This is one of the main reasons I quit smoking. It's the fear of knowing I was playing with fire and not having a guarrentee of not getting burnt but I liked the flame. I'm over the flame and smoke now! I hope the only thing I've burnt are my finger tips from butting out. How selfish of me to kill myself slowly over the past 17 years. I wish I could do it over again because I would never have started if I could. CHEERS. To The Future! Smoke FREE! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/11/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 23 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 575 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $80.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 19 [B]Seconds:[/B] 35

Mercy, Thanks for sharing this information with us! Very informative! Danielle ______________________ The SSC Support Team

Let's celebrate the new week happy we quit smoking. None of us would prefer this to a little discomfort from quiting. Smoke contains more than 60 carcinogens and 200 known toxic substances. Scientists are still learning about how carcinogens work and why only some people who smoke get lung cancer. Genes are the hereditary units in chromosomes and appear to have a lot to do with a person's susceptibility to cancer. The genes are made up of DNA which controls how cells divide and reproduce. Damage to DNA from cigarette smoke can lead to uncontrolled cell division and growth, which is what cancer is finally all about. It is of interest, that some smokers develop COPD, some develop lung cancer, some get neither, and some get both. We really don't know the reason for these different susceptibilities. Besides that, lung cancer from smoking can take a number of different forms. For example, the cancer cells can resemble cells of the skin (squamous cell carcinoma), cells of the bronchial glands (adenocarcinoma), or specialized cells of the nervous system (neuroendocrine carcinoma). What do you think the outcome is for this patient with lung cancer? Well, almost all types of lung cancer are particularly deadly. Thus, if a lung cancer is more than an inch or so in diameter or has spread outside of the lung, fewer than 50% of affected individuals will survive another 5 years.And that is so even with the best of therapy. What's more, consider a cancer that is less than an inch in size (or not large enough to be seen on a chest x-ray) and is confined to the lung. Unfortunately, even if such a cancer is completely removed by surgery, about 25% of individuals will still die from the cancer in less than 5 years from the time of diagnosis. The reason for this poor outcome is that lung cancers tend to spread early in the course of disease to other organs, most often the brain, liver, and bone. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/21/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 133 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,660 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $594.51 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 57 [B]Seconds:[/B] 20