Not so strange to be happy about it, when you consider the other option was lung cancer.

Been under the weather for a few months and nothing seemed to make any difference to my condition.  Now COPD has been put forward, I'm getting some treatment that seems to be working.  Yes, it's a lifetime thing and it'll probably get worse but I still feel like I've dodged a bullet.

Anyhow, COPD is the legacy of my having been a smoker so, if you're still a smoker, stop immediately and if you're not, don't ever start.

 good to hear you aint got lung  cancer and yes  quitting  smoking  can  help  bunches  my prayers are  with you

COPD can be a real bugger. But it's a chronic illness, not a terminal one. So, yes, you dodged a true nasty. Glad to know you're getting better treatment. An accurate diagnosis can do wonders. :)

I have it too...I quit a year ago and couldn't be happier ;). Take care of yourself - and stay away from people that are spraying germs...lol.

Laurie

 Also be careful of household sprays like air fresheners and the like. Do your research on your meds and don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions, I write mine down as I think of them and take them with me. My prayers are with you as well and grats on dodging that bullet.

Marque 

LOL...when I first saw the subject, I just if you are happy to have COPD then you must have really been worried that it was something worse.  From someone who used to have breathing difficulties, your environment may be contributing to your difficulty in breathing as well.  If you live in a large city or  near one then the pollution there may also be contributing.  Taking vacations away from the city will help in giving  your lungs a break.   My doctors where thinking that I might have COPD but in reality it was just that my problems were because I lived in a highly polluted area between 2 big city's.  I no longer live in that area and I went from using an inhaler at least twice a week to not using it at all.

Enjoy your happiness, get some fresh air, and stay active if possible.  Keep those lungs strong.  And congrats with not having cancer. 

Sam, you have the wrong slant on this. Some cancer can be isolated , and cut out, a little radiation and chemo and you are good for another 20 years.

COPD is simply a chronic pain in the ass.

admittadly COPD Is not in itself fatal while cancer can be a problem.

Youhave missed the chance to become a mutant or drink extremely toxic cocktails but I say though, whatever makes you happy. !   ;-)

p.s I too was diagnosed with COPD, although one doctor just gives me antibiotics that clears up the annual bout of bronchitis.

MOAR DALEKS !!!!

Thanks, all.

@Mark, you are absolutely right but as things go, I'd rather deal with COPD than cancer right now.  I've read up on it and I know pretty much what to expect; plus, it also gives a few answers to other aspects of my health problems recently.

Daleks?  Oh for sure.  I'm currently converting some of Mechmaster's and hope to get them up here within a couple of weeks.  There are also some more of my own  -canon and non-canon, including the latest iteration of the Davros travel chair.  You can also expect some non-Dalek freebies soon.  After that, I'm working mainly on stuff I hope to sell but I'll always find time for more free Daleks.

Thanks, all.

@Mark, you are absolutely right but as things go, I'd rather deal with COPD than cancer right now.  I've read up on it and I know pretty much what to expect; plus, it also gives a few answers to other aspects of my health problems recently.

Daleks?  Oh for sure.  I'm currently converting some of Mechmaster's and hope to get them up here within a couple of weeks.  There are also some more of my own  -canon and non-canon, including the latest iteration of the Davros travel chair.  You can also expect some non-Dalek freebies soon.  After that, I'm working mainly on stuff I hope to sell but I'll always find time for more free Daleks.

Just my view but I think you have the right slant on it and, as with any illness, I think a positive attitude always helps.  True, having looked up COPD, it does not look very pleasant but maybe a little more predictable than cancer.  As  long term diabetic I have had to come to terms with living with a long term illness.  With diabetes you have to try and stay active and try and be careful with your lifestyle.   I have made changes, watch what I eat and when, long walks and recently adopted a dog to share the long walks and encourage me to go out.  Certainly an impact of the diabetes but an impact I enjoy. With long term illnesses I firmly believe it s a question of living with, and controlling, the illness and not letting it control you.

I wish you the very best and hope the effect on you are as limited as they can be.   

Blessings come in surprising forms my friend.  I'm happy for you in this unusual blessing. :)

Glad it wasn't more severe.

I bought my first vaping pen today. Yay! I actually like it. Kind'a feels like smoking for the 21st century. Which, I guess it is. But I'm hoping it will help me quit tobacco all together, and i think it will, cause this type of pen lets you ween yourself off by decreasing the nicotine down to 0mg, so that all you're getting eventually is the habit of smoking and not the addiction. And it helps the coolness factor that it kind'a looks like somethin from star wars, haha.  

My dad started using one a few days ago and he's already smoking less than half of what he was before. We just recently found out that he needs bypass surgery within the next few weeks, so he's trying to quit, or almost quit before then. He's 66.

AmbientShade, been a vapor since May 5th 2014, 3 pack habit previous. Started at 36mg, for 4 weeks, then 24mg until Jan 1. Now down to 11 mg. Fly a lot long distance (10 to 13 hour flights back and forth across the Pacific) and I think I am just about ready to park the pen and give up completely. Target is May 5th 2015. Good luck. Tried a zillion times to quit with various methods and I think this is going to work for me.

Like Sam mentioned don't ever start. Wish I never did.

Congrats Gary. I personally don't really want to quit entirely, but if the vapor can replace the tobacco then I'm fine with that. It is much cheaper, and (supposedly) much healthier. My only real concern is this talk about vaping increasing your risk for pneumonia. I know my brother's girlfriend can't use them because she has chronic bronchitis and asthma, so smoking is actually better for her than vaping, as crazy as that might sound. That's what she said anyway, and she's a nurse, lol. But she barely does anyway, and says she's quitting.

Hmm...

May 5th. Two weeks before The Witcher III hits the shelves! That's a nice target (if you're a gamer). Just to throw an ot into the works (And congrats on not having cancer, Sam. I got lucky and my first...and hopefully only...dance with the big C was in the prostate, and it was caught early enough for surgery. 1 year with a 0.0 PSA, only nine years to go), anyone who likes crpg's should check out the videos they have released...including the 35 minute playthrough. This is the last Witcher game they are doing (it was meant as a trilogy), and they have pulled out all the stops. The game footprint on the PC is going to be 50gigs. The largest city in the game has 2,000 npcs with their own schedules. And it is open world (no more invisible walls) and dream mechanics such as swimming, climbing, sailing, etc. Basically, take everything that Bethsoft tried to do in 95 with Daggerfall, move it to modern HD capable hardware and 64 bit address busses. There are three seperate endings, and your ingame actions affects what other quests become available, or how they play out. And if you are into the series, the devs claim you can import your game conditions from Witcher II and pick up where you left off (and bless them, they learned from II, and the interface is less I-dumb and more classical, like the first game). PC and PS4 both run it 1080; they're still optimizing for Xbox-1. It's only at 990. Just remember its for big kids who don't mind blood and guts and boobs and such..... CD Project Red also plans a bunch of free dlc; if they charge, it would be for something big, like adding a new area to the already massive world. Personally, I'd love to see that game hit 100 gigs of footprint. The world shown in the demo play was large enough that a trip from the port city to the southern swamps would have taken 15-20 real-time minutes on a horse at full gallop...with three fordings of a river or an inlet large enough to need a boat or ferry. And for those who despaired at Skyrim....the monsters do NOT scale. You go after the gryphon you see in the game play before you are ready, it will kill you. You can stick your head in the wrong cave and lose it if you don't run fast enough. And hop over to Amazon to see what their collector's edition will have in it...

Gary, AS, good luck getting your respective monkeys off your backs and out of your wallets.

When I read stuff like this, about your addictions, I'm glad I was boring and have never been a smoker.  My dad used to smoke when I was a kid, and I remember picking-up one of his tab ends from the ashtray after he'd left the room - and giving a bloody good suck on it.  Damn nearly choked myself, I must have been coughing and spluttering for a good five minutes, trying to get my breath back.  I think being mischievous saved me from an addiction, cause once I got my breath back I'd already learnt that I shouldn't be sucking on the stuff.

Yup, learnt that one pretty damn quick :-D
Smoking can look cool though.

I know you are working on them Sam, but with the world talking Robots and AI, etc, we need lots of Daleks so we can terrorize V4 and M4 in our renders. Can' wait to see what you have in the hopper. Have to make a Dalek driven car  and a Dalek operated drone :)

If you think about it, a Dalek is a car/spacecraft/tank/environment suit/battle armour all in one, housing the xenophobic mutant squid that controls it.  With the go anywhere, destroy everything capability it has, I can't imagine they'd need a drone.  Mechmaster has made some outstanding Hovabouts, though.  Maybe I could ask for those to convert, and make some of me own, too.

Anyhow, I have a strong feeling you'll like what's coming along soon.  The new Mechmaster models are truly amazing.  My own models, well, I like 'em but I can't really comment on their amazing-ness, or lack thereof. 

Back to topic... As AmbientShade, I am not trying to quit vaping.  There seems to be no reason to give up nicotine; I like the taste and the mild kick, the aid to concentration and even the rituals of vaping.  Any health risks associated with it, our medical experts say they are far, far smaller than the risks from smoking.  Many health professionals here are actively encouraging the use of vaping devices as an effective means to smoking cessation.  After 2 years and no desire to even touch a cigarette, I'll endorse that.

tee hee

I have not touched tobacco since Feb 7th. Don't see a reason ever to do so again. Quite enjoying my new vaping hobby and will be upgrading my device to a major cloud maker soon. Found a great local shop that makes their own juices, all 100% organic. Awesome stuff. 

ETA: And I can taste and smell EVERYTHING now! Which... is not always a good thing, ain't gonna lie... LOL

@ AmbientShade - you said it, buddy.  @ Misty - Awesome!

Haven't smoked for years... and even when I did it wasn't properly.

I'm sitting here right now coughing my guts up every 10 minutes... again, for nth time this winter. Never had so many respiratory viruses as I've had since I took up having kids.

They do bring a smile to my face though :-) Then they either cough or sneeze in it.

Should have moved somewhere less dreich before we had them... ;-)

Glad to hear you've got a diagnosis that you can at least cope with the implications of Sam... and that the vaping's still working for you...

Ta, mate.  Hope you feel better soon.

Vaping for 2 years now; no desire to touch a cigarette at all.

When I read stuff like this, about your addictions, I'm glad I was boring and have never been a smoker.  My dad used to smoke when I was a kid, and I remember picking-up one of his tab ends from the ashtray after he'd left the room - and giving a bloody good suck on it.  Damn nearly choked myself, I must have been coughing and spluttering for a good five minutes, trying to get my breath back.  I think being mischievous saved me from an addiction, cause once I got my breath back I'd already learnt that I shouldn't be sucking on the stuff.

Yup, learnt that one pretty damn quick :-D
Smoking can look cool though.

I know that feeling as I grew up in a house full of smokers and drinkers. I remember my mother used to smoke when I was about five or six. Even remember her favorite cigarettes. But she gave it up even though my older brothers and sisters continued to smoke. When I used to come in after playing on a Saturday or Sunday, my brothers were watching the games on television and the smoke was so thick I used to pretend playing Underdog or Mighty Mouse and flying through the clouds.  With role models like that to look up to, it's a wonder I never started to smoke or drink. Actually, to be honest, they're the main reason I don't smoke or drink today*.*