Smoking-cigarettes-outside

At high school, among my circle of friends, smoking was ‘cool’ and ‘with it’. When I made it to university, I smoked a pipe, made you look like the graduate or don. And really, it was pleasant. Much more civilized than cigarettes, and certainly not harmful, right?

I had a plan, smoke for a few years and then quit, perhaps when I reached 35… Long before any health problems would show. And so it was. I married, got a good job with a major research institute, had children, and then quit smoking in 1981, I was 35. It wasn’t bad (after the first two weeks!), I saved money, and the family supported me.

I worried sometimes for a couple years whether lung cancer would show up. Nothing peculiar developed, I had smoked without consequence, or so I thought.

In 1993 the problems began. One morning, it hurt when I peed. That night, there was blood in my pee! The next day I went to my doctor, who sent me to a specialist.

The diagnosis: full blown bladder cancer, I probably had it for 10 years. A series of excruciatingly painful surgeries seemed to get it under control. 3 years later the growth resurfaced with a vengeance. I spent several horrible weeks in the hospital. My bladder and prostate were removed, the bladder was reconstructed using intestines. At least I would not have an external bag.

So, after all that, I’ve been free of symptoms for two years. I hope I might now lead a normal life. The surgeries left me impotent, and I am in large debt.

My doctors are of the opinion that smoking certainly caused or contributed to the cancer. They have studied and seen many similar cases.

I wish now I had never smoked. These problems could have been avoided. The pleasure of the pipe was not worth it. I am also furious with the tobacco companies who produce, market, and sell a product that directly causes misery and death, and the government who condones the whole process.

Please, ‘Don’t smoke.’ At 18 you may feel immortal, at 25 you may feel great, at 30 you may feel established, but you know what? You will probably live to be 40. And then the problems may surface, unwelcome, but you were warned. Just walk away from smoking, sooner than later.

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