I've been watching my sister-in-law disappear,
literally piece by piece from this disease. She is a
heavy smoker. In 1996 she had a toe turn black. (her
mom died of the same thing, but there was, and still
is, little known about it) Her toe fell off. She had
her first amputation in 1997 - all the toes on her
right foot. About every 6 - 10 months she has another
section removed. After the toes, 1/2 of her foot,
then to her ankle, then her ankle, then 1/2 way to her
knee. . .she was unable to support herself on a
prosthetic lower leg . . one other fine thing about
this disease . .it weakens your extremities. Last
year in the fall she lost 1/2 of her left foot, then
in Feb this year she lost her left leg to just below
the knee. . .each time they took a little bit more of
her right leg off. . .the whole time she continued
smoking. Today she is in surgery getting her left
knee amputated and possibly her right one too. We
moved her back to the hospital Friday from the 2 week
nursing home stay . . hospital to nursing home to
hospital. She has a 22 year old son and an 11 year
old daughter and a very caring husband. She is 39.
Her husband cannot catch her smoking but we all smell
it on her. Everytime we find cigarettes we toss them
in the outside garbage. . .she can't walk, so she
can't retrieve them.

The two things they have discovered about this disease
is that nicotine and arsnic trigger and advance the
disease, so the patch is not helping unless you can
stop smoking fast, and I mean in one or two weeks.

We don't expect her to see this Christmas. Her
husband has two brothers and two sisters. . .all with
families. She is so depressed now that when the
doctor told her she MUST quit smoking, she said that
smoking is all she has left. . . . imagine how her
kids felt at that time. After this long "deteriating"
time, he has finally broken down sobbing.

Do what you need to do, but just remember that when my
sister-in-law is gone, she doesn't have to remember
all the days we have ahead of us to see her and her
kids & husband suffer without her laughter in the
house.
--- pattijake07 <pattijake07@...> wrote:
> I have diagnosed myself with this disease after much
> reading and
> realizing I have all the symptoms. I have not lost
> any limbs or
> didgets yet but have the muscle pains in my foot and
> tingling in my
> upper arms. I also have severe aching in my upper
> thighs.. I have
> smoked continuously for 35 years and realize this
> is the first step
> in controling this disease. Of course I'd like the
> easy way out and
> immediately put on the patch this am. Now Iam not
> so sure if this is
> a good Idea. Must I quit cold turkey. Can I use
> wellbutrin? Could I
> try the gum or thr lozenges?If anyone has some
> answers or experiences
> to share I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks and
> good luck to all
>
>




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