My aunt smoked from her late teens to 60 when she managed to stop.
She is now 83 with end stage COPD.
Basically smoking damages your lungs only it’s not always noticeable at the time.
But as you get older your lungs don’t expand and aren’t as flexible, it’s then that any
smoking related damage starts to become evident.
In my aunt’s case the small avoli in her lungs have partially collapsed so she can no longer
absorb all the oxygen she needs. She also cannot expell the CO2 properly and tends to
retain it.
Why am I telling you this? Because smoking isn’t just about lung cancer, there are
other awful illnesss waiting to creep up on you too, but people don’t realise until the
damage has been done and it’s too late to reverse it.
My aunt is now on oxygen 24/7. Everything she does, eating, sleeping, going to the
bathroom etc she is attached to a plastic nasal tube up her nose supplying her with
oxygen 24/7.
The lack of oxygen and CO2 retention has also caused her to have mini strokes and
damaged her heart. That’s because her heart has to work harder to get what oxygen there
is, around her body. She also now has vascular dementia due to damage to the brain
starved of oxygen.
Her kidneys don’t work properly as the lack of oxygen affects other organs too.
In her old age when she should be enjoying life, instead she is on dozens of
tablets every day. She gets tired easily and sleeps a lot, we are constantly
having to monitor her oxygen sats every day.
Just before midnight a week ago, I was woken up by a beeping noise.
turned out we had a power cut affecting 1000 homes. Only problem is the
oxygen machine runs on electricity. So I had to rush downstairs, drag out the
back up oxygen cylinder and swap my aunt to that.
I had to light a couple of candles but because the oxygen is highly flammable I
had to keep them well away from her and the oxygen and sit up with her until the
electric came back on two hours later, we’ve had many oxygen issues over the
last few years.
It’s no way to live and definitely not how you would want to live out your old
age.
If ever you want a reason to stop smoking go to your local hospital and visit the
Respiritory ward. I’ve been there more times than I care to remember when my
aunt has been ill. You will see people with all manner of problems, many of them
smoking related.
Last time I was there with my aunt, there was a woman in the next bed who had
lung cancer. They told it it was back for the second time and there was not much they
could do for her.
There is a guy at work diagnosed with lung cancer last year, they’ve given him
treatment and it was in remission but it’s just starting to return again.
Smoking related illnesses are no way to end your life. Exhausted, breathless,
unable to fights coughs and colds. Simple colds land my aunt back in hospital.
Do yourself a massive favour and do everything in your power to stop.
It will be hard, but believe me, it’s nothing compared to gasping and fighting
for every breathe you take in the future.