GRANDMA DIED OF LUNG CANCER

31st May was Anti-Smoking day. It may not have a big significance to a lot of people, but it is for me.

You see, my maternal grandmother contracted lung cancer which spread and caused brain cancer all because of second hand smoke. At that time, plenty of people smoked, oblivious to the danger of smoking. Both my grand dads smoked, my mum smoked, my dad smoked. They smoked everywhere. In front of us, in front of grandma, in the pubs, smoking while shopping.

The journey from the time my grandma knew she was ill until the time of her death was a time of reflection and deep sorrow for all of us. By that time, my maternal grand dad died of kidney failure (another story for another day), so Ah Ma would ping pong from her son's house to my mum's house to be closer to all of us.

She was a generous being, and she would just give, give, give all the time. The only difference is that she was TOO generous when she was sick. One time, she gave me and my brother RM50 each, which at that time, I would bet was equivalent to a couple of hundred bucks today. My 8 year old brother promptly went off and blew his stash on nothing but vitagen (yogurt drinks) from a van that came by the school to promote yogurt. Our concept of money was pretty limited at that time.



I never remembered Ah Ma being very ill. But there was a frightening episode that happened when I was 9 that I would always remember. Grandma went into convulsion or fits, her body could not stop shaking, and her eyes just rolled backwards. I was having a nap with her that day, and you can't imagine how that felt like to a small kid. Luckily, we had a cleaning lady in the house, and she had the right mind to protect grandma with pillows and stuff, call the ambulance and my parents. I remembered crying as the ambulance personnel took my grandma away, pretty sure that was it, and that she was going to die.

Why do people still smoke?

Despite the fact that there is overwhealming evidence that smoking destroy lives, they don't stop. You can't blame the cigerrete companies for making you addicts. You can't blame anybody. The crux of the matter is to just STOP!

By the way, my dad and my mum did stop smoking. My mum said, dad had the hardest, hardest times quitting. But today, no tobacco touch their lips. And it's a good thing for everyone.

Just yesterday, my friend told me her dad died of lung cancer as well. But she could not understand why because he stopped so many years ago. There are many, many reasons. I do know that for many ex smokers the lung is like a vacuum dust bag. The bag is full of dirty stuff, and nobody has gotten rid of the junk inside.

There are treatments to clean the black lungs, but it's painful. Worth every penny let me tell you so that you will live the day to see your children happily grow up, get married and have children. There are other treatments, and the info is all inside google.

It's really important to drink vegetable juices to keep the blood alkaline. How to do this? If you are not fussy about taste, the simplest way is to buy any greens from the organic shop and blend about 2-3 leaves in the blender with roughly 3 mugs of water. Sieve the leaves away and just drink the water. The water should be light and not strong tasting meaning, you should not be gagging at the sight of it! Sip this drink the entire day. Make this a habit. And if you get used to the taste, there are all sorts of yummy vegetables juices on the internet which you can try in your own home.

Happy spring cleaning.

Jasmin

ps read about how Vigay-Indran tried to stop smoking http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2009/5/31/health/4010828&sec=health