In April of 2001 (a month before my 19th birthday) I enlisted into the US Air Force and because I was at that time a smoker of close to 3 years I was concerned with my physical fitness test. Even with my concern I still couldn’t give up my smokes and even briefly considered the military might not be the right call for me. as you can guess, when 9/11 came along it blew any reservations I had out of my mind. I shortly found out my “Ship Out” date was December 4th 2001 and even though I had a brand new relationship and a baby boy due in the middle of the month I knew leaving was the right thing. On the 4th I still had my cigarette habit and the very last thing I did before entering the airport to head to San Antonio Texas was smoke 2 cigarettes back to back and tossed the half pack I had left.
Once in Texas we were all put on a bus and sent to Lackland AFB. As you could guess, basic training was stressful as it was, but there were added stressors in the post 9/11 world. Because of everything as a whole, I had no real time to worry about how much I missed smoking, but it did pop up quickly from time to time, mostly at night. Given the fact there was no option to get my cigarette fix and the weeks in basic training, my physical fitness tests were easier and easier to accomplish and my mind and body were starting to show the results, but the desire to smoke was still there. One day after hitting my morning shower and shave I noticed some bleeding after handling business in the head. After notifying my instructor, I was sent to the clinic for an exam in which multiple tests confirmed the presence of blood and I was rushed to the base hospital. After 4 days of extensive procedures I’m notified I have a genetic condition called Gardner’s Syndrome which causes the formation of many precancerous growths called polyps in the intestines. Any polyps that aren’t removed have a 100% chance of turning cancerous and at the point of my diagnosis I had hundreds of them which meant I had no option other than removal of my large bowel. Ironically enough, my cancer risk was even more certain than with the cigarettes I still craved so that was just another reason I told myself I didn’t need to quit. To quicken the epic saga that ensued, I’ll hit the important bits next. 6 months and 5 surgeries later I was medically discharged from the military and my smoking habit was back like I never had to quit, if not worse.
Fast forward to 2011, the year my life as a smoker changed! In the months leading up to 2011 I had started seeing ads for vaping products randomly while surfing the net. At first it was easy to dismiss as just another scam to try and get people’s money. Slowly my curiosity got the better of me and I tried searching for more info about electronic cigarettes and soon ran across an ad from a company called Knight Sticks that had a “Try before you buy” deal. After blowing through the 808 cig-a-like cartridges I still wasn’t convinced. Soon I saw another ad from South Beach Smoke and ordered their 510 kit. While I used the kit 510 kit I didn’t believe the product was working as advertised, that was until I had exhausted the cartridges and realized I hadn’t touched my cigarette pack since the kit came in. My commitment into vaping didn’t fully start until May 1st 2011 when I bought my first real device intentionally to kick the habit from Pure Smoker and from that eGo-T kit until now I’ve never looked back. Even if my genetic condition results in me developing Cancer sometime in my life I can rest easy knowing THAT was the reason and not a dirty lifelong smoking habit. As crazy as it sounds, the unsure and varying quality of both devices and eliquids in those days is likely the main thing that kept me interested in vaping. These days doing my best to help others potentially save their lives is my biggest motivation.
Beginning in early 2015 I attempted to help my mother in law switch to vaping. I thought with all the knowledge I had gained since I started vaping I could help her with any questions or concerns she might have. After some time figuring out what type of device and eliquid best suited her I finally had her dialed in. Shortly before trying to help my mother in law switch her dry cough that she had from the time I first met her had gotten to the point where they were more and more frequent. Not too much after my wife and I noticed the increase and severity of her mom’s coughing, she began having slight pains in her stomach which over the span of a few months also became severe. Eventually the pain was bad enough that my wife took her to the hospital where she was admitted pretty quickly. Within a few days my mother in law’s doctors came in and said there were things going on internally and had to send samples in and were releasing her to go home till rests came in. A few days later the doctors called and wanted her to come into their office. My wife went along with her mom and was told she had stage 4 Cancer and it was in her lungs, kidney, and a large malignant mass in her colon. That Fall of 2015 mom started chemo and moved in with us since she couldn’t live on her own anymore. As things went along it seemed like the mass has stopped growing, but you could see mom was feeling worse and worse. Soon the best care we could give wasn’t enough and she was forced to be placed in a nursing home for round the clock care. By June 2016 mom had to be taken across the street to the hospital due to bleeding episodes and we learned chemo wasn’t halting the cancer’s progression and she was placed on hospice. By this time mom decided that there wasn’t any reason to not smoke anymore and if she was going to go she’ll go happy. In August somehow I convinced mom to take a selfie with me (she hated having her picture taken more than I do) and it was one of the best pictures her and I had taken together. Not a week later the nursing home called my wife and told her mom wasn’t responding normally to the staff so we both drove down there. Seeing she didn’t respond to either of us we went to pick up our kids as well as our nephew, my brother in law, and my wife called her dad to come see mom for likely one of the last times. my brother in law stayed the night with mom and that following morning called to say mom had passed away. The thing that affected me most in the whole situation with mom was all the symptoms and pain in her belly and cancer progression is exactly the same that I would face if my polyps turned cancerous. Same exact scenario, separate causes, but in some way it kind of connected mom and I together.
In the end Cancer is a brutal and scary thing that has no feelings and offers nothing but pain and death. Any and all means of trying to prevent others from dealing with the heartache should be given a chance and vaping should easily be an option supported by public health organizations and governing bodies. I hope this can help someone somewhere if not just show so many others have walked the twisted road that is Cancer.
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