to breathe or not to breathe

I am 49 and have been smoking anything and everything since 11.Being ashmatic at an early age i resented the restrictions placed upon me and just wanted to be normal, so i started smoking.. my mum smoked around us all the time so i thought it couldn't be that bad. By the age of 14 i wa smoking at home and i was the envy of my mates.

When i started work ( office jobs ) most people smoked , some had 2 or more ashtrays on their desks, usually overflowing with butts.When i went to the pubs we would smoke inside as did everyone else.

During this time i ignored my asthma getting worse`and just increased my ventolin intake, it worked ( so i thought ).

To cut a long story short as well a smy breath i decided to quit this year and gave myself a target date of June . I had reduced my smoking from 25 plus to 20 to 15 a day.

Yesterday i was released from hospital after having severe difficulty in breathing and was given a diagnosis of COPD. Guess i'm not so bullet proof.