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General : Cancer fears View All Messages
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 Message 2 of 3 in Discussion 
From: Joel  in response to Message 1Sent: 12/22/2005 5:57 PM
Hello Grant:
 
There are many ex-smokers who share your fears that they may still get lung cancer after their quit. By quitting though, they have taken the most powerful step that they could have to reduce the odds of this happening.
 
There are likely many more smokers who have fears of developing lung cancer, which often manifests in smokers totally avoiding going to their doctors even when they have symptoms or from going for chest x-rays because of the fear that this time the test will show something or just for the fear that the doctor is going to tell them to quit smoking.
 
Then there are those smokers who just continue smoking and seem to have no real fear about it. The sad thing is that these people have lots to fear and have either just deluded themselves that the risks are minimal or are too oblivious to the facts of just how dangerous smoking actually is.
 
I need to point out that cancer is just one of many conditions that smokers need to fear. The fact is more smokers will be affected by and die from circulatory diseases caused by smoking than will die from cancers induced from smoking.
 
The best advice I can give you is just to discuss your fears with your personal physician. If he or she ever feels that there is something happening that warrants further exploration he or she will know that it is important for your peace of mind to run whatever diagnostic tests that are available at the time. Just know though that by quitting smoking you really have taken the most important and powerful step that you could do to minimize your risks of developing lung cancer.
 
Joel
 
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