Emma told me the other night that she has been diagnosed with COPD.
She is 56 years old.
And she still smokes.
Miss Sympathy here is so furious at her that I don't know what to say.
But I do remember a July day in 1997 when I said to her, "Emma, I beg you, please stop smoking. My mother just died of lung cancer. My aunt died of lung cancer. My grandmother died of lung cancer. Please stop smoking."
She said no.
And now she says she has to stop. Isn't it just a little too late?
Oh, I know something else could get her in the meantime, but just looking at some of the autopsy pictures on the innerwebz has made me want to weep. And I am so angry that she did this to herself.
2 comments:
She doesn't have to stop. She can die. My dad died smoking. It's sad, but it happens all the time.
At least she didnt lie. Lots of people say they've stopped and don't.
Or Garys great aunt, who insisted her doctor said her emphesyma had nothing to do with her smoking. "Lungs like an angel."
People need their crutches.
Some of us smoke.
Some drink.
Some eat.
Some get adrenalin rushes from dangerous pursuits.
Some from dangerous men.
We can't always control when we die, but we do have some little control over how we choose to go,
and what our crutch is between now and then.
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