I know ladies I have posted this before. But from my friends on fb they know my mom has been dealing with many severe health issues lately. To name a few bladder cancer, she had to have her bladder removed, she is going for radiation treatments, she urinates so much all the time. She is retaining water in her legs and feet. So swollen she can hardly walk. She also is a severe diabetic, does not eat right, her blood sugar levels are always so low which makes her so weak. She has a heart problem and was recently diagnosed with emphyshema which she thinks the doctors have lied to her because she loves her cigarettes. She is not a candidate for the medicine to stop smoking nor the patches or the gum it effects her already racing heart. The only true way is too quit cold turkey. I was there last night, she is always cold so hence no windows open and the air from the smoking is horrible. I love my mom dearly but I just do not know what to do. Thanks for the vent. Any help deeply appreciated peace to all. Catherine

Sorry, but at this point it would probably cause her more aggravation than it's worth. Quiting now is not going to change her health. My Mom died of lung cancer 2 1/2 yrs ago. She had her last cigarette the day before she died, she was so weak my Dad had to light it for her. Being a former smoker( I quit 4 months after she died) I know how enjoyable it is to smoke. The damage is done, let her be. Catherine, just try to put up with it and enjoy her company while you still can.

Mariee I understand your views and so many other people have told me the same thing. I guess it is very hard for me never have been a smoker. I will tell you this when my son Tommy was born almost 22 years ago and was born with several heart defects we determined there would be no smoking around the baby and my mom quit for 11 years I was so proud. These are the 2 factors the smoke truly bothers me so much I feel it in my throat and its everywhere all over my clothes I reak. I do worry about second hand smoke, the other is the emphyshema I cannot imagine my mom having to use oxegen for her every breath. Thanks for your input I sincerely appreciate it very much. Peace. Catherine

I always wonder why people don't quit smoking when they get sick. In my opinion it would make the quality of their life better. When you quit smoking food tastes better and you feel better in a million different ways. You smell better and have more stamina.
I know it's hard at first ("they" say it's as hard to quit smoking as to quit heroin that shows the addictiveness) but it would be worth it in my opinion.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I have heard that quitting smoking is so much harder then other drugs I just cannot believe it and perhaps again because I never was a smoker. Again to all thanks so much. Peace. Catherine

When a person has smoked for most of their life--and then they are diagnosed with terminal cancer: do they really want or need the withdrawal from nicotine?

If the cancer is terminal, then they aren't going to benefit from quitting. Chances are their body is so tore up from chemo/radiation they can't keep food down anyway, they don't care how they might smell and stamina???

Hard at first? Unless you have smoked for years, and managed to quit you really have no idea how hard it is to quit.

People don't quit because smoking maybe the one "comfort" they have left (besides Morphine or Dilaudid)

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

ita. I have never smoked but watched my mother make valiant efforts at different points in her life. Even when we were kids and tried the "think how much money you could have if you put it in a jar instead of buying cigarettes" guilt trips. It's easy to think or tell someone they should quit when the reality is, at lucy's mother's juncture: WHY? much less, it's her comfort and routine to be able to smoke.

dl

ITA. My Mother died of small cell lung cancer, which is the result of years and years of smoking. Usually, small cell lung cancer has already spread by the time it is diagnosed. My Mother's spread to her brain and kidneys before she died. My Father would not allow her to smoke anymore when she was diagnosed in May, 2001. She died in August, 2001. She was too weak and ill to continue to light up. We found out when she died that one of our brothers was going over there and giving her cigarettes when Dad was at church. My Father still says to this day "I wish I would have allowed your Mother to smoke before she died".

Smoking is an addiction. A very powerful addiction. I used to smoke. Have not had a cigarette since 1993. How did I quit? I had emergency surgery and was on morphine. So, I had "a little help".

Catherine...I understand how and why you feel the way you do. However, your Mother is a grown woman. Try and enjoy your Mom, let her make her own decisions and choices, and love her and accept her. If she chooses to smoke in her home there is nothing you can do. However, if she comes to your house, you can tell her no smoking in your house.

Believe me she does not smoke in my home but I will allow her to smoke in my car she is my mom I love her dearly. As far as comfort she does find comfort in those ciggys for sure, at this point my true concern is for her breathing that is my major concern. I know in my heart she will not stop just wish she would. She does smoke the generic ones that my dad or I get her from the reservation they are now up to 35.00 a carton and since my parents are on a limited income that is another issue. Again I will let it be and let her enjoy her ciggys again I just do not want to see her suffer with not being able to breathe thanks to all and sincere peace on this day of 9/11 may god bless them all never to be forgetten and always to be remembered to their families and friends. Catherine

Yes I smoked from the time I was a teenager until into my 30s. I know how hard it is. And I also know how much better I felt after I quit.
I understand what you guys are saying I just think unless is going to die within days or weeks I still honestly believe that whatever time they have left would be better time if they didn't smoke.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I've never smoked, nor has my husband but it must be a powerful thing. When my mother-in-law was in the hospital with lung cancer there was a Hospice pastor sitting with me and a nurse came in to suction my mother-in-law because she was just....drowning. It gave her some relief but not much. I told that pastor, I said everyone who smokes should have to sit by the bedside of someone who is dying of lung cancer and see how she is suffering. And the pastor said look outside, because the nurse who was just in here suctioning her throat is outside - smoking.

It's an addiction I think, like anything else.

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Catt
~ Mirror Mirror on the wall, I am my mother - after all! ~