About 10 days ago I had a C.A.T. scan on my lungs.
The government offered free Lung Cancer screening for people who previously smoked.
I smoked a packet of cigarettes a day for 30 years.
Stopped at least a decade ago.
We agreed that I will not need to worry about it unless there was an issue in which case I would be contacted.
That contact has now occurred, and I have an appointment for Thursday morning. New Years Day
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Good luck with that Bretrick. I hope it’s just another check-up and nothing to worry about.
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Hi
CT Scans of the chest show up all sorts of things.
It could easily be just a simple thing like narrowing blood vessels.
Best of luck with it.
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@ swimfeeders
Received results from screening entity
In brief: Fatty Liver, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Coronary Artery Disease, Low risk of cancerous nodules on liver.
I had the same CT scan Bretrick, they found some stuff that had been deposited in my lungs from my engineering days… They monitored me and I had lung function tests every six months or so, it wasn’t progressing so they discharged me. I smoked about 15 cigs a day for thirty five years and thankfully no cancer was found. We Dodged a bullet Bret…
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Hi
Good news then. The coronary artery thing I have got, some brilliant drug combinations now to control it, far better than the old ones.
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Life will become a little boring though.
Love my junky food.
The decision is mine to make.
Major dietary changes. Need to research what not to eat.
Exercise? Pfft. Walk around the block a few times a day.
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The fags used to get all, or most of, the blame, but few mention living in the area of those big Industrial Chimneys?
Nor much research, either, suggesting that those who lived at seaside resorts, breathing cleaner air, may not have fallen foul!
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Lucky they don’t do a fart test we all would fail
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Next step in my health care is for a CT Coronary Angiogram.
Appointment on the 13th of January.
The booking was difficult to understand. The lady on the phone had a thick accent which I had real trouble understanding.
I had to ask her to repeat herself a few times though we got there in the end.
Out of curiosity I roughly added the amount of cigarettes I have smoked over 30+ years.
I know when I started, I was buying packets of 20 cigarettes. Those packets changed to 25 cigarettes.
So, let’s average it out to 22 cigarettes a day for 30 years. Might have been 35 years.
For simplicity I will keep it at 30 years.
22 ciggies a day, 365 days a year for 30 years comes to a total of 240,000 cigarettes.
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It’s good that they found these things so that you can change your lifestyle and get treatment. It’s good that you stopped drinking and smoking. Probably saved your life.
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Continuing to drink would have seen me dead in about 2005.
Liver disease would have taken me.
If I had continued smoking, my condition would be far, far more advanced than it is now.
So, I pat myself on the back for making two decisions that have prolonged my life by what may turn out to be decades. 
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A good job you stopped smoking and drinking. I’ve known a couple of people who got liver disease because of drinking too much. Not good to see. I blame smoking for the fact I got cancer on a kidney when I was 40. The cancer is back now but I wouldn’t have got another 41 years if I’d kept it up.
Look after yourself from now on and you’ll have years to come. All the best.
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I hate to pee on everyone’s bonfire but smoking might not be the bad guy that everyone thinks it is… 
You simply can’t say that had you continued to smoke you would be overcome with cancer or heart problems.
Nobody argues the fact that human lungs were not designed to inhale smoke.
But human lungs are wonderful and ingenious things, and are designed to cope with most pollutants provided they are not overwhelmed.
Perhaps the toxins contained in 20 cigs a day, or less, can be cleaned away overnight, but 40 or 50 cigs a day would eventually cause problems.
The link between smoking and cancer is tenuous indeed, and giving rats and beagles 60 cigs a day doesn’t sound like a very good comparison to a human smoking 20 cigs a day…
After all, most of the medication we take today is derived from poisons, and given enough, it would kill you. Even taken in the recommended amounts, it will still probably kill you or make life very uncomfortable.
Nearly all my relatives smoked, and none of them died of cancer. I’m talking grand parents and before.
The extreme frequency of cancer is a new thing, the last 40 years or so.
Prostate, breast and organ cancer are now the biggest killers from cancer.
Back in the 40’s 50’s and 60’s there were over 4000 nuclear tests…
Radiation is a proven cancer causing agent and radiation from fallout has a half life of hundreds of years. Many serviceman and women were present at these tests, and some died, some suffered long after exposure, and their kids also had birth defects. Radiation affects DNA and is passed down from generation to generation…
We are subject to RF radiation every minute of our lives. We live close to high tension overhead cables.
Barnby Dun where I live suffered from lots of unexpected brain tumours after Thorpe Marsh power station started output in 1959…Unusual for so many in such a small village.
We have all been subject to brainwashing by the establishment for the last 40 years, and they blame smoking as the cause so we stop looking any further…
But it’s not just radiation that could be a link to cancer is it…
Our food is laced with chemicals to help it travel across the world, out farm animals are injected or fed steroids for faster growth…
Our water is treated with flouride and other chemicals…
We use scientifically designed detergents, that can be added to our washing machines to allow us to wash at 15 degrees C…And then all these chemicals are released into the drainage. Wasn’t it better when just hot water was used to clean our clothes, and harmless when released into the environment.
But the establishment tell us that smoking is the cause of cancer…
Since TV appeared in everyone’s house, the government have a link to every man woman and child to work their magic through propaganda. They must have thought their ship really had come in when the world wide web was discovered…But how can we make everyone aquire a smartphone and be connected? Just make life impossible without one.
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It’s a long time since I would have been able to pee on a bonfire. You’re a lucky man! 
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I’m sorry but I just had to laugh at that 
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Best comeback since Elvis
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it’s very bad for your circulation because you are depriving your body of oxygen when you inhale a ciggie. Anything bad for your circulation is going to lead to long term health problems unless you give it up, because our lungs were made to inhale as much oxygen as possible and send it around our body so our cells can metabolise, rather than constantly taking in carbon monoxide.
Our bodies can deal with a certain amount of poison over our lifetime but just as with radiation, it all builds up. I gave up smoking 24 years ago but still worry about COPD in old age, because it’s always a risk if you’ve ever smoked and not a good way to go. I’ve stopped drinking a couple of years ago for health reasons too.
The best thing about giving up both is that you save heaps of money and you never again have to worry about waking with a hangover.
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