DEAR ABBY: I have survived cancer twice in the last 20 years. The second cancer, which was successfully operated on 10 years ago, was in my right lung. So far, I am still cancer-free.
My sister, "Kelly," whom I love dearly, is a heavy smoker, and has smoked 20 years longer than I did.
My problem is, she still smokes around me, closed up in the car, etc. It isn't only the smoke that bothers me, but the fact that I have had lung cancer and am not supposed to be around any cigarette smoke.
Kelly is a wonderful person, and I have nothing else bad to say about her. She does not believe all the stuff about secondhand smoke, etc. I wish there was some way to impress upon her that she shouldn't be smoking around me or others who have had cancer. -- COUGHING IN CORPUS CHRISTI
DEAR COUGHING: Your sister is nicotine-addicted and in denial. She's obviously not a Dear Abby reader, or she'd have seen my Nov. 14 column that featured the American Cancer Society's 30th Annual Great American Smokeout. In it was information from the U.S. surgeon general's first report in 20 years about the effects of involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke.
Specifically, "Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer. The scientific evidence indicates that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke."
I know you love your sister, but considering your health history, if she needs a nicotine fix, she should do it out of your presence -- and certainly never in an enclosed environment with you. I urge you to do something you should have done 10 years ago: Draw the line and INSIST that she consider your health and refrain from smoking anywhere around you, even if it means getting out of the car to do so.