The guy who coughs his lungs up every morning...

[Ms Grace]

When I moved into my apartment 9 years ago I found out pretty quickly that the guy whose balcony faced mine was a heavy smoker, not so much from the waft of smoke since he used to sit inside watching telly in his underwear smoking all day (and night)... with his curtains wide open and lights on, so, y'know, not hard to miss...

Seems about two-three years ago he quit. He doesn't smoke and guests have to smoke on his balcony (fortunately, no smoke wafts my way...)

The last six months I've noticed he pretty much coughs up his lungs every morning. Doesn't sound great. Terrible in fact. So even though he gave up the smokes ages ago he still has some rather horrible health consequences as a result of years of puffing. I hope he's just clearing tar from his lungs but it sounds like it might be something much worse than that.

[Devlyn]

As the old saying goes, "The damage is done." My Dad smoked unfiltered Camels and died of lung cancer. But he said if he got out of the hospital he'd go back to smoking. The damage is done.

[Bellatrix]

Smoking is one of those strange things, some people will die from lung cancer pretty quickly, others will live to 100. I don't smoke, not so much due to the health reasons, I just don't see the value in it and I don't like the way my fingers smell the next day from holding the ->-bleeped-<-.

Thanks for the mental image of the old guy in his underwear though Grace    Could totes have lived without that 

[Mark3]

I smoked for a lon g time, then quite about 18 yrs ago.. I coughed like that for a month or so, cleaning the crud out of my lungs, then breathed great after the coughing stopped..

I agree with Devlyn, once the damage is done, it's pretty much permanent..

The worst is when I see these old folks with oxygen tubes and pulling a tank on wheels, and still stop off to have a siggy..

[Jaime R D]

I can imagine how great my lungs look after smoking for 40 years.

[Devlyn]

The Museum Of Science in Boston used to have two lungs on display, one from a smoker, and one from a non-smoker.

[Jill F]

UGH, I hate to think of what I did to myself from smoking from 1985-2011.   I don't cough anymore, and I am thankful that I finally quit for good.

Sounds like this guy has COPD from it.  That's not good.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

I never picked up the tobacco habit. I tried it in Jr High and hated it. I did smoke...other stuff...but that is now a thing of the past.

[Mara]

There was a guy below me at the first apartment I lived in who was always coughing. I called him emphysema man. He would hack his lungs out several times per day, every day. He was still smoking.

I think cigarettes are stupid.

[rosinstraya]

Gotta love the poor souls in hospital who drag themselves outside while still attached to their saline drip....all for a cigarette. 

[Jess42]

Ok so I have been smoking for 30 some odd years. No coughs other than the normal crap that everyone does. My lungs may be black but if I worked in a coal mind they would prbably look the same. I could go downtown tomorrow and get killed by a bullet. I could have an anuerysm amd die ten minutes from now. I could get in my vehicle and get hit head on and killed tomorrow. One thing is you are not going to get out of this world alive and everyone has to die eventually. Why not enjoy every moment until that time? Eating, smoking, drinking, adrenaline junkie and so on? If it kills me, one question in the end I will ask is did I enjoy it? If the answer is yes then it had been a good life.

I know this sounds kind of messed up but I had a friend that ran 5 miles on most days. Went to the gym and lifted weights whenever he could and died from an anuerysm. He was healtier than me by a long shot but died way before me. Tomorrow may never come for me but today was a good day and I enjoyed every minute of it or most minutes of it anyway.

[Bellatrix]

The worst is when I see these old folks with oxygen tubes and pulling a tank on wheels, and still stop off to have a siggy..

At this point though is there any reason to stop? One of the few pleasures they must have in life is a sly ->-bleeped-<- now and again.

Just kinda playing devils advocate here btw.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

I know this sounds kind of messed up but I had a friend that ran 5 miles on most days. Went to the gym and lifted weights whenever he could and died from an anuerysm. He was healtier than me by a long shot but died way before me. Tomorrow may never come for me but today was a good day and I enjoyed every minute of it or most minutes of it anyway.

One friend of mine had a neighbor that was slim, fit & trim. He ate all of the right foods, never drank or smoked and jogged five miles every morning. One morning he dropped dead on his doorstep upon returning home from his jog. He was only in his early 40's. You never know when your time is going to be up.

[Releca]

At this point though is there any reason to stop? One of the few pleasures they must have in life is a sly ->-bleeped-<- now and again.

Just kinda playing devils advocate here btw.

The only worry I have about this is the potential fire hazard of oxygen next to an open flame.

I lived next to a couple of smokers whom could go through a few cartoonsabday each and have two bouts of lung cancer they showed no signs of slowing down. I'm surprised they lived long enough to see their great grandkids.

[Ms Grace]

Well smoking and HRT can significantly reduce your risk of blot clots and that's some pretty nasty $#*+ right there. Strokes won't necessarily kill you but they may lose you half your body. Clots might lose you a leg or the ability to stay on HRT.

Sure we all die, sure life is there for enjoying - but smoking can also result in very slow very painful deaths. I had an uncle who I remember as being a big strong man, regular smoker who got emphysema even after quitting about ten years earlier - he was a pale, skeletal shadow of his former self, confined to his living room with an oxygen tank barely strong enough to speak with his gravelly voice. And he was like that for about two years before he died.

[Jaime R D]

Gotta love the poor souls in hospital who drag themselves outside while still attached to their saline drip....all for a cigarette. 

I did that back in the nineties, had to get an extra gown to put on backwards though, a bit too airy going outside on the balcony otherwise, lol .  Now you can't smoke anywhere on hospital property. Heck, I can remember when you could smoke in your hospital room...

[BreezyB]

Thanks for the mental image of the old guy in his underwear though Grace    Could totes have lived without that 

I could unfortunate visualise that guy, and for those who were unable to visualise Graces neighbour, I think homer gives a pretty accurate representation.



But seriously though, I gave up smoking quite sometime ago and would never go back. Looking and feeling so much better for it.

[Ms Grace]

Disturbingly accurate! Although he has more hair and isn't yellow.

[Pikachu]

My dad's still alive and relatively healthy after a lifetime of smoking, which makes me think it might be true that the good die young and ***holes live forever.

[Releca]

My dad's still alive and relatively healthy after a lifetime of smoking, which makes me think it might be true that the good die young and ***holes live forever.

This seems true. I'm more worried about all Second hand smoke than actually smoking myself