Howdy, Bob, and welcome to HW! Glad to head that your PC outcomes have been largely successful from surgery.
I know that overcoming the addictive pleasure of smoking is verrry difficult.
I have a co-worker who was diagnosed with lung cancer about 2 years ago. We were all, frankly, surprised to see him come back to work about a year ago (thought he was going to die). His appearance had changed significantly (50 pounds less, gaunt).
about 9 months ago he started smoking again...absolutely floored all of his co-workers.
While it seems to me that no one in the world would more motivated to seek out an anti-cancer regimen than a cancer survivor who wants to be sure he remains a survivor...we see it every now and then, even here at this site, that there is just too much "momentum" which exists in certain aspects of some people's lives which prevents them from bringing about a lifestyle change that their own mind knows is the right thing to do.
You probably subjected yourself to quite a bit (pain, discomfort, cost, etc) to commit and follow-through with PC surgery (I know that I did)...presumably to help keep cancer at bay and (ultimately) to prolong your life. In other men's cases here, the light has come on at a similar juncture who realize that their old diet and lifestyle (including smoking) is counter-active to that presumption. Now that they've subjected themselves to an aggressive, intrusive, costly medical treatment (surgery, radiation, chemical/hormone threatments, or even a combination) to extend their lives, they are doing what they can--the things within their control--to further prolong life.
Using diet as a lifestyle-choice example, it doesn't make a lot of sense to subject oneself to the rigors of surgery (for example) if your diet is going to lead to a heart attack three or four or five years down the road anyhow...what was the point of surgery, then? Surgery is not a short-term solution. Perhaps a similar "light will come on" for you, too, given what you've put yourself through, and you will realize that to ignore this reality would be akin to putting your "head in the sand." Sorry to be blunt.
So to address your question, a moderate amount of beer daily isn't terrible for you; although, a daily glass of red wine would be better since it contains more antioxidants shown to help improve many aspects of health. Smoking will shorten your life...there is no two ways about that, but you already know that.
from the heart...best regards...
Post Edited (Casey59) : 12/7/2010 9:10:43 AM (GMT-7)