For some of us, Carson's death a grim awakening

Chicago Tribune ^ | Jan. 26, 2004 | John Kass

[Rennes Templar]

There are two kinds of conversations about Johnny Carson. One kind is the one most of you are having. It is light and interesting, about showbiz, TV, popular culture. Then there is the other conversation many of us have been avoiding.

-snip-

A part of it (the conversation)landed on my desk with a little thump. It was a package, about the size of your palm, with a brown camel on it, two pyramids and three palm trees.

"You can have them," said a friend who tossed them, casual in voice, though there was no missing the symbolism of it, his casting away of the Camels.

"I'm done with them," he said. "I quit."

-snip-

Carson's death could have been due to pneumonia, to infection, or it could have been respiratory failure. Either way it was private, and ugly.

I thought of him suffering amidst tubes.

"You can quit," Dr. Gross said. "You can have a life. You can quit."

I've failed before. And I'm afraid of failing. But Johnny Carson convinced me.

If you're interested in doing the same, you can call the American Lung Association at 312-243-2000.

jskass@tribune.com

[mamelukesabre]

not really. It is possible to smoke for a few years, even a decade or two, and then quit and live a long life free of disease.

The problem is, just how do you know where the "point of no return is"? It's bound to be different for everyone.

I had an uncle That never smoked a day in his life, and he died in his nineties of what they used to call "stiff lung". Or sometimes "farmer's lung"....basically emphasema caused by a lifetime of breathing fumes from pesticides and dust while working in the feilds.

I had a grandpa die at 88 of a stroke and he smoked from the age of 12 till he quit in his early sixties. He also inhaled asbestos practically on a daily basis for over 30 years.

I've had other relatives die of lung cancer even though they never smoked or had jobs exposing them to risks.