Shoot - my mother just got diagnosed with lung cancer...

[trancejeremy]

Ugh. She had just finally recovered from heart surgery, but had a recurring cough. The initial diagnosis on the cough was clean, but then they took a second look and noticed something, and they had a c-scan and that turned it up.

Since she's pretty old, 70, you know this sort of thing is inevitable, especially as she was a smoker (wouldn't even quit after heart surgery, despite constant pressure from my father and I and her sisters). But still feels like a sucker punch to the solar plexus.

Anyway, crap. I guess that's one of the hardest parts of middle age, facing your parent's impending mortality. I know I've been lucky - some of my cousins have had to deal with their parent's dying at a much younger age (or when they were younger, anyway).

I guess my real point is, and I hate people who preach, but still if you smoke, or your parents or loved ones do, do everything you can do stop. No good can come from of it, either by heart disease or cancer. Don't think of yourself, but your family.

 

[Treebore]

My Dad and Grandparents are why I don't smoke. Similiar reasons for my wife. So if any of our 3 kids start smoking they won't be able to blame us.

My dad has a persistant cough. He claims he has been checked for Cancer and is clean, but he also claims to have know idea why he coughs. The only reason I accept it isn't cancer is because he has had the cough for as long as I can remember.

Like I tell my kids, there is already plenty of things in this world, and people, that can take your life, so why so blatantly risk it by smoking?

My Dad even stopped smoking over 10 years ago, because of my kids begging him as toddlers.

Hopefully your mom's is caught soon enough that she will be successfully treated, and healthy enough that the doctors feel its worth the additional risks at her age. So hopefully you will have more time than you are fearing with your mother.

 

[jaerdaph]

I'm really sorry to hear that, Jeremy. I'll keep you and your mom in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[Rel]

That's rough news, man. Hang in there. We're here if you need us.

 

[Piratecat]

Jeremy, I'm really sorry. That utterly sucks. Do you know a prognosis yet?

 

[Ranger REG]

Ugh. She had just finally recovered from heart surgery, but had a recurring cough. The initial diagnosis on the cough was clean, but then they took a second look and noticed something, and they had a c-scan and that turned it up.

Since she's pretty old, 70, you know this sort of thing is inevitable, especially as she was a smoker (wouldn't even quit after heart surgery, despite constant pressure from my father and I and her sisters). But still feels like a sucker punch to the solar plexus.

Anyway, crap. I guess that's one of the hardest parts of middle age, facing your parent's impending mortality. I know I've been lucky - some of my cousins have had to deal with their parent's dying at a much younger age (or when they were younger, anyway).

I guess my real point is, and I hate people who preach, but still if you smoke, or your parents or loved ones do, do everything you can do stop. No good can come from of it, either by heart disease or cancer. Don't think of yourself, but your family.

Sorry to hear that. Had an uncle who smoked and later diagnosed with lung cancer. To this day, I can still recall the haunting images of my uncle's suffering, which is scary for a then 13-year-old boy, and reminds me why I shouldn't start. It is even more frightening that you don't have to smoke to catch lung cancer.

Not to sound callous, but the strongest way to teach someone not to smoke is to spend a day with someone who suffers from it.

 

[Mark CMG]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[sydbar]

I'll say a prayer for her, but I know what its like. I was 10 when my mother died from lung cancer, after we watched her waste away to nothing.

 

[Zander]

TJ,

I'm very sorry to hear about your mother's illness. It sounds from what you say that they caught it early on in which case all should be fine. There aren't many cancers that, if diagnosed early enough, can't be treated. I know several people including my parents who have had cancer and are now OK.

Best wishes to you and your mother,

Z

 

[mythusmage]

I don't smoke because my father died of lung cancer. While true addiction is a rare thing, when it does occur it is a very hard thing to beat. I'm not going to chance it.

Help make her comfortable in her final days, tell her dirty jokes until she smiles, and tell the do-gooders and busybodies to STFU. She's going to die soon, you might as well make her last days good ones.

And when you go to visit her make sure you've got dirt to dish on neighbors and relations.