I have been a smoker off and on since I was about 17. So that is roughly 30 years, give or take a few years here and a few years there. Actually I've probably smoked for about 21 years as I did quit for quite a while while I was married and when my kids were little.
But today starts a new chapter. A chapter that does not include cigarettes. I finished my last pack and now I will use the nicotine patches to assist me in my goal. I've wanted to quite for sometime, as I know my health is paying for this nasty habit. I actually don't even like the taste of cigarettes, but apparently the nicotine receptors in my brain are thinking otherwise. I need to stop, I want to stop and quite honestly I have to stop! I want to live to see my grand kids have kids. I also want to be around for DJ as long as I possibly can, so hopefully this will allow me to do that.
I am about a pack a day smoker, so I know it could be worse. I have friends that smoke two packs a day! With DJ out in LA I hope that this will be a good time as any to put this beast behind me, and then work on him when he returns so we can beat this together.
Okay all, I am counting on all of you remind me of the dangers of smoking and make sure I just continue to say NO!
So starting now the countdown begins....
3 comments:
I'll give you a little encouragement by recounting for you how I've lost so many family members to cigarette related causes.
First, I'm allergic to the smoke. Just a few minutes of it and I am coughing until I choke. I've even passed out a few times. Until no public smoking became common, I avoided a lot of restaurants. Going to a bar or nightclub was out of the question unless I wanted to be gasping in the parking lot.
My mother died of a stroke. Narrowing of arteries due to smoking -- I was 16. She dropped dead in the living room in front of me.
My maternal grandfather died of throat cancer before he was 70 -- smoker. My mom's brother suffered with emphasyma for some 15 years before dying of massive cancers. My paternal grandfather died at 65 of a heart attack. Another aunt died of lung cancer, as did a second uncle. Smokers, all.
My father quit smoking when I was 8, after several bouts of pneumonia, because the doctors told him he'd have about a year left if he didn't. He almost made it to 70 before dying of congestive heart failure. I was 35.
When I was 14, I had to stay in the hospital for a few days of testing. Due to construction, I shared a room with a woman dying of emphysema. Between bouts of panic because she could not breathe, she warned me over and over never to smoke. I never went near it.
Good luck to you on this.
It singes your lungs, stains your teeth, makes one's semen taste gross, and yellows the walls of one's home.
It's a hard, long battle that even I am fighting!
We all know the up's and down's that comes with smoking, and being preached at does not help!
One day at a time!
Good Luck to you!
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