Choose to breathe

I was going to write tonight about grocery shopping.  Because seriously?  I LOVE to grocery shop.  It’s like any other type of shopping without the guilt.  To me, grocery shopping is part of a process which begins with the sale ads and ends with me putting yummy food on the table.

But tonight, I don’t feel much like writing.  At least, not about anything frivolous.  Just got some bad news and I’m still digesting it and railing against the world and the inequity of it all.

But still.  I promised a blog a day, right?  Let’s talk about smoking.  You know, smoking has been banned pretty much everywhere in Maryland and to this I say hooray!  How nice is it to come home from a bar or club and not smell like smoke?  How nice is it to enjoy a nice dinner and not have my taste buds and sense of smell corrupted.  (See, I have now made this blog food related.  I can write about anything else with impunity)

I wonder how many smokers might find their way to quitting once the beer/cigarette connection has been broken?  Not many, I’m guessing.  Smoking is such a hard habit to break.  I’ve been begging and begging my mother for 30 years now to quit smoking.  There’s always one excuse after another.  She’s always too stressed to quit smoking.

Did you know that hospital patients who are smokers are now given a nicotine patch when they’re admitted?  At least they are at the hospital in my hometown.

My brother smokes.  My husband smokes.  I worry like hell about them.  I worry about my mother.

Yesterday, my mother was admitted to the hospital due to complications following surgery on her rotator cuff.  She was having problems breathing.  This evening, she was diagnosed with emphysema.  I am angry.  I am furious.  I’ve kicked and punched walls. I’ve yelled and screamed. 

I beg you.  All of you.  If you smoke, please quit.  Do NOT put your loved ones through what my brother, my father and I are going through.  I don’t know what to think.  I don’t know what to do.  I do know that if I see anyone smoking around my mother (INCLUDING my mother) I’m likely to rip their arms off.

My mom is going to be okay.  I believe that.  She’s going to quit.  She has no choice.  The doctor told her, “You can quit smoking, or you can quit breathing.”  Hopefully, she’ll choose breathing.