. I made bad decisions about lifestyle choices. Still, I have made some very good choices since discovering Buddhism. Now, in my 70's, many I grew up with are discovering the limits of life expectancy.
For men when I was born it was 65 and for women it was 70. That had increased to 82 for women and 77 for men, born in recent years, but has dropped recently as a result of covid.
I am somewhat out of touch with my high school friends. My best friend from high school died a few years ago. He loved drinking distilled beverages and frequently fell and hit his head when he was inebriated. That was what mainly ended his run.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Jun 26, 2022 12:45:33 GMT -6
I'm not much of a drinker either. I do like the taste and thirst-quenching feeling of an ice-cold beer, so much so that I drink one a week whether I need it or not. And I do drink a glass of wine every Christmas Eve with our traditional lasagna dinner. I don't think an occasional drink does nearly the damage of smoking tobacco products. Some say there are benefits to wine, but I'm not convinced.
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