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For some of us, Carson's death a grim awakening
Chicago Tribune ^ | Jan. 26, 2004 | John Kass

Posted on 01/26/2005 3:06:33 PM PST by 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

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: everyonediessomeday; healthpolice; johnnycarson; pufflist; tobacco
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To: Rennes Templar
I always hate FR smoking threads.

Yes, you should be able to do what you want.

Yes, secondhand smoke is much less dangerous than the government says.

Yes, the smoke Nazis are using the issue for their own purposes.

BUT-smoking is the worst thing you can possibly do without an assist from fast cars or fast women for your health. It kills you, and wrecks you first.

And it's an ugly death.

We can't afford to lose any FReepers, there aren't nearly enough as it is.

If you smoke, please stop.

61 posted on 01/26/2005 3:37:21 PM PST by Jim Noble
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To: Rennes Templar

I hope a glass or two of wine will also work!


62 posted on 01/26/2005 3:38:20 PM PST by RAY (They that do right are all heroes!)
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To: bullseye876

Interesting. But you fail to mention the fact that every time a bell rings, you walk like a chicken...;)


63 posted on 01/26/2005 3:38:23 PM PST by small voice in the wilderness (Quick, act casual. If they sense scorn and ridicule, they'll flee..)
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To: NorCalRepub

I once heard from a scientist that there is so much pesticide/insecticide residue in tobacco that when it burns in cigarettes it actually creates radioactive substances that are inhaled.


64 posted on 01/26/2005 3:39:47 PM PST by Rennes Templar ("The future ain't what it used to be".........Yogi Berra)
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To: freedumb2003
My mother died in 1996, age 76, of Congestive Heart Failure. She, My brother and I were all smokers. When my brother and sister and I were there to see her knowing she was about to die we spent most of our time out on the patio smoking and my mother would take off her oxygen to come out and join us.

This visit was in July. She passed away in August and in September I finally made the decision after 45 years of smoking to quit. I finally realized how it has such control over people that we couldn't even stay in the house with our mother. Instead she would come out to join us in smoking.

I did find that the NicobanCQ along with deep breaths helped me get through the bad spells. It is now 9yrs 4months.

65 posted on 01/26/2005 3:39:54 PM PST by Spunky
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To: TheRightGuy
same here but i stopped about 10 years ago.

if you smoke and want to stop have goal. mine was to use the money i saved to buy computer games. it worked where health did not. every time i stopped i felt so good i would start up again
66 posted on 01/26/2005 3:39:57 PM PST by camas
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To: Rennes Templar
No one dies of old age any more. There's no ammunition there for the controllers and wannabe petty tyrants that way.

OK. Put this in your pipe and smoke it:

Research the ten oldest lived persons in authenticated historical record.
Verify how many smoked.
Verify how many smoked at age 95.

Good luck.

In my reality, Johnny Carson died of old age.

67 posted on 01/26/2005 3:39:59 PM PST by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
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To: My2Cents
From the testimony of others on this tread, most smokers are not that lucky.

On the other hand:http://www.forces.org/evidence/sammec/newproof.htm

68 posted on 01/26/2005 3:40:13 PM PST by WASH
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To: Rennes Templar

I agree with you - however America has to also accept the fact that WE WILL ALL DIE !

We are so braiwashed by the media that some PURPLE, BLUE or ORANGE pill will always save you !

Of course it helps the pharmaceutical$...


69 posted on 01/26/2005 3:40:39 PM PST by traumer
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To: Nuzcruizer

A small number of people have a protective gene that prevents lung cancer in smokers, so maybe you family carries that gene.


70 posted on 01/26/2005 3:41:20 PM PST by Kirkwood
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To: sgtbono2002
I do think all the hoooRah about 2nd hand smoke is Horse crap.

I used to think so too. I've never smoked, but I remember going to business meetings where just about everyone else was smoking, with clouds of smoke billowing through the room. Plus, I remember coming back from business meetings via airline, and people were still allowed to smoke on planes. Most passengers would light up as soon as we were off the ground. I'd come home from such business trips with my clothes reeking of cigarette smoke. But the smoke never bothered me. Today, however, I can't even be in a room with a smoker. It severely irritates my throat, and obviously my lungs as I go into coughing fits. I don't have a medical explanation as to why my body has developed such a low tolerance for second-hand smoke, but I certainly know it isn't healthy for me.

71 posted on 01/26/2005 3:41:54 PM PST by My2Cents ("I look to two things: First to God and then to Fox News.")
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To: jacquej
Which way would be better to go? Emphysema or Alzheimer's?

Not a good choice either way. The affects of smoking on the quality of life are significant and dying by lung cancer or other lung disease is a bad way to go. It would seem to me that anyone is better off without smoking. As far as quiting, I know that few things are harder but I would say worth it.

72 posted on 01/26/2005 3:42:20 PM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: Larry Lucido

Johnny Carson was 79. He had a pretty good run. I didn't read about his death and think, "Gosh, he shouldn't have smoked."


73 posted on 01/26/2005 3:43:42 PM PST by utahagen
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To: traumer

"We are so braiwashed by the media that some PURPLE, BLUE or ORANGE pill will always save you ! "

I would be dead already without my meds and I'm just a relatively young guy! You are in denial that good medical care and healthy living are not important.


74 posted on 01/26/2005 3:43:57 PM PST by Kirkwood
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To: Rennes Templar

jskass@tribune.com


If I had this guy's email address, I'd change it...


75 posted on 01/26/2005 3:44:06 PM PST by winner3000
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Comment #76 Removed by Moderator

To: Socratic

"I had the flu really bad and was just too sick to smoke. The third day I thought that might be a good time to just quit. I did."

That's exactly what happened to my husband. During my first pregnancy he always smoke outside, and he did so when we brought our son home.

But when our son was about 2 months old, my husband got very sick with the flu, he couldn't smoke, and he just stopped.


77 posted on 01/26/2005 3:45:49 PM PST by proud American in Canada
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To: Rennes Templar

Unfiltered Chesterfields send my dad to an early grave. He died at 67. I sometimes wish somebody with a pistol ought to take the top execs of the tobacco industry out in the woods, and come back alone. They're quite simply a band of murderers. This doesn't absolve my father of his own share of responsibility, of course. But what decent human being could peddle this stuff?


78 posted on 01/26/2005 3:45:57 PM PST by ArcLight
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To: Jim Noble

Best post on the thread. Thanks.


79 posted on 01/26/2005 3:45:58 PM PST by My2Cents ("I look to two things: First to God and then to Fox News.")
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To: Rennes Templar

I really don't think it is about Carson as much as something hitting someone at the right time to make them lay down the cigarettes. Carson's death will probably cause some people to quit. For others, it will be something else.

At the dentist when they told me that I needed some gum surgery and that smoker's gums heal badly. They scared me and I quit the next day.

It will be 2 years on the 29th and though I do miss them occasionally, I am SO glad that I quit. Nicorette gum really helped.


80 posted on 01/26/2005 3:47:57 PM PST by shattered
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