DIY Network

my mom has recently been told she has lung issues and my dad has smoked cigars sense i was a toddler - long time- short of killing my dad is there any "spray" that my mom can keep in her truck for when my dad drives it and smokes in it

I'm sure there is some sort of spray that can be used to mask the odors, but there isn't much of anything that will get rid of the smoke, except fresh air.

Does she have COPD? My Mom has this and is probably close to the last stages of it. We recently put her in a nursing home because her breathing has gotten to the point that she can't walk across the room without almost complete oxygen deprivation.

If you are saying that telling your Dad to not smoke will kill him, the alternative of living with lung cancer or COPD will be a much slower and tremendously more painful death than giving up the cigars. To watch a parent slowly die is just as excruciating.

If your Father is a compassionate and understanding person and loves your Mother, it won't be as hard for him to understand and give smoking up as you think it might be. Just be there and offer him words of encouragement and all of the support you can muster. He will need it and so will you and the rest of your family later in the future.

Sorry for the soapbox,

ToolQueen

my 6 yr old daughter has told my dad to stop smoking because it was bad for him and whatnot he is and always will be that grumpy guy from grumpy old men i quit smoking about 5 yrs ago now so i dont want to be the ex-smoker/anti-smoker person but it is getting so expensive i started when i was 12 and a pack cost me just over a buck i have seen them now selling for 5/ 5.5 a pack
as for as what my mom has i think she has said it is asma or something close the doc's think

I'm going to be rather blunt when I say this, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart if I offend you, but having a parent that suffers from COPD (emphysema or chronic bronchitis) or asthma, there needs to be a frank discussion with your father and it shouldn't be in the form of remarks from a child that grandpa's cigars stink.

Not only is the cigar smoke making his wife's health problem harder to deal with, he isn't doing himself any favors from smoking. Nor any others. Second hand smoke is just as damaging as smoking itself.

None of those breathing ailments will ever get better and as a person gets older, the elasticity of the lungs diminishes. With this you also lose the ability to be mobile, your chances of developing osteoporosis increases, and your brain function diminishes significantly.

You or any of your siblings (if you have any) need to have a talk with your father. Maybe you could include a visit to a local nursing home and let him see the number of patients that are tethered to oxygen cannulas and imagine what a limited existence they are enduring.

It's not about how big of a fit he will pitch, it's about the quality of life that he and other loved ones will have later in life. Also, who will be around to give them 24/7/365 care? It is quite stressful to have to give that kind of care to a loved one. It is also tremendously stressful to watch a parent dwindle away and thinking that one might have been able to persuade them to kick the habit many years earlier and imagine what their quality of life could have been instead of what it is and what an agonizing nightmare it will eventually become.

I'm done.

ToolQueen

Perhaps see if your Mom will wear a really obvious rebreather/filter mask (the type for spray painting, and kind of makes one look like a big bug?) whenever she rides/drives or otherwise spends time with him, and he lights up?

No one will probably recognize her, but they sure will take note of him. Maybe just get one for everyone in the family? Embarrass him perhaps?

I sure do agree with ToolQueen, btw.