So I very rarely get personal about things here, but I've watched cigarettes negatively impact many family members and actually kill others, so I suppose I'll speak up here about my opinion on them since it's something I'm pretty against in general.
My mom smoked throughout the entirety of her pregnancy with me, and it may or may not have contributed to my childhood health issues that resulted in major surgery at the age of 9. She smoked in the house during my entire childhood so the house, our clothes, hair, and everything else constantly reeked and other kids definitely weren't shy about telling me that, which led to many fistfights and principal's office visits as I was already a relatively spunky/angry kid.
Fast forward a few years and my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with stage III lung cancer. She ended up having radiation and surgical removal of the lung, and she went into remission after half a year or so. She never stopped smoking throughout the entire ordeal, because according to her "smoking is the only thing that keeps me calm". She smoked for years after the fact, and the cancer returned about 10 years ago and killed her within months, as surgery wasn't an option this time around and her oncologist deemed her too weak for chemo or radiation.
My mom is still around, still smoking, and has both high blood pressure and COPD from her long-term cigarette habit. She also has horrible gum disease and has lost about half her teeth at this point, with more needing to be pulled. She's had two teeth abscess, one so badly that she ended up staying overnight in the hospital on high dose antibiotics. This may or may not be related, but her beloved cat also ended up with cancer in his lung that very well could have been caused by her smoking in her house, according to a private conversation I had with the vet after the fact when I took care of the bill for her.
Suffice it to say, I don't like cigarettes and think it's sad when people don't think about the long-term repercussions of smoking them. I'm well aware that the above mentioned ailments won't affect everyone and plenty of people smoke their entire lives and are just fine, but it really doesn't only impact the smoker and at least a handful of their loved ones will be affected in one way or another by the smoker's decision to keep up the habit. I can certainly understand the motivation behind smoking certain other substances, but I just can't grasp the appeal of cigarettes at all. Even vapes (which I think are hilariously stupid) are better than cigarettes in terms of being less damaging to your heath and being less invasive to others.
I suppose that's /rant, but don't take this as me condemning anyone for their choices. These are just my personal experiences and if they help sway even one person away from trying cigarettes or make someone even consider quitting, then I'll be happy as can be. If not, I do hope the people who do smoke don't end up going through the same ordeals I've witnessed and choose to keep their smoking as
their habit, and keep it away from nonsmoking family/friends/pets.
