In January 2010 my 17 year old son was diagnosed with a sarcoma tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma they call it. Since then he has endured about 200 chemotherapy treatments, 4 weeks of daily radiation, and 4 surgeries, only to have 3 new tumors grow.

In the last 2 months since the new tumors appeared, he has gone through another 12 chemotherapy treatments, but the last MRI showed the tumors have continued to grow.

Why am I writing about a childhood cancer that doesn't want to go away? Because cancer is the second leading cause of death, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, and most lung cancer is linked to smoking. My hope is this post will give you the will power to stop smoking now.

If my son could have done anything to prevent his cancer, he would have. Unfortunately, there is no prevention for childhood cancer, and there is no link to any lifestyle. The child either gets it, or he doesn't, and doctors don't know why.

If he could talk to you today, he would say, "Why are you smoking, when smoking can lead to cancer?"

Maybe he'd tell you how awful chemotherapy is, how sick it makes him feel, what it's like to lose all his hair, lose his energy, and look like a walking skeleton. He is five feet eleven inches, but after the first 3 months of chemo he weighed only 118. Maybe he'd tell you how awful it is to have to put his life on hold – to miss high school graduation, postpone college indefinitely, have to stay indoors away from people because any little cold or flu could kill him.

BTW, lung cancer isn't the only cancer that smoking can cause. Smoking can cause cancer in the larynx, oral cavity, bladder, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, kidney, pancreas, and so on. Anyone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer can expect to live about 3 months – there are about 30,700 people diagnosed with this cancer each year, and each year about 30,000 people die from it.

It's been very hard watching our son live with cancer – the weight loss, the vomiting, the numerous hospital stays and weekly trips to the clinic for blood tests, and constantly watching for any sign of fever. Any temperature over 100 and he goes straight to the hospital, which is the last place he wants to be.

Now, since chemotherapy can't get the tumors to stop growing, surgery is a scary option since it would require they take out a large section of his colon, which means he would have to wear a colon bag the rest of his life.

Cancer is a scary word – especially if you've lived with it as we have for the last 18+ months, not knowing if our son will be with us month to month.

But there is one thing you can do to greatly reduce your risk of getting it – stop smoking. It's really that simple. And the sooner you quit smoking, the lower the risk of your getting cancer.

If my son could have done anything to prevent his cancer, he would have. He didn't have a chance, but you do. By quitting smoking now, you could prevent cancer destroying your life.

Filed under Don't Start Smoking by Jean.
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Attempting to give up smoking is definitely not a new concept. The difficulty comes from the fact that it actually is considerably harder to quit smoking than many people really expect.

In order to fix this situation you'll find a couple of items which you can do to really enhance the likelihood that the the very next time you attempt to stop smoking you might be able to do so successfully. Studying a number of the secret suggestions that you simply may use is very valuable to making certain which you genuinely do stop smoking, after all you're setting out on a quite tough adventure and so getting a lot of support will probably be an enormous asset within your quest.

You need to initial really come to terms using the fact that stopping smoking just isn't effortless. You may locate that it takes you years to in fact stop smoking for excellent. This is not exceptional, but is something that may serve as an enormous frustration in case you are trying to give up in only two weeks.

If you're not able to stop smoking if you really would like, but you're showing indications of considerable progress you should still consider this as a great sign of progress. Any signs of progress needs to be celebrated no matter how tiny they're; needless to say, huge signs of progress ought to have a bigger celebration though as a way to be really successful.

A mistake that numerous smokers make is attempting to choose out a single method of quit smoking. You possibly do not simply fit into a single category if you tried to describe your self, so your smoking likely will not either. This indicates you probably need to invest a fantastic amount of time considering distinct options and strategies to assist you until you uncover the mixture that works best.

If something just isn't working you have to make the most of the ability to alter. You can find sufficient merchandise available on the market that discovering one thing that suits your wants genuinely is achievable, just be willing to look for one thing whenever required.

Often pick a non-stressful time to quit smoking. If you're already stressed out once you start off attempting to quit you are going to uncover that it is considerably harder to quit. One example, could be attempting to quit smoking proper as you might be bringing a brand new baby residence.

Although this may possibly appear like a fabulous idea to ensure that your child isn't exposed to the second hand smoke, it is also a very stressful time. You need to instead try to quit just before the baby is born, or wait a while right after the birth for the most beneficial chances at success at quitting for very good.

One of the biggest secrets that individuals will not tell you will be the fact which you genuinely can quit. In addition, in case you actually are determined to quit you could not even need to have the expensive quit smoking aids which are available on the market. Just the mere desire to quit for great is typically all that's necessary, but you'll need a super powerful support team in place to create this happen.

What frequently occurs is smokers turn into so determined that expensive quit smoking aids are needed and they convince themselves that without these gadgets and contraptions that they'll not be able to quit. If you look beyond the attractive packaging, you're typically left with nothing more than something which will maintain your hands occupied or support distract you throughout periods of strong urges to smoke. Searching for alternatives can often be a lot less expensive, as well as just as successful in the end.

Filed under Stop Smoking Tips by Jean.
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April 28, 2011

Stop Smoking Aids – What Works and What Doesn't

nicotine patchQuitting smoking is a serious decision. It will require willpower, and determination to achieve success. That is why you need to get all of the give up smoking support that you could in order to give up for good.

Listed here is a brief help guide introduce an individual some of the most common and available quit smoking helps.

You must decide to quit ahead of any of these aids can help you. Without having determination, they're a waste of your money.

Assuming that your decision and the willpower are there, let?s discover what other to give up smoking aids can be obtained.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

All forms of tobacco include an enslaving substance – pure nicotine. This is the reason you obtain addicted to tobacco and it is one of the main reasons why quitting is so challenging.
Read more

Filed under Stop Smoking Aids by Jean.
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