I never thought it would happen to me
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The National Through with Chew Week, a public health awareness campaign designed to raise awareness of the dangers of spit tobacco, is Feb. 19-25 this year.
Returning from a trip last year, I happened to sit next to a person on the plane who was a former spit tobacco user with quite a story to share. Noticing that he had a large bottle of water in the front seat pocket, I wondered how he was able to bring that on the plane with all the security changes in effect. Leaning over, he showed me the huge scar across his neck, explaining that he had to take a drink of water with each bite of food because he had no salivary glands left. The following is his story of how he became addicted to spit tobacco and how it changed his life.
— Diana Schwab,
Lake County Public Health
I don’t think I was much different than any other young boy growing up in Texas. I was the youngest of four children and the very proud son of a 26-year Army veteran, a career I would later choose myself.
As a young teen, my friend and I would experiment with various types of chewing tobacco. Both my parents smoked their entire lives, and I hated the smoke and smell that came with it. I was never brave enough for the “real” smokeless tobacco because of all the stories about how sick it would make you the first time you tried it. I was only brave enough for the pouched smokeless varieties.
During college, I indulged in smokeless tobacco occasionally. Upon graduation, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and went through the Officer’s Basic Course and Ranger School.
I continued to use chew off and on through basic. I won’t go into a lot of detail about Ranger School, but it involved very little food or sleep. One of those long nights without sleep, I was placed on security late into the early morning. One of my buddies handed me a can of Copenhagen. After taking a pinch of that dip, my head started spinning and I got this weird sensation and was wide awake. I’m not sure if the nicotine woke me up or just the weird feeling. All I knew was that I was now awake and pulling my security shift without any problems. Out of desperation and need to stay awake over the next 60 days, I purchased more of the product and used it throughout that period, day and night. I graduated Ranger School and stayed in the Army, and for about 15 years, I used Copenhagen every day. I was addicted. I tried to stop many times and just couldn’t.
Finally, while serving overseas in Germany, I quit the habit. In Germany, the only station we could pick up on our television was the Armed Forces Network. Throughout the day, AFN would show public service announcements; one of those was about how bad smokeless tobacco is. Well, after about a year of my children seeing those public service announcements, they figured out that the habit their dad had was bad. I’ll never forget the day, Dec. 29, 2000, that my three daughters came to me and said, “Daddy, we prayed last night that you would stop dipping. Daddy, please stop, we love you.”
Well, that was the day; I’ve never dipped or chewed tobacco since. I felt good about my accomplishment, and the trick to my success was Charm’s Blow Pops. For about six months, any time I had the craving for a dip, I would stick a blow pop in. By the end of that time, I had lost the craving and didn’t want any more blow pops either. I thought I was good to go, but boy, was I wrong.
In June of 2005, I started getting a sore throat, a hacking cough and a knot on the right side of my neck. In August, my wife convinced me to have the knot checked by a doctor, who suspected what I would find out very soon: I was 43 years old and diagnosed with some form of cancer. I wouldn’t find out until the surgery exactly how bad it really was. During a three-hour procedure, the doctor removed a 4-cm tumor from the side of my neck, removed my tonsils, and carved 28 lymph nodes out of my neck. I woke up the next morning to find out that I had Stage III malignant tonsil cancer. I have to insert at this point a quick thank-you to all the wonderful people that supported me and my family during this time.
On top of the surgery, I was told that in two weeks, I would start a series of 33 radiation treatments that would occur every day for the next six weeks. Radiation only took about 20 minutes or so, but they would radiate the left, right, and front of my neck. The radiation treatments took a toll on my skin. The inside of my mouth was completely raw except for the tip of my tongue — the equivalent of having your entire mouth covered by a canker sore. Everything I ate and drank hurt.
On Nov. 23, 2005, I completed my last radiation treatment. During this time frame, I lost 42 pounds. I was fortunate. The doctors told me that only 10 percent of all throat radiation patients finish without having to quit work and get a stomach tube inserted to provide nourishment.
It is now 2012 and I have just passed my sixth year as a cancer survivor. I can’t eat anything without some form of drink: water, tea, something. I have to see the oncologist and ear, nose and throat doctors every year. I still have to fluoride my teeth every night for 10 minutes. I can’t eat spicy food because it burns so bad. I don’t enjoy steak anymore because I don’t have the moisture in my mouth to eat it. I used to love popcorn and can’t eat it because the amount of water I need to eat is more that I can drink. My teeth and gums are currently undergoing a series of treatments that will cost me nearly $1,200. I also have a scar that runs from the tip of my ear, down my neck, across to my Adam’s apple and up to the tip of my chin. Back in August of 2005, it required 28 staples to stay closed.
So what can I share from this experience? If you dip, chew or smoke, please stop. It isn’t worth it. Life is too valuable. The one part I left out of this story that I thought about every day is that the year before my diagnosis, my dad died of throat cancer after the completion of his third radiation treatment. My mom died of complications from COPD. Is it worth it? I think not.
I’m not sure anything I said will change your habits, but I pray it does. If I can provide assistance or a work of encouragement, I am standing by.
