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Have you tried to quit smoking while undergoing treatment?

Cancer | Last Active: Dec 30, 2021 | Replies (160)
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@harleymama

I quit smoking because I couldn't have surgery while smoking due to impaired healing. Several months after surgery I started again. Then my dad died of lung cancer. He wasn't a smoker or exposed to second hand smoke. With genetics like that, the writing is on the wall. I quit again. After three years, my doctor didn't tell me but put it in my medical record that I had spinal stenosis. When another practitioner told me what she couldn't tell me to my face, I didn't cope well. I was angry that she wouldn't tell me, sad because of the diagnosis because I knew disability was very near, fearful over concerns of how to support myself and my family. I started smoking in June and now I'm quitting again. Chantix is my drug of choice. I think I've tried everything on the market and that's just what works for me.

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Replies to "I quit smoking because I couldn't have surgery while smoking due to impaired healing. Several months..."
Linda | @llwortman | Nov 21, 2018

Hi Harley mama! Fun name. You must have a wonderful sense of humor. But seriously, it wasn't until I was diagnosed with
lung cancer, that I realized nicotine is the #1 addiction, and the stigma is very unfair. In my journey with this disease, I have
learned that even research about lung cancer suffers from the stigma.

Because insurance made me go thru nicotine rehab, even though I 'never smoked', I learned a lot about smoking. There are
some excellent programs that compliment what you are doing. It takes some people 7 times before they can quit. You can't
do this alone. Have you looked in to the Team Approaches available to Quit?

I am sorry that your physician, was not helpful. For two years, I was told, 'Your cough is in your head"! It took two years of pain
and a choking cough before I found physicians who listened, properly diagnosed my lung cancer and saved my life. My Mayo Clinic team has been amazing and wonderful. So the moral of this story is get another opinion. You know your body best.

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