"OT" New Years Resolutions for our busnut family, I hope!!

[Gary LaBombard]

Hello Everyone,

I am going to get on my soap box you might say this morning, but this being Thanksgiving holiday week I wanted to bring up something very important for you and your loved one's to think of. 

CIGARETTES!!

Last week we almost lost one of our busnut friends to severe blockage to his heart.  He is Steve Gains, aka Kentucky Steve. I hope he will not mind me using his name for this post but I hope it also makes him think and keep a promise to me that he made as well.   Steve as you know I reported in my post that he had 90% blockage to his heart from one of his main arteries but truth is he had 95% blockage.  He still has about 80% still in another main artery that has to be repaired in about a month.  Steve had to be resuscitated using paddles to revive him and this I know is no treat either.  This Thanksgiving was great as he has pulled through with flying colors so far until he has the other artery repaired then he should feel like 19 years old again. Again I hope.

Not knowing the real cause of Steve's heart attack (this time) I know he was a heavy smoker and I do know that all this smoke that goes in your body has to be consumed and processed by all the systems of your body.  I have never ever heard that smoking is good for you so go out and enjoy the fruits of these wonderful white sticks we stick in our mouths and not to mention the cost now of these terrible habitual parts of our lives.

I was a terrible smoker also up till 1991, I know exactly how hard it is to quit but so glad that I did and maybe put another 10 years back on my life because of it, plus my wife enjoys kissing me a little more now without her thinking she is kissing a ashtray.

Not to drag out this story or post here is a short list of the things to consider for those that still smoke that I hope will make you think of quitting for yourself and for your family and also your busnut family.

1)  Cost of each pack or carton is out of this world.

2)  The smell of these cigarettes when being smoked is horrible to non smokers and non smokers bodies tries to reject this odor in restaurants or in their homes if they do not smoke and you do.  Even if you are not allowed to smoke in their homes and most non smokers will not let this happen, Your body stinks, your clothes all stink, your breath stinks, your hair stinks and the desire to spend much time with anyone that smokes diminishes because of the discomfort of smelling this crappy residue.

3)  Invitations to others homes for small or large gatherings may diminish in time for the same reason as above, the odor is horrible to non smokers and not worth their body system trying to digest it and not hurt your feelings, so we will just not invite you over as often.

4) Your car stinks if you smoke in it and most smokers do.  This also is second hand smoke that is horrible to tolerate as well as in a smokers home.  Our walls were dingy yellow from smoking before I quit, I know.  Cigarette residue & tar was on all the windows which was difficult to remove and I am sure every smokers home has these same conditions.

5)  When a smoker hugs his parents or siblings or grandchildren they all get a good smell of your horrible habit and it is difficult to breath or we hold our breath while hugging.  BUT< we are still getting the second hand smoke off your clothes which is also dangerous to those that do not smoke, grand-kids especially!! 

6)  Some smokers go outside to smoke at others homes etc. out of respect, but the moment they come in and set down on your furniture you smell them and the awful stench odor of that cigarette is on their clothes and body that a smoker got to enjoy.

7)  Spending time with your grandchildren, no matter what the age from birth is what all we want to do.  Well, they have no choice but to put up with the second hand smoke from your bodies, breath, clothes, your home and vehicles if they go any place with you.  They have to choice but to digest all this odor and the actual second hand smoke from a actual cigarette is worse for the non smoker I am told than it is to the smoker!!  I am not sure if this is proven but makes sense to me.

  Lots of smokers that I have tried to convince to quit smoking make comments like this, ("Well, you have to die from something", or "You can also die anytime on the highway", or "I can quit anytime", or "I only have a couple a day", (Yea, Right), or "I smoke outside at my house and everyone I visit".  The excuses continue as you have all heard or stated.

9)  Those of us left behind to grieve for you after you have died from Lung Cancer, or any kind of cancer, Heart Attack and many other health problems known to increase your health risks because of your smoking.  We all have to cope with life after you have gone, we try to accept that you have left but do not fully understand why you did at any age this may happen to you.  You leave your spouses behind, your family behind, your children behind, your grandchildren behind, your close friends behind that all miss you and of coarse your BusNut Family also that enjoys spending time with you at our rallies.  You chose your way to leave us all for the little pleasure that you got as you shortened up your life right in front of us. 

You may be fortunate to just have to use an Oxygen Bottle all day long each day from emphysema or who know what else caused this, so we still get to visit with you, SOMETIMES!!  Waiting for your last breath is a crap shoot every day, how many smokers do you know that have had to survive using pure oxygen from a bottle every day to breath ever get off the oxygen and live a longer life with their families??  I never seen one survive, this is the last step that allows you to think while sitting there in your favorite chair how you got here and how wonderful it was all those years that you did smoke. 

I can continue as you know but now you get my drift for this desire of mine to ask you to all make a "New Year's Resolution" to quit smoking or better yet, right after reading this post you decide to quit.  We all love someone in our lives as family, relative or friend and to lose any of them prematurely because of smoking is unforgivable to the survivors.  If you can't think of yourself as a smoker and what to expect what may happen to you directly, THINK of what your death will do to the rest of all of us. 

I am really thankful this Thanksgiving Holiday for God sparing Steve for us and I only hope that Steve will take this second opportunity to a new life and protect it with all his life so we all may enjoy visiting with him, reading his post on the net and articles on his bus conversion in (BusConversion Magazine). 

Steve I hope you forgive me for making you the scape goat of this post but it is important to me to do all I can to keep you around as we have become very close friends and life in natural state is too short anyhow.  Do anything you can to help you get off these bad boys and that goes for the rest of those that smoke.  I hope this post will make you think of others you leave behind and not your selfish desire to get a high from those cigarettes. 

Well I am done now and bet you are glad I am, I hope I have made a few think of others and not of themselves especially this Holiday Season on us.

Hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving,

Gary

[rampeyboy]

What he said! Mom died of lung cancer on the 12th, and dad has had COPD for years, and now under hospice care. Smoking sucks.

Boyce

[Len Silva]

[Gary LaBombard]

Here is additional information for you to consider, somewhat on the same information plane as what I "Preached" about above.  Go to Youtube, type in (Videos of cancer victims from smoking) to see more valuable information.  Here it is all in a nut shell, said much better than what I did.  

I am unable to find the appropriate video that I viewed earlier for you to see, but you all get my drift and Len's, & Boyce.  Go to Youtube, you can see actual photos of lungs, hearts and video's from famous people more educated than me as well that have since died from these terrible cigarettes. 

Anyhow I am done, just a important thought today for all my friends to consider this Holiday Season as they enjoy this time with their families & Friends.

Gary

[Highway Yacht]

That would be an easy resolution for me since I have never been a smoker.. Its always hard for me to come up with a New Year's Resolution since I'm not overweight, don't drink, and don't smoke.. Seems those are always the most popular ones..

[luvrbus]

If any of you guys need help quitting the cigarettes there is a product named smokeout made by Dr.Christophers a natural product I don't know the cost but my son said it stopped him after trying all the patches and other stuff it may work for you also.
Fwiw I been battleing lung cancer since 1999 and never smoked a cigarette but did cigars and now those are a thing of the past and now my blood pressure is 118/78 pretty good for someone 71 years old don't you think.  



good luck

[thomasinnv]

I knew a guy down here 2 years ago was in his early 80's.  Smoked cigars pretty much his whole life.  Ended up with throat and mouth cancer.  Had half his face removed and the day he got home from the hospital he lit up a cigar.  Died about 2 months later as the cancer had spread all over his body.

Another couple i know...man in his early 50's smoked cigarettes @ about 2 to 3 packs a day.  developed emphasima and is currently on oxygen with about 10% or less lung capacity.  Can't even walk 20' to the bathroom without stopping to rest.  Gained about 100# from the prednazone.  been that way for about 10 years now.  His wife STILL smokes like a chimney.  You just can't fix stupid.

[fe2_o3]

   My wife quit last May 12th. On the 14th I put her in the BUS and we took a 10 week trip through Wa., Or. , Ca., Nv., and back. She has been smoke free since. The toughest part was the first weeks in the BUS. But being in the BUS and away from the domestic triggers helped. It can be done. She didn't think it could, but it can.
    So, toss those smokes. Grab the steering wheel and enjoy life from the front seat, and from now on.
     Sorry if I sound preachy, but we've all lost to many loved ones to those little killers...Cable


                              Are we on topic now?

[JackConrad]

You just can't fix stupid.

That's for sure.  While still working as a Paramedic, I ran on a man that had a tracheotomy because his voice box was removed because of cancer caused from smoking. When we arrived, he was smoking a cigarette by holding it to the stoma (breathing hole) in his neck.   Jack

[Len Silva]

Many of us have somehow found the strength or motivation to quit.  Being stupid is not the problem. Addiction is a bitch and nicotine is among the most addictive of drugs, with a vast army of legitimate drug pushers doing their damnedest to get kids started and keeping the rest of us hooked.

[boxcarOkie]

Many of us have somehow found the strength or motivation to quit.  Being stupid is not the problem. Addiction is a bitch and nicotine is among the most addictive of drugs, with a vast army of legitimate drug pushers doing their damnedest to get kids started and keeping the rest of us hooked.

A little early in the year for resolutions, still a couple of months off.  Here is my take on it.  Having smoked for some thirty years, three packs a day, I can attest to the addiction aspect.  It took five attempts before I finally made it smoke free, (some fifteen years now) and off the tobacco train.  Change your habits, don't do things the same as you did when you were smoking.  Remember it is NOT easy, only 11% make it cold turkey as I did.  

No gum, none of that other crap, just will power and nothing more.  It is mind over matter after the first five or six days and then you will have to deal with the "habit aspect" of it kicking in.  Even after all of this time, I still find every now and then that I am having a broken heart for one of them.  But I shrug it off.

It is a great life if you can shed yourself of the addiction.  I remember my wife asking me when she first met me, "do you smoke after sex?" and I said, "Uh, I dunno.  Never looked."

Have a great holiday.

BCO