World No Tobacco Day

The Sun is in Gemini, Save Your Bronchials.

The American Lung Association has sent me a notice that today is "World No Tobacco Day." Well, there's a conjunction of the Moon to Saturn in Virgo which could help to focus attention on Health Issues. Perhaps a couple of people could be encouraged to give up Smoking, an addiction that's compared with Heroin for its difficulty for quitting. This year, with all the unrest and stress concerning financials it's probably not the best time to be asking people to successfully try to kick a habit like this, though. And, with a conjunction of Venus to Mars in the Fire Sign of Aries I think a lot of smokers will use it as an excuse to stick 5 sticks in their faces all at once. Maybe pop a Prozac to make up for how scary it all is.

Both of my parents smoked 3 packs a day. They both were diagnosed with Lung Cancer as I was approaching my Saturn Return and they died when I was 30 and 31. As I had Bronchial Asthma all through childhood I know what it's like not to be able to breathe. But, apparently other people take this gift for granted. In most people it's an automatic bodily function. Right before she died my Mother said that although she had watched me gasping for air during the attacks she never had really understood how terrifying it is not to be able to breathe. She slowly lost her ability to breathe over a period of 4 years. She would have to cough relentlessly and after the Cancer spread to her bones her ribs would break from her coughing.

When you get Lung Cancer big sores grow on your lungs. They pus up and you drown slowly as they grow. I will repeat that, you Drown. It's like going down in the Titanic in super slow motion.

If you have Lung Surgery an incision is made straight across your torso from the front to the back and the entire half of your body is opened up and your lung is removed. My Mother decided not to have surgery because the Doctors couldn't tell from the x-rays whether the Cancer was connected to her spine yet.

My Father did have surgery. After surgery he developed an infection and his remaining lung went into arrest. He was kept on a ventilator in a drug induced coma for 2 months while the doctors tried to get up the nerve to tell us to unplug him. Once my StepMother found out that he had left half of his possessions to his children she started pushing for a cure and managed to get the Doctor to try steroids. Like a Miracle it worked, for a while. The body decays pretty rapidly while in a Coma. My Father's hips were melded together from the massive steroid dose. He got up out of the hospital bed and stayed alive long enough for one last trip to Hawaii and one last trip to the Lawyer where My Stepmother had him re-write his will.

So, there. Yet another gruesome story from the Cancer Annals. Every family who suffers from slow, insidious diseases has these.

Below are some statistical estimates from the American Lung Association's email. The money thing. Oh yeah, the reason why we finally did unplug my Father was because his Insurance ran out. He also had only 1/4 of one lung left to breathe on by himself. Those Ventilators and those Paddles that the Doctors use? They can keep just about anything alive. Just look at Dick Cheney. My Father was one of those old breeds of Fathers who was tough as nails. When they lowered his Morpheme dose he became completely alert and aware. Kind of difficult to think about unplugging someone in that state. Okay, okay, here's the numbers. People are so damn dumb:

According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in every six people around the world, not to mention the financial toll that it takes.

In the United States alone, smoking cost $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health care expenditures.