Open Thread

Sorry guys...have a ton of stuff to do today...will try to post later.

Comments

[Nurse Judy]

Secondhand Smoke Tragedy
At the same time today as the Surgeon General came out with his latest warning on secondhand smoke, my sister-in-law’s 50-year-old sister is undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

Peg is not a smoker, but her parents were, her husband is, and the ladies in her bridge club are. Peg came down with pneumonia last month, which was the first warning, because she is never sick. Her chest x-ray showed two spots on her lung. Her doctor told her that her lungs looked like she had smoked her whole life.

The pneumonia probably saved her life because they caught the cancer early. We don’t know yet exactly what the pathologists will find because as I write, she is still on the operating table.

The Surgeon General’s report today said separate smoking sections don’t cut it. “Only smoke-free building and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people’s smoke.” Moreover, he said, “There is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else’s drifting smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilation systems don’t eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.”

The Surgeon General is especially concerned about young children who can’t escape their family member’s addiction in search of cleaner air. Living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker’s risk of lung cancer and heart disease by up to 30%.

I have been called rude, arrogant, a troublemaker, and a bitch for years because I have made no bones about not wanting to breath another’s smoke. I campaigned for a nonsmoking nurses’ lounge in the operating room I worked at in Denver—they called me a troublemaker. I refused to play in the same bridge club that Peg plays in because of the smokers—they called me arrogant. I have asked people not to smoke in my house or sitting behind me at a Bronco Football game—I was called rude. I have always refused to date any man who smokes—I was called a bitch.

But you know what?

I won the nonsmoking nurses’ lounge, but lost smoking friends. I didn’t get to play bridge, but I also didn’t get lung cancer. The Denver Bronco’s banned smoking in their stadium—I believe they were the first professional team to do so. And many of those smoking men I refused to date have already had heart attacks—and I am not the one who has to take care of them.

Quite frankly, I would rather be called a rude, arrogant, troublemaking bitch, than to have the left upper lobe of my lung removed and undergo radiation and chemotherapy because of someone else’s addiction.

Peg was too nice. Look what it got her.

Please Don’t Smoke!

Nurse Judy

[HC]

Nurse Judy

I will pray for your sister.

[Chris Sears]

We sure do need those rude, arrogant, troublemaking bitches like you, Judy. Those are the negative words. How about Courageous, uncompromising, fearless, and strong?