Do You Ever Feel Guilty???

[Urbanlamb]

When I was faced with the diagnosis, I immediatley felt overwhelming guilt.
I’m a non-smoker, but I used to smoke when I was younger. For 12 years.
I quit about 6 years ago….but I KNOW this cancer is a result of all those years I smoked.
Now I’m costing the government lots of money…when I read that bladder cancer is one of the most expensive ones to treat, I actually winced.
Yeeouch.
Do you ex smokers feel the guilt like that? How do you deal with it?

[marysue]

I’m not an ex-smoker but I got BC anyhow. I have figured that mine was possibly caused by growing up in a home filled with dense cigarette smoke from parents that were heavy smokers and then my two brothers took up the habit. Most of my childhood friends parents smoked so I usually went from one smoky house to another. I grew up in the Niagara region of Canada and was exposed to the smog/pollution from the steel mills, swam in the polluted Great Lakes, was exposed to the farmers spraying their fruit trees and various other crops with all sorts of chemicals including DDT. Lastly, I dyed my hair for many years. There is unconfirmed research that suggests a link to dark hair dyes raising the risk of bladder cancer. There are no warning labels on the hair dye packages. So do I feel guilty? NO FRIGGIN’ WAY!! As a kid I had no choice or control over what I was exposed to. My parents weren’t aware of the health risks of smoking at the time. Nor was I aware of the risks of hair dye. I look at it this way if the government would take the responsibility and take cigarettes off the market completely, ban all chemical use then maybe we’d be healthier but since they won’t then I hold them at least partially responsible for my health so they can darn well pay for it.

Sorry to sound off here, but this is a topic that I have very strong feelings about.

[Urbanlamb]

It was pretty much the same thing with me! I grew up with smokers in the home, and started smoking at a very young age.
Didn’t really realize the seriousness of it…but once I did, I quit. It took me many tries because I was so addicted, but I quit. I was darn proud of myself for doing so.

Thanks for your response marysue…it really helps the way I’m viewing things.
*hugs*

[marysue]

You’re welcome. I’m really glad that you have quit smoking. We need every edge we can get to kick BC in the backside. Good luck.

[Farm Boy]

I grew up in a house of non-smokers, never lived with smokers and never smoked myself, and I have bladder cancer to, at 55 years of age and in good health.

Don’t beat yourself up there, urbanlamb.

I’ve tried to think of what might have caused this and have come to accept that I might just be the 1 in 100,000 who randomly got it. (made up that number, don’t quote me !)

Every person though who you help to quit is a good way to pay back any guilt you might have though !!

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