A Cautionary Tale

 

So, as many of you know, I have bladder cancer and have been undergoing chemotherapy as my preferred treatment plan. I have now completed two treatments. Each cycle is three weeks. Next week completes cycle 1 of 4 cycles where, for my aggressive chemo plan, requires 2 weeks Chemo and the third week off.

 By mid-January, God willing, I will be finished. But the last time I had chemo, my plan was a 24-week plan which had complications which lasted nine months. But yes, I am extremely positive that I will finish on time.

 The purpose of this post is to let you know I am a cautionary tale. Both cancers can be caused by cigarette smoking. There is no direct proof that it was for me, but science shows that it certainly was a big contributor. I started in February, 1961, and had my last on Christmas Day, 1995. Almost 35 years, the last 15 years as a three plus pack a day smoker.

 When I started, every TV show, starting with I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, Fred Flintstone and so many movies showed characters smoking all throughout. Family members and friends smoked. My Dad, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and even on occasion, my Mom.

 Even advertisers glorified smoking where “four out of five doctors recommended smoking Lucky Strike for better health”, Winston tasting “good like a cigarette should”, walking “a mile for a Camel”, and having “a lot to like with a Marlboro”.

 By 1965, we had our first warning placed on every pack, carton and ad shouting that smoking was bad for our health. Remember, I started at almost ten, and now I was almost 15, hooked and feared nothing because I was invincible. Yeah, right!

 By 1980, I was smoking those three packs a day I mentioned above. And I saw first-hand what happened to many people around me who smoked. But I said it wouldn't happen to me. After all, I was not yet 30, running several miles a week, unwinded, a strong specimen of a man in excellent health and shape at a fit 170 to 180 lbs, six feet tall, with a mass body index around 18.5 before anyone really cared about this measurement.

 Did I stop smoking? No, of course not.

 Fast forward to 1995. I stopped smoking because a pack of cigarettes on Long Island was approaching $2.00 a pack. When I started in 1961, a pack was $0.25 a pack. Plus, you could try what you liked with "two-cent loosies" the guy in the candy store displayed proudly in a tray on the counter of the popular or "exciting" cool brands available for purchase. By 1965, this was illegal. And so was selling cigarettes to people under 18. 

 While "loosies" stopped being displayed and sold because doing so was an obvious violation, selling packs to minors, like me at thirteen, was not enforced. Along with the Sen-Sen Gum. Or Violet square candies.

 Back to 1995. I used the patch which was only sold via prescription. Of course, I did it my way. It took me six months to finally complete the three-month plan because I added weeks by cutting the patches to make the level of nicotine wean me slower to the next level down. 

 21 mg to 14 to 7 to 0 in three months. Not me. I went from 21 mg for 25 days, to 18 mg for 25 days by using a scissors, to 14 mg for 25 days to 10 mg for 15 days. 7 mg for 30 days to 3 1/2 for 50 days to finally 1.75 mg for 10 days or so. I stopped this on June 30, 1996.

 I have helped others stop smoking, too. By being there and encouraging them. As part of their support team.

 But, I learned in 2011, I had Stage 3 Colon Cancer and now I have Aggresive Bladder Cancer. I blame no one. It was my choice to smoke. I actually felt I stopped on time.

 Ehhhhh... Wrong!

 As I said earlier in this commentary, I am a cautionary tale. I am in no way interested in blaming anyone for my choices or for a pity party. That is just so beneath my own dignity and self-respect. I have always been a man who takes responsibility for my own choices, my own decisions with no regrets. I like the man that looks back at me in the mirror. I am the man I am for those decisions I made for me. Maybe not happy with some of the outcomes. But proud that I made them for ME. And those who know me, know that this comes from my heart.

 When you read this, take this message as it is meant. Not as a reprimand. Not as a criticism. But as a lesson. Stop. Today. If you know someone smokes send it to them. If you have young children, sit with them and explain that the dangers are not immediate, but rather, long-term. If they smoke already, don't yell or punish them. Instead, show them this.

 There is longevity for my family to live well past 80. I will be grateful as a seventy-year-old man to reach 75.

 And now, I am just a cautionary tale.