Smokers Listen Up

[Cabin4]

I just got the dreaded call a couple of hours ago. A good friend passed away this morning at the age of 63. Chip served in Vietnam. He served his time in active duty in Army Intelligence performing all sorts of secret type stuff. Much of which he felt bound to this day never to disclose too much detail about what he did. I've known him & his wife for about 3 years now. The 4 of us (wives included) all got together often for dinner, lunch on the weekends, hanging out and antique hunting. Chip was not a big firearms enthusiast but he did own a gun or two. He often picked by brain about guns & hunting and really enjoyed looking at and handling guns from my collection. He was a great guy and did not deserve to suffer miserably for over 90 continuous days in the hospital. Often in the ICU suffering from heart, lung, liver and a various array of complications from intestine surgery.

He went in for surgery to remove some intestine from a life long battle with Chrones disease. Make the long story short (sorry for the rambling), a lifelong of smoking simply did so much damage to his organs that he was never able to recover from the stress that the surgery caused to correct the Chrones disease. It just goes to show you that although lung cancer may not kill you, smoking can get you in other ways. In the end, it was liver & lung failure that killed him. He was on a ventilator for a long time, then off, back on..... He told me while visiting him once just how much he hated the struggle. Mentally it was killing him as well. Seeing a good person suffer like he did was hell. It was hell on his wife as well who went every single day all hours. We saw him for the last time in the ICU this past Sunday. While we were there, they put him back on the ventilator. He was struggling to breath too much and he was drifting in and out of consequences. I knew the end was near for Chip and I could not stand seeing him go from what appeared to be healthy 3 months ago and looking young for  63, to looking like he was 85 and gasping for life.

He served his country well and despite the empty feeling he said the Vietnam conflict left him because of the way he and many like him were treated upon their return, he did not harbor ill feeling.  I hope all you smokers will give it some thought. His wife is without a husband, his children without a father, his grandchildren will never know him and his friends are without a friend. It’s a pretty permanent situation, one that others can hopefully avoid by simply not smoking.

[Pat/Rick]

Chip sounds like a good guy  and i can tell he will be missed.Sadly when we are younger we don't think about consequences or that anything can hurt us.

[powderman]

CABIN. I'm truly sorry for the loss of a loved one. I quit in 98, no doubt I'd be dead now if I hadn't. Quitting is not as easy as you might think. Sorry to say it but if I thought I could smoke a cig, cigar, or a pipe again and not go back to it, I'd do it in a heart beat, but I know I can't. POWDERMAN. 

[Mohawk]

+1 Powdeman. I still crave cigarettes daily. But if you bum one from a friend, chances are, you will then buy a pack.

[1marty]

I quit in 1980-cold turkey. I was a 3 pack a day guy. I would have a smoke before I got out of bed, then another one drinking my coffee, shaving and so on and so on. My brother who smoked as much as me died from a heart attack at 39. I don't know if it was from smoking or just his time but the day I buried him was the last smoke I had. It took many years for the craving to finally go away. Today I feel great but every so often I think about having a Marlboro in the morning, with a cold slice of left over pizza and a warm beer.

[hillbill]

sorry for your friend,im gratefull for his service to our country. god bless him and his kin!he is blessed to have a friend like yu.remember him thru out the years when yu are alone in the woods. no one can ask for more than that.

[Brett]

When I was much younger and a lot dumber I would smoke an occasional cigar or pipe (maybe a hand full of times a year) but thank the good Lord I never developed a habit.   

I read recently that the smoke from just one cigarette causes changes in your bodies cells on a molecular level and that the chemicals in the smoke enter your blood stream so quickly that it is almost as if you injected them directly into your veins.   

[williamlayton]

I, also, am sorry about your friend.
Blessings

[gstewart44]

I was never a cigarette smoker but my wife was for 30 years.    My vice was cigars,  I smoked an average of two big sticks per day ( that is the equivalent tobacco of 1.5 - 2 packs of cigarettes).   She decided to quit cold turkey and she did!    I decided at that time I would follow suit, mainly so as to support and not aggravate her choice.    As it ended up it was the best choice for both of us.       

[bobg]

  I really don't know what to think of the cigarette smoking.  .  I have smoked for close to fifty years and my doctor tells me my lungs are in great shape for the amount i have smoked. My father hadn't smoked in forty years and he died from a heart attack at 66. Three cousins and an uncle and a grandfather that died very young. They never smoked.  My other grandfather smoked 3 cartons a week and lived to be 81. A friend of mine has some very serious lung problems. She never smoked a day in her life. I figure when my time is up i am going and i might as well go out doing what i enjoy doing. I know this goes against everything that has been said but my father said i always marched to the beat of a different drummer than most people.  .
   I am very sorry for your loss. It isn't easy when a close friend passes away.

[guzzijohn]

Also sorry for the loss of your friend. I lost a close cousin, Vietnam vet, received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart to lung cancer a year ago New Years Day. He had smoked since he was around 13 and died at 59. My wife and I quit two years ago this month. Hope it helps us down the road as we both smoked for over 30 years.
GuzziJohn

[Cabin4]

Thought I would give an update here. It helps me to write about this. It also let’s folks know that our military hero’s and their unselfish service to country, do not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Not by this American anyway.

Chip’s memorial service was this past Saturday. It was a terrific day, bright blue sky, sunny and warn. Not uncommon in this part of northern California. The service, attended by many family and friends was an event I’ll never forget. This two tour Bronze Start Vietnam veteran, went  out with full military honors and a 21 gun salute put on by our finest. After that portion was over, the squad leader approached his widow and announced that on behalf of the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Air Force, he thanked Tracy (his widow) for his service and honored her with the flag. She was later given 3 spent shells from the gun salute.

Tracy put together about a 20 minute video and music presentation that played on a few flat screens they had in the chapel. It took us through Chips live from birth to the end. The story is one of an American hero. Not unique, there are millions like him in our past, but none the less, this was someone I knew personally and had a great deal of respect for. It was the story of Americana. Born in rural Connecticut, his family later moved to Ohio to take over a farm that had been in the family for a few generations. Chip was the oldest of 5 boys growing up on that farm from the time he was about 5 years old. He was an avid Bass fisherman his whole live. A sport he and his brothers liked doing on the farm ponds of Ohio. When Nam came around, he left that farm and joined the Air Force and served those 2 tours. Afterwards, he landed here in Northern California and joined the Coast Guard auxiliary where he served for many years.

This entire memorial service lasted about 2 hours. There was a great service presented by her Pastor and a couple of eulogy speeches. This guys life could be a movie folks. I can’t/won’t go into all the details but I often think about what he has done for all of us and how unfortunate it is that his time on this earth was cut so short. 63 is just way to young go. And like he fought so hard for his country (us), he fought of as best he could this early death. When I visited him in the hospital during the better times, he would tell me unifatically, I’m going to beat this thing and get the hell out of this damn hospital! Unfortunately, his conditioned deteriorated to the point of the ICU was his prison. In and out of a conscious state. My last visits with him were more like good bye's as he approach the final sunset.  But until his wife told him it was okay to go that Monday night, he hung on. He hung on for Tracy and only left when she said it was okay. Tracy shared that story with me and the last moments of his life. Just like he hung on for us. He did not have to do that 2nd tour of serve in Vietnam or serve in the CG Auxiliary. But he did.

I hope all of you that may have an opportunity to pay your respects for one of our nations hero’s, that you will.

Rest in Peace friend and may God be with you.

That’s Chip & Tracy up front. Me and wife in the back. At a local watering hole.

[powderman]

Thanks for the update. I would have liked to have known your friend. Charlie. 

[Mohawk]

  Sounds like an upstanding ceremoney. God bless him for his service.