Today celebrating the 20th anniversary of my heart attack.

[WheelWalker]

My best friend called me in the hospital during recovery to congratulate me on quitting smoking, lol. Indeed, so it was to be. Since that day neither tobacco nor nicotine have passed these lips.

[murielm99]

1. Congrats.

I quit smoking, too. I scared myself out of smoking after many failed attempts.

I am glad you are still with us.

[WheelWalker]

3. Thank you. Thank you, very much.

I both smoked and chewed tobacco, often at the same time. Under the circumstances (my doctor told me if I didn't quit I'd be dead within 5 years with 100% certainty), it was a piece of cake actually. Pot, on the other hand, has been my friend and companion for the past 54 years.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Tomorrow, celebrate the real anniversary

Your 20th anniversary of surviving.

Here's to 20 more

[WheelWalker]

4. So right you are, so shall it be. I was left in a persistent meditative state.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Cultivate the meditative state. It assists having a long happy calm life. . . nt

[WheelWalker]

10. I'm told I've been a much nicer person, as well.

With our thoughts we create the world.

[2naSalit]

5. Congrats!

I quit tobacco so long ago, wasn't a heavy smoker and it only lasted a few years off and on, I have to do some math... Yikes! 41 years now! Pot, well, I'm in the over half a century club and that's why I'm still here.

[WheelWalker]

8. Why we're still here... exactly.

My cardiologists are amazed not just at my longevity but at my condition as well. I was told at discharge 20 years ago that I would eventually die from my damaged heart failing. Most recent echo revealed a "normal" heart tissue. I'm healthy as the heathen I've always been. Not the normal progression from my particular infarc. I tell them my secrets are daily cannabis consumption and maintaining a persistent meditative state.

[2naSalit]

13. Yup...

That's the secret.

[Karadeniz]

7. Congratulations!! Glad you listened to good sense!!!

[WheelWalker]

9. Thanks. I might be crazy, but I'm not a hemlock stump.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Congratulations

[Warpy]

12. Good. People who don't quit become boomerang patients

and the saddest ones go through a second bypass, which is the last one since there aren't any more convenient blood vessels to harvest If they still can't quit, they're looking at a very few miserable years with a rapidly failing heart.

So congratulations on eliminating nicotine. It's one of the most addictive drugs out there and it's one of the worst, contracting the muscles that line arteries so that the tiniest clump of blood cells can cause heart attack or stroke.

Any way you can manage to quit is the right way. Friends went through hell quitting smoking, even fellow nurses who saw first hand what it did to the human body.

So congratulations!