• troglodytis@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    My mom has always proudly proclaimed “I never once touched a cigarette”. She’s currently dying of lung cancer.

    Interesting the various ways her body is trying to kill itself on her journey. Absolutely brutal, and she’s really only just beginning the end.

    2/10. Would not recommend, but ya gotta die somehow.

    • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.todayOP
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      10 days ago

      Smoking is certainly not the only way to acquire lung cancer, it’s merely the most popular. She might have spent years living in an apartment that used asbestos for insulation, very common for the boomer generation.

      At any rate, I am sorry to hear about what you and her are going through and I wish both of you — well, I’m not even sure what to say here without sounding cheesy or cliché — but whatever is needed to make this journey more bearable.

        • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.todayOP
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          10 days ago

          The problem is, it rarely ends up staying there. At some point, the walls always end up coming down one way or another , don’t they.

          • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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            10 days ago

            Yes, but it’s usually not the building residents that take them down. The vast majority of mesothelioma cases are people who worked with asbestos as part of their job.

            • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.todayOP
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              10 days ago

              Sure but I’ve definitely heard of cases where residents ended up getting exposed too. Lack of proper maintenance, accidents, ill-advised wall drilling, etc.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          Asbestos insulation is actually perfectly safe, in the wall.

          Older apartments, particularly ones that have been regularly renovated or poorly maintained, don’t do a good job of keeping asbestos inside the walls. Also, asbestos itself tends to break down over time and become more difficult to keep contained. This makes asbestos cleanup extremely difficult and expensive.

      • troglodytis@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Thanks.

        I’ll take cheesy & cliché all day. Except “thoughts & prayers”. “Thoughts & prayers” is the cancer of cheesy & cliché. Fuck cancer.

    • crank0271@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      I’m sorry that you’re both going through that. Wishing you both peace, and feel free to reach out if you ever want someone to listen.

    • randomdeadguy@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      You’re not alone. The human body is an amazingly complex and intricate series of systems, and watching them fail in your parent one after another is… One of the worst things I have ever witnessed.

      Like some illnesses just affect a specific area or part of the body, like when you break a bone of have the sniffles, but this? It is… very “creative” in the destruction of your loved one.

      I wish your mom, yourself, your family, the best of luck.