Stopping Too Late!

Had my first ciggie aged 9 when my friend (same age) took 2 from his parents silver cigarette box on the coffee-table & brought them down into the cellar, his playroom, where we lit them from the 2-bars electric fire! How I regret that now, & all the 50 odd years since when I smoked everything from ciggies, cigars, to a briar pipe. It was fashionable, & indeed a comfort during times of stress, but when you light one at your desk only to find another already lit & lazing in the ashtray, you suddenly realise it's an addiction which is neither healthy nor affordable! The 'crunch' came almost 10 years ago when my usual morning cough brought up specks of blood. This scared me, so off to the Docs who immediately suspected cancer & sent me off to the hospital for chest x-rays! That was the moment I stopped smoking, too frightened to continue I chucked the ***-packets (always had 2 or 3 in stock), also the pipe tobacco & cigars! Anxiously awaiting news of my 'fate', I didn't even fancy a drag of my wife's ciggies (she still smoked at that time), I just wanted to hide away somewhere & die! Results came, Doc told me no lung-cancer showing on the x-rays but some damage due to 'COPD'. This caused me some breathlessness, but otherwise great relief! Then 8 smoke-free years later my shortage of breath worsened & climbing stairs or a slope became a real effort, so off to the Docs again, then to the brilliant respiratory department at our local hospital where a CTC scan showed that on top of the 'COPD' I also have pulmonary fibrosis, something that cannot be cured, will worsen over the months (& years if I'm lucky!) ahead, leading to a need for oxygen on-tap, until I can breath no more. Okay, I'm now into my 70's & have enjoyed a great life, but when my muscles can't get enough oxygen to enable me to do all the jobs that used to be easy, I can't climb a ladder let alone a staircase, the slightest slope becomes a hazzard to avoid, & 'heavy breathing' no longer relates to good sex, I wish beyond anything I had never ever started smoking!