Anybody want to play "let's quit smoking" with me? I'll spot you nine days if there's any takers.
Last time, I used the stinky, nasty nicotine gum. This time it's patches for me. I like the patches, although they don't taste any better than the gum.
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
You rock Don! I'm happy to say that I haven't had a cigarette since November 14, 1990 but I know for a fact that there are people here in our little corner of cyberspace who are fighting the good fight.
Posted by Matthew Rolli (Member # 4089) on :
Cigars don't count do they?
I'm in! starting Jan.1
Posted by Teresa Bostic (Member # 6214) on :
Good luck to ya!
I tried last year to quit. It was my Christmas present to myself. It lasted till one night in March when I worked 24 hours straight......'round about 2am I gave in.
Hope ya make it, sincerely. I really gotta give these things up.
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
...GOOD LUCK DON !!! ...You can beat your addiction.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I lasted almost a year. My breaking point was 3 days after a hurricane wiped me out.
Yup, Matthew...cigars count.
Theresa, get a box of patches and give it a go. New Years Day sounds like a good day to start...or stop.
Seriously, the patches help a lot. I'm finding also that getting a kiss from a young, attractive nurse whenever I get an urge for a cigarette helps a lot, too. I don't expect that to work for everybody, but it sure works for me.
(Don't tell Susan, but I get fewer urges for cigs than I let on...I just like the kisses.)
[ December 23, 2005, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
Posted by Jeff Spradling (Member # 1615) on :
You go Don...I'll make a deal with you...you quit...and I won’t start…Good Luck!!!
Jeff Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Sounds like a deal I shouldn't turn down, Jeff! Hey, check it out....I've made it another 2 1/2 hours!
Posted by John Deaton (Member # 925) on :
Go Don GO! Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
Who needs cigs when he has a Susan Way to go Don.
John, GREAT cartoon Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I am honored, JD. Sign it and I'll frame it and put it above where an ash tray would've sat.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Still agree with Kathy that's it's a great toon, but...
long pants?
Looks like somebody forgot where I live? Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
Way to go Don - I just passed a year in October ciggie-free. But if I get an urge, can I come down and smooch your nurse? BTW, she's a BABE....
Posted by John Deaton (Member # 925) on :
Sorry Don, I figured tall as you are, you got them big ol birdlegs, and Id probably end up laughing so much trying to draw them, I wouldnt get it done. Ill send you a printable copy tomorrow via email from the shop. Good for you on quitting them cigs.
Posted by Tim (Member # 1699) on :
Ok Don! You're on!
But I'll take the new years date as my start point. I already have the box of patches sitting above the cupboards in the kitchen. Been there for a month. Just haven't got round to it yet, but I think this is perfect motivation. Plus my secret admirer is also a much younger and beautiful gal that doesn't smoke, so might make my chances better.
I'd ask John to draw one for me too, but I doubt he knows how to draw "ugly" lol Seriously though, I've never posted my pic when I was a resident for the past few years, just used the smiley face, so only those that have met me at the splash meet in Nanaimo know what I look like.
Ok, so its 8 days and counting down to quit time! Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Tim, "secret admirer"? Does she know?
Always helps to have partners on the quittin a bad habit thing, so thank you for joining in, too.
So far, it's you, Matthew and well...Jeff's promised not to start smoking...so that's four of us. Maybe there's a couple more that will join in by New Years.
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
Top Toon!
Caption should be ... "Big Macs kick butt!"
Good luck Don, I really hope you make it.
Posted by Tim (Member # 1699) on :
quote:Originally posted by Don Coplen: Tim, "secret admirer"? Does she know?
Um well kinda, maybe, almost, sorta! see thread "a difficult gild"
Always helps to have partners on the quittin a bad habit thing, so thank you for joining in, too.
So far, it's you, Matthew and well...Jeff's promised not to start smoking...so that's four of us. Maybe there's a couple more that will join in by New Years.
No problem Don, lets make this work this time!
Posted by Dale Manor (Member # 4858) on :
Good Luck with the non-cig diet there Don! I gave it up about 15 years ago. After three of four years you hardly miss it!
I just commit to not having one today....and then I tell myself I can have one tomorrow if it gets really bad.....works for me!
Seriously, I wish you the best of luck in quiting, it's one of the best things you can do for yourself!
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
I have not had a cigarette since October 5th.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bruce Bowers: I have not had a cigarette since October 5th.
I know, Bruce. I'm pretty sure I don't like your method of quitting. I'll just keep chewing on these patch things.
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Smoke free since year 2000 midnight. Six years has a nice ring to it. Looking forward to another new year. Hope your's is final like mine was.
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Cold turkey. Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i did cold turkey in 1992!!!! after 3 what i called HEART ATTACKS...if they wasnt they scared me enough to quit....my dad was 50, 3 pack a day PALL MALLS...and they killed him!!!! it from 1969, when dad died till 92..to get smart....
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Day 10. Just caught myself reaching for a cigarette on my desk, where I usually keep them. No cigs in the house. Phantom cravings?
NURSE!!!
I'm gonna kick this thing. I know that I can and I will.
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
I had a dream early on where Bob Villa had a pack of Parliments in his pocket and he gave me one. I asked him for a light and he wanted to know if I wanted a kick in the chest to start it, too.
He never did give me a light. Bastard.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
I'm in with ya Don! I'm not waiting till New Years though. Plan on chewing on a patch the day after Xmas (we've got a Xmas Eve thing going on tonight, MOST all smoke [cough, cough] gag....
so I don't Even wanna try till Monday.
WARNING*** The patches have worked for me in the past, but really, really screw up my sleep (remember tons of dreams). This time, I'm taking off the patch a couple of hours B4 I go to bed, wash the area real good, to stop the stupid dreams!
Good Luck Don!! It's the first week that hurts the most!
Merry Christmas Everybody!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
P.S. KILLER TOON John! You ROCK!
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Don, I'm so pleased that you're discovering how good a kiss can be.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I'm pleased too, Rick! Day 11 and still doing well. Just got back from Christmas dinner at friends. Everybody there smoked and got out of there without giving in. That's a good sign. (Hey..."good sign"...keeping on topic after all.)
I've got a few more patches left before opening the second box. Think I'll try to go a day or two without a patch once I finish the first box and see how that goes. Packing and getting ready for the big move this week, so I should be keeping busy and hopefully keeping my mind off of quitting.
Posted by Susan Daniel (Member # 6092) on :
quote:Originally posted by Don Coplen: I'm pleased too, Rick! Day 11 and still doing well. Just got back from Christmas dinner at friends. Everybody there smoked and got out of there without giving in. That's a good sign. (Hey..."good sign"...keeping on topic after all.)
I've got a few more patches left before opening the second box. Think I'll try to go a day or two without a patch once I finish the first box and see how that goes. Packing and getting ready for the big move this week, so I should be keeping busy and hopefully keeping my mind off of quitting.
You're doing great sweetie. Hang in there! Posted by Adrienne Morgan (Member # 1046) on :
I'm proud of ya Don!!!And the rest of you too! A:)
Posted by Frank Magoo (Member # 3950) on :
Good...cough...Luck, Don...cough... Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Neurohr: WARNING*** The patches have worked for me in the past, but really, really screw up my sleep (remember tons of dreams). This time, I'm taking off the patch a couple of hours B4 I go to bed, wash the area real good, to stop the stupid dreams!
Day 13. It's 4:30am and I just woke up screaming from what I assume was one of those stupid dreams you spoke of. Yikes! Ripped off the patch and I'm going to stay up for a little while before trying to go back to sleep. It was a bad one.
However, tomorrow will make two weeks. I think a couple more weeks and I'll have this thing licked.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
I quit myself, Don. It's been damn near a month for me and close to that for Jane. We can make it happen. Good Luck!
Posted by Ken Holden (Member # 5653) on :
The patches should be removed at bedtime if sleep is disturbed..However, put one on upon arising in the morning. You're dealing with more than the desire for nicotine. The physical habits are just at bad..the one after a meal, or when you wake up and stress situations and of course the parties (looks like you experienced that one) good luck
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
I'm goin' for it tonight Don.
Gonna finish up a little over a pack I've got left and shoot for tomorrow.
(the dreams suck don't they)?
Bill and Jane...... ONE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ATTABOYs and ATTAGIRLS are in order!
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Way to go Don!! I am with ya!! I have always had a problem staying away from smokes. I started when I was a teenager to impress my boyfriend who smoked. And I have quit numerous times (always cold turkey) but I still want to smoke, especially in social situations. Two of my best friends smoke too, so THAT doesn't help! Lately, we have just been finding other things to do and staying away or having short visits with those people. I recently told my friends that we can't be around them when they smoke. I said "I have no problem with YOU smoking, it's just that then I want to bum one and I REALLY don't WANT to smoke any more...". We will see how that works New Year's Eve at their house at their party. I am committed to quitting. I DO feel better, no hacking in the morning, more energy, etc. but I STILL want to bum one when I am around it! I hope that quits soon!
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Bill & Jane, you too??? Good for you!!!!!
I got a box of nicotene lozenges in my stocking from my hubby & I am going for it, too. But not just yet. I have to get ready for it. I will very soon, tho.
I am so happy for you Don!!!!
This is encouraging for me!
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Don't wait to do it. Just do it. Waiting for the right moment doesn't work. The right moment never comes. Honest.
It isn't easy. People who haven't smoked trivialize the effort it takes. Stopping smoking is no easier than kicking cocaine or alcohol. Cigarettes are addictive. They are meant to be.
Personally, I smoked for over 28 years. That's a lot of addiction to overcome. A lot of mannerisms and habits to break.
And contrary to popular belief, I stopped smoking because I WANTED to. I didn't HAVE to do anything. My life with Dana is far more valuable to me than any cigarette ever could be. I got too much living to do yet. That's why I CHOSE to stop smoking.
and Bobbie... Just for today, Kiddo!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
14 days...hey, this isn't so hard. Yeah, right.
Thinkin I'll go for another 14 days now.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
I'm in the middle of day 1. Getting hot n cold, a little irratable around anybody, so I'm locked myself up with my Wizzard DVD and might start a panel later (ALONE)!!
This is not EZ!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
You can do it, Mark. Just get through today and worry about day two when you get to it.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Thanks Don!
Figure I musta saved $3.47 so far!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
It's not about money, Mark. It's about walking up three flights of stairs without embarrassing ourselves. Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
You also have to look at the fact that you won't reek like rancid smoke. Your breath won't gag the person standing next to you. The stench eminating from your car won't cause your passengers to vomit.
This is not even broaching the concept that you won't burn holes in your clothes, sofas, or car interiors. You won't have to plan your social calendar around where you can and can't smoke.
You don't have to go through the panic of when you realize that you left for the shop and you only have four cigarettes left... or your lighter broke... or you sat on your pack and they all cracked at the filter...
I call it freedom. Freedom from a morning hack. Freedom have being a slave to a freaking piece of paper wrapped around a product of known carcinogens. Freedom from being winded from taking two or three can of trash up from the basement.
The money savings is an enormous fringe benefit!
I think I am going to turn into one of those a-hole militant ex-smokers... I apologize in advance.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
"You also have to look at the fact that you won't reek like rancid smoke. Your breath won't gag the person standing next to you. The stench eminating from your car won't cause your passengers to vomit." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH NOW YOU KNOW WHY people who didnt smoke......didnt want to be around you!!!!! had nothin to do with your personelity....hehehehe. "I think I am going to turn into one of those a-hole militant ex-smokers... I apologize in advance"...........dont aplogize WELCOME TO OUR SIDE!!!!!!!!!! DON: 14 days should be enough for your body chemestry to not have gravin for nicotine, now the physical addiction is gona take a lot longer.........morning coffee without a cig, meals without a cig after, sex without a cig....after!!! hahahahahahaha you will catch your self reaching for your pocket to make sure you got your cigs, will carry a lighter for months after you dont need it, and your mind will keep tellin you you really need a cig....4-5-6 months from now....your past the chemical addiction point......now all those HABITS associated with smoking are gona haunt you....dont give in and take IT ONE DAY AT A TIME.......
[ December 28, 2005, 06:38 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Good one Bruce!
HALLALOUYA! I CAN SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Almost done with day 1, hopefully I'll get a good nights sleep.
Don, you 've got a really nice web site! I was all thru it earlier (you do know I had to click the "bikini link", nothin came up though).
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
that will take you to my SPEEDO PICS....hahahahahahaha
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
Don, quitting should be easy if you just ask yourself if you would like to live without suffering with cancer. How about being around to see your kids grow up and get married and have grandchildren? Is a lousey cigarette really worth loosing all this?
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Day 15. Hey, I can too quit smoking and chew gum at the same time. A lot more coordinated than you guys thought I was, aren't I?
Thanks, Bill. Quitting is not easy no matter what reasoning is used. But, you're right. I do want to see my grandchildren. And I've also found a very special woman that I'd sure like to grow old with.
One thing I've got going for me is that I've quit several times, and it always ended with "just one cigarette". So, I know from experience that not having just one cigarette is the key.
And Joe... here's a pic of my red Speedo. I'll bet you didn't even realize that they made a style for old farts that look like you and me.
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
See Op???
Congratulations on killing the smoking before it kills you . . .
Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Good for those of you that quit smoking. You will thank you, and the planet will thank you.
Now...when I quit, I was told about "Brewers Yeast". It seems that originally our nerves were coated with a natural coating. When we started smoking, the nicotine replaced the natural coating. That is why some people have the jitters when they don't have a cig for a while. The only thing that helps them is to have another cig, thus replacing that coating. Problem is that it only last a short time. Now, brewers yeast tablets start to build up that coating, easing the jitters and uncomfortable feeling associated with nicotine withdrawal. I took a couple of tablets each time I felt the need. It will not harm you (as I was told by my doctor) so you can take as many as you like. And no you won't get a yeast infection. hahaha
Please check it out....if it works for you like it did for me, it would be worthwhile.
Also...I drank a lot of water to flush out my system and did an affirmation each time I felt like a cig. "I choose not to smoke"
Good luck to all of you. You CAN do it. You are stronger than the addiction.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Brewers yeast? Drug stores carry that? I'm having a rotten day today and am going on a quest for brewers yeast! Maybe it'll calm me down to where I'll give the comic sans layout a chance.
Hey, even if it doesn't help at all, maybe just a plecebo effect would be a good thing.
(but don't let me know if it's a plecebo, because that would ruin the effect. )
That's pretty damn bad when I'm even game to try plecebos. Hopefully, I'll report of day 16 tomorrow without a smoke.
PS. Jackson, I've been reading your posts here for years. One of these days I hope to meet you.
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Good luck bud.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
I bet drug stores have it, Don, but I know a health food store will. I think even the dreaded Wal-Mart carried brewer's yeast.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Finding brewer's yeast turned out to be an adventure. Finally found some at the mall.
Get this...and some of you will get a kick out of this...the health/vitamin store had an entire wall dedicated solely to "plecebos". I'm tellin ya, half the store was plecebos. When I told the manager that brewers yeast was supposed to help people who are quitting smoking, she moved all the remaining brewers yeast from the plecebo section to the "stop smoking" section of the store.
Looks like I'll make it through day 15 after all. I'm sure thankful that I'm not going through this alone.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
A word of advice to all that are joining the "Let's All Quit in 2006" crusade. The brewers yeast tablets are not what one would call 'chewable".
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
Hey Don,
don't forget the Higher Power too . . . He helped me quit drinkin'.
Here's another tip I mentioned a while back on other 'quit-smokin' threads:
When you really DO NOT wanna smoke, ie: you've won the mental battle, but the physical cravings and the 'hand-mouth' habits are kicking-in, use this free of cost:
Take an old mayonaise jar or some kind of container with a lid. Put a few old ciggarette butts (as few as 3, as many as 10) in there and add just enough water to barely cover them. Put the lid back on and set the thing aside. Now, this grows much 'richer' in 'scent' as the days wear on.
When the 'habit' grabs your attention, grab the jar and open it and take a big whiff.
It's kind'a like 'electro-shock' therapy . . . it's a negative-positive 'reward' to train your body to reject nicotine.
When done as described above, is among the top 10 worst smells on the planet, and btw, will be exactly what your lungs look and smell like inside you, and what your breath, and clothes smell like to others, which will be a positive thing to encourage you to avoid. Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
All of my clothes, the "clean" clothes in my closets, are reminder enough of the stench. It's hard to believe just how bad they smell.
And, didn't they used to call smoking a "social" habit? Now, that's rich!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Looks like I made it thru DAY TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Didn't do the yeast thing, still on the patch.
Friggen woke several times last night, tore the stupid thing off, watched a movie for a while then tried getting more sleep. Sure glad I'm off all week from work! Hopefully it'll be worth it.
Your not alone Don, day 2 was much easier than day 1!! Thinkin' about staying away from any New Years Eve stuff though....
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Good for you Mark Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Hahaha
Now that's funny, Don.
Not chewable? the kind I had were like the antacid tablets. hmmmmm....don't know what to say now. Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
QUIT OR DYE....its thats simple.....if you dont do it now....you will slowly kill yourself.....some faster then others....but it will kill ya....and iam not tryin to be humorous or flip here. dad was 50 and was never without his PALL MALLS!! mom was 70, never smoked....but owned and ran a bar(2nd hand smoke) from 1957-78 when she died. our own pat king was a smoker! roy frizby..lung cancer....me bladder cancer,1st question they asked me was "do you still smoke?" bruce heart attack and surgury... how much more do you need to quit...we that survived it are the lucky ones.......
[ December 30, 2005, 01:31 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
One thing I used from a Tony Robbins book was about changing the way you associate cigarettes with pleasure or gratification, and instead associate them with cancer, emphysema, heart attacks, etc. The clean breath, clothes, and extra money in your pocket is just icing on the cake.....
Good luck guys - we're pulling for you.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
WTG Mark and Don! You are being watched! And congratulated. Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
Way to go guys! You know they have a laser clinic here that people are saying it made them quit. I surely don't know how it works. Btw, I used to take brewer's yeast for health reasons, and the best is the refrigerated kind, of course, I had to mix it in tomato juice or v8 so I wouldn't taste it. My sis put it in apple juice. It really calms your nerves and helps a lot of things.. lots of b vitties. Now you encouraged me to get back on it.
Posted by Bill Modzel (Member # 22) on :
Hey Don, Just take all of those dollars you are saving and stick them in a G5 jar. Now thats incentive! Hang in there.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Bill, it's not about the money!
JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ernest ika:DAY 3
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Day 16 here. Another doozy.
Having trouble landing the moving truck I had supposedly reserved from uHaul for yesterday, and not today, too. And now, it turns out that the person who had promised to help moved has backed out, without letting me know. Phone busy since 7am.
So, now uHaul is calling with a truck, and I have nobody to help load it.
If I make it through today without a cigarette, I deserve a medal.
Just had to rant a bit. Screaming didn't help.
(truth be known, ranting didn't help either)
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Don, just how you displaced stress with a smoke in the past, now you still need to displace it, just with a healthier option. Try taking a short walk or use a few minutes to stretch and catch a few calming deep breaths, or ... meditate. Usually just a few minutes to decompress is all you need to get past it. I had to use these techniques when losing weight because in the past when I'd have a stressful day, I'd run to the store (which is yet another stressful place for me) and get a snickers bar and 20oz bottle of Coke.
Like Dr. Phil says, as cheesy as it is to quote Dr. Phil, "You don't just quit bad habits, you replace them with healthier ones."
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Good idea, Mike. Do you suppose hunting this guy down like a dog and beating him to a pulp would get me through this moment of weakness? I wonder what Dr.Phil would say to that.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Darn it Mark, there you go flashing that decandent bday cake again! I see that much more today and I swear I'll be in the kitchen making one!
BTW, flash it all you can today. Seems to help both of us. LOL
Posted by Tim (Member # 1699) on :
Well, I'm getting ready for my quit day! Almost here, but whats funny is, I am already smoking less just thinking about doing it. Hopefully it will be easier this time around. And this time I'm gonna be smart, and not let something stupid like breaking up a relationship give me a reason I want a smoke! Keep it up guys, I will be with you shortly.......
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Go for it Tim! You're not alone! Let's fly on down to Florida, kick some butt and load that stupid truck for Don.
Donna...., MONGO LIKE CAKE! Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Yahoooo Tim! Your day is nearly here! You guys make me wana quit and I haven't even started yet!
Wishing you guys the greatest smoke free New Years ever!
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
While Donna is watching you two goofballs, I am going to quietly sneak under the radar... LOL! Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
DON'T DO IT BRUCE!!
You'll loose your credentials!!!
(I think I am going to turn into one of those a-hole militant ex-smokers...)
It's just, not, worth it.. Posted by Jeff Spradling (Member # 1615) on :
Hey Don...7 days in and I haven't started smoking yet...let's both keep it going!!!!
Seriously...you quiters keep at it...you can do it!!!
Jeff Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Oh, Mark, I have no intentions of giving up the good fight...
Good for you, too, Jeff!
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Oh, Mark, I have no intentions of giving up the good fight...
Good for you, too, Jeff!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
ah hem.......
Day 4!
ta DAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Day 17! so there. Catch me if you can, Mark!
Honestly, I'm kinda surprised that I made it through yesterday. You'd have to have been here to know how ****ed off I was. But then, if you were here, I would've had help to move.
I've got one major thing that's helping me through the smoking adventure. I've got a wonderful woman whom I very very much love, and whom loves me. And I'd sure like to be with her for as long as possible. Even better if I can be with her for as long as possible without ever needing an oxygen tank or chemo treatments.
So, I guess I'm using the same method of quitting as Bruce is using, only with a little less drama involved.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Don, I don't want to catch you! If I did, that means you blew it. This is one time I have nooo problem being in second place! I have no desire to beat you. I only want to keep the spread we have now CONSISTANT!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
"constant"? lol
me, too!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
ya, what you said!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Sorry, Mark. I spell for a living. About ready for day 5? Good luck tomorrow, buddy! Keep our eyes on the prize.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Don, I ment consistEnt (spelled it wrong anyway didn't I)!
Ya, day 5 is no big deal (besides, I know everybody is watching)!! Actually, this forum has been a big help to me. I haven't posted this much is the last few years. Gave me a place to vent. Thanks for listening everyone!
So,......
Bruce is on day 5 just as I am.....
Jane & Bill have been at it for over a month (good job)...
Jeff, I take it you HAVEN'T started to smoke yet..
I'm just waiting for 'ol Bobbie to jump on the band wagon!!
BTW, I was just funnin' ya Bruce, you're ahead of me (is it day 6 or 7)?? Can't remenber.....
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
well all right on you guys!!! cigarette free is a wonderful thang! keep up the good fight!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Bobbie aint ol'. Jump right in though, gal! Hey, wonder if any merchants might wanna sweeten the purse a bit? Say, any of us that make it to July 4th get some kinda prize of some sort?
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I belong to an internet group that encourages each other with chosen goals over the course of 21 days. Some challenges we have a goal keeper and she distributes prizes to those who have achieved their chosen goals.
This is also easy to do amongst the quitting smokers only! Make a deal, and do'er!
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
...sounds interesting, are you gonna tell us more about where to find this 'group" Donna?
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Day....
* F * I * V * E *
Time to change my name, to Five... Ya, Johnny Five...................
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Day 18 here. I'm curious who all is joining the 2006 Letterville SmokeOut besides Mark and I.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
We're on the cutting edge Don. It gets easier every day. I've been taking off the patch 3 or 4 hours prior to retiring each evening and my sleep patterns have returned to normal.
Friggen puppy really sinks though! He's going skinny dippin' ASAP!
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Mark, day 5? Hahahahahahahaha!
Try smoke free for 87 days today. Seems to me you'ns are all chasing me... LOL!
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
ok i been smoke free for 18 years!!!!! does that count?and guess what i dont MISS IT, GRAVE IT or even want to be in the same room with it!!!!! but i will tell ya all....DID IT ONE DAY AT A TIME.....
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I quit 2/3 of the way through my first pack.
Bumming a cig on the walk home from junior high school was cool (or so the theory went)... but once I sprang 55 cents for my own pack... I realized I could have bought 3 or 4 snickers bars with that kind of money.
I remember I got my last bit of fun with that habit by lighting up all of the last 7 cancer sticks & I sat vigil watching them burn out. That was 35 years ago.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
It's helped me to not count the days! When you can smell the stench of cigarettes on others, it also helps, because you realize how you were smelling.
In our county we have a wellness clinic that costs $30 for a complete blood workup, consuling and height/weight check ($50 for protrate/blood check). It was money well spent, for me, Jane and son, Joe.
I found out I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and was 1 point away from being diabetic which probably explains why I get so shakey when I letter and stripe. (I thought it was just age and tired muscles.) If that's not a wake up call I don't know what is. For a 55 year old human being this is a receipt for disaster.
I just put my dad in a nursing home after he had a couple of strokes and believe me I'm stressed. The demands during the holiday season with 2 sons having birthdays in December and a grandchild being born makes a guy really want to fire up a cigarette. I hunkered down and did it, because I generally felt like crap, I was coughing all the time and my shakes were getting worse. There is no good time to stop smoking and start living a healthy life style that includes eating right, drinking less and excercising. If you need incentive -- look in the mirror or smell your clothes.
I didn't need any fanfare or incentive other than the fact that if I didn't do something I might not be here tomorrow, or worse yet I might be here, but be a vegetable.
If you talk to Bruce Bower about his heart attack or anyone else who has taken on medical angst, you start to realize how fragile life is. I ain't ready to go just yet, and I'm already feeling much better and the shakes are leaving my hands. I hope to see some of you folks at letterhead events this year with a different body as well. ARRRGGHHH,ARRRGGHHH,ARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!
If I can do it, so can you. Good luck and I hope you get to the point where you don't have to count anymore.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Good for you all you guys.
Bill:
quote: I hope to see some of you folks at letterhead events this year with a different body as well.
Okay, okay, I'm working on it. Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Yeah, Kelly. I noticed that one, too. Did he want a different body or was he wishing we all had different bodies? And if so, whose body did he want us to have?
So far as counting days, I'll quit counting days soon. But, for now, it's day 18. I'm not going to give in this time. I've quit several times in the past and have gone back to smoking each time. I always regretted starting again. So, screw that!!!
Smoking sucks. It's not enjoyable, it stinks, it's inconvenient, it's expensive, it's anti-social and last, but not least, it will kill me. About the only good thing that can come out of cigarettes is if you own tobacco company stocks. Because the tobacco companies and their stock owners are the only ones that benefit from their product.
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Its thread like this that make me thankful that my parents were as tough on me as they were when I was a kid. I got busted with a cigarette one time and that was all it took. They scared me too much to ever want to ever try it again.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Glenn, my dad was tough, too. I would have been beaten if I'd been caught with a cigarette. I never tasted a beer or took a puff from a cigarette until I was 18 years old and 400 miles away. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid!
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Ok, ok, ok, you guys, I am really getting close to "DOING IT". I have been thinking about all of you for the past few days, & your success, & I am NOT feeling good.
I think i am at that "change" a woman goes through, & have been getting hot flashes. I am 45 now, & my blood pressure keeps popping up, & my heart rate keeps shooting up real bad. Today, after running all over for the holidays, I am SO tired & feeling worn out, & every morning I wake up coughing up stuff, as I have for years now.
My doctor opens back up tomorrow, & I am going in for blood work, like you & Jane did, Bill. I am going to bring her in my Commit lozenges that Jon bought me for Christmas to make sure they will be ok, since my heart rate keeps going crazy.
I am afraid of getting fat, since I am already at least 20 lbs. overweight, but it is better than getting cancer or having a heart attack or stroke.
Guess me & 'ol Lucy Lou (our choc. lab) will have to start walking in the morning again!
That is another thing. Since the cold weather came, I quit walking, & I feel awful! I can't even get normal BMs anymore. I know that sounds yucky, but it is true! I always had trouble, but after I had begun to walk all summer, I "went" every day like clock work!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Bill, Great post. You said pretty much all the things that I had been thinking prior to quitting. Couldn't have been two weeks ago I was getting my annual with the VA. Docs said my BP was high and he was putting me on a low dose of stuff to help lower it. I told him my plans to quit (right after Christmas) and got the 'ol ya, ya.. (Little does he know about this group I belong too that has giving me an opportunity make a $hit pile of posts to others that are either going thru the same thing as me, have already done it, or maybe even plan to in the future). I'll speak for myself, but I really appricate all of the input and stories from everyone here on the Board here! Realize this, it doesn't really matter if I agree with you or not, yur input has been important in helping me thry this last week! Thank all of you!
Today is day #6 (sorry Bill, but Don and I both can't quit the counting)!
For what it's worth, I feel great and without a doubt, this has been a very positive experience. Figured I had nothing to loose and I don't plan on lookin' back!
How 'bout you Bruce, did ya make it to day 9 yet?? Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Hey, what do you guys do at the computer without a cigarette? That seems it would be the hardest I think, isn't it?
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Bobbie, just a suggestion, if you keep carrot and celery sticks in the fridge good and handy, those shouldn't have much calories in them, and you could snack till hell froze over without gaining weight.
Just a thought.
(you may want to begin a new thread for BMs. I've heard of threads getting hijacked in the past, but...geeesh)
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
Bobbie, Just imagine all the damage that smoke would be doing to your computer. I had a computer tech take my computer to his house to work on for one night and the thing reeked for about a month after I got it back. I almost couldn't stand to use it.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bobbie Rochow: Hey, what do you guys do at the computer without a cigarette? That seems it would be the hardest I think, isn't it?
The easiest is to not quit smoking at all, Bobbie. In this case, the easiest thing to do has the hardest consequences. There's people who have had heart attacks and/or respiratory problems that won't quit smoking, because it's easier to not quit and die.
[ January 02, 2006, 12:56 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Bobbie, I love having a coffee while on the computer. Would a fav hot bev you can sip on over time do it? Good for you on thinking in that direction!
New edit:
Doug, I frequented another board about kids Cody's age and we ourselves started our own challenge board through Yahoo, something anyone can do on any give topic! You have to sign in and then create. Another great idea for those wanting to stop smoking, lose weight, whatever.
[ January 02, 2006, 01:09 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Lol! Don, no I am not hijacking the thread! Sorry 'bout that! I'd be afraid to start a thread on that topic anyway!
Jon & I have just talked. We have a 4hr. drive into Ohio tomorrow to pick up a saw he bought, & we are going to aim for the end of the week. I told him we need to quit smoking in the house NOW just to help smooth the way a bit. He is quitting right along with me! Yeay!
Edited to add.... Donna, I like a smoke with hot beverages, so that may not work. I do like carrots & celery, tho, & a local candy maker has some killer sugerless stuff to suck on.
[ January 02, 2006, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Bobbie Rochow ]
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Two people quitting together in the same house? I would NOT want to be a fly on THAT wall! I'd get swatted!
Edited to add the blue omg face.
[ January 02, 2006, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Don, we have talked about it, & we really think it is the best thing. We can help each other.
The last time we quit, Jon went & bought himself a pipe with some Captain something tobacco. he kicked it all, then I picked up his pipe & began to cheat with it. Well, I was smoking the pipe like I had smoked my pot years ago, & got worse!!!! No filter, deeper inhale, you know.
Anyway, Jon started smoking again when he went back to work in construction again, & me... well, after 3 months of quitting, I began to cheat & cave in. But I remember always thinking that someday I might have one more. I think my thinking defeated me.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
I have also cut way down on my beer drinkin'. That's got to be doubly impressive for those who know me.
Jane and I were just talking about how hard this has been for my beer-30 buds. I have shown up and played cards with them on Friday nights just like I have for over 20 years and they are pretty much amazed that I'm doing what I'm doing. Secretively I think they think I'll fail. This makes me want to do this all the more.
Also instead of having my usual 6 pack while playing cards. I've been showing up with 2. I have been holding it down to a 6 pack for the whole week. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! It irritates the pee out of these buds, I know, and when the card room gets smokie, I'm out the door.
Last Friday I noticed the rest of them weren't smoking as much, almost as if they wanted me to stay longer. I saw 2 of them reach for their packs and then look at me and then put them back in their pockets. They may be playing the wait and see attitude and then try to quit themselves. Nobody really wants to get rid of an inspiration. Besides to really be successful quiting smoking you need to be around others who do and refuse to bum one. That's will power, and that's what it takes.
If you can quit and get somebody else to quit too, because you did, then you're in line for sainthood. I'm still trying to score points to get to those pearly gates. Believe you me, as ornery as I've been I'm needing a bushel full of points.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Bill you are very encouraging for me. How are you & jane doing, doing it together? Do you irritate each other, or do you support each other?
You are so right, you can't avoid those who do smoke, you have to get used to being around them, you will have to sooner or later anyway.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
We are doing good, Bobbie. And she and I get along fine. She's my girl, ya know. We do almost everything together, and we're going to drop some pounds too.
Hey how's your stripin' goin'?
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
My striping is going, but I find that one day i will do real good, then the next time I can't do it right! I have trouble holding it the way you taught me, so I cheat sometimes & hold it anyway I can to do it.
I am about to buy some new brushes, I want a new scroller, but my friend that just passed has left me his sign things, & I think I will wait until I go down & visit his wife, to see what he has given to me. All but one of those brushes I was learning on from you were given to me by him, so it is very important that I learn on his brushes if possible. He would be so proud of me! He was tickled pink when I showed him what you & I did at Jill's!
I love hearing you say that..."She's my girl"! She is a wonderful girl! I am so glad you have BOTH quit!
Jon is a workaholic, always doing something, I have to walk, walk, walk so i don't get fat!
[ January 02, 2006, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Bobbie Rochow ]
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
We have been doing it together. Bill really decided to quit before I did but his quest to get healthy is only encouraging me to do the same. Seeing our new grandbaby yesterday made us both realize we need to be around to see him grow up and we are not going to do that if we don't change our habits! I will have to admit though, I have sinned! We went to our friends' for a New Year's Eve party and I walked into the garage with the smokers and bummed one! It was almost a month without smoking and I blew it! I will have to say though, after not having smoked for about a month now, I really didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. And the next day my chest hurt from ONE cigarette! It really did convinced me that I am on the right path and I am sure the next time I am around "the smokers" I will be able to lead by example and not succumb to temptation! I'm trying so hard and Bill has really been a great example for me. Together, we are going to get healthy!!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Bobbie,
GO FOR IT GIRL!! Honestly, I was a grouchy for only a day or two (EXPECT IT, PLAN FOR IT)! Let's face it, we all need to quit "someday"... I can't possibly imagine it would be easier if I waited another year or two (Geeze, am I preaching or what)?
YOU WON'T BE ALONE!!!! Look around .... we're all in this together as well as for ourselves! I'm rootin' for ya! Call if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm right around the corner.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Hey Jane,
Did you get a cheap "buzz" off that smoke? Tell us, THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW!!
P.S. You're still doing good, temptation is allllllll around us!!
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
I never smoked (PTL), so I can only imagine what it's like to try and quit.
But I'd rather quit and gain a few pounds (and work on that later) than not quit and someday find myself gaining a few pounds in the form of a tumor.
I applaud you all for kicking the habit. You'll love yourself, your family will appreciate it, and strangers everywhere that won't have to smell it will be thankful as well.
And in the end...you're probably doing the one thing that will increase your life expectancy.
Go get em!
Edit: I forgot to add - - last night I was kinda thinking about this post when I was lighting some trash in my burning barrel. My head was kinda over the barrel as I was trying to light various items and I caught a lungful of smoke. Yaaaack! I coughed like heck and could barely breath....and I thought, "how does one force themselves to get used to doing that - on purpose?"
[ January 02, 2006, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
being an "old country boy" when i was a yougin smokin was a required experiment. we(4-5 boys)that hung out together one would steal a cigerette form parents pack and we would go out in the woods and smoke it. another experiment we did was DRIED CORN SILK rolled up in a piece of newspaper!!!!! NASTIEST STUFF YOU EVER WANT TO TRY.....and the stangest think happened to me i wanted to quit smoking.....the LAST CIGARETTE i lit....never got to inhale it...IT TASTED LIKE THAT CORN SILK IN NEWSPAPER!!!!! i coughed and put it out....never smoked since!!! also we tried smokin CATABA beans....you know those trees grow up north with those long bean like things.....when they are dry we tried smokin them..damn near killed me.hahahahahahaha
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Jane, thanks for posting that, I am really looking forward to this. Jon said we should start tomorrow, & I said "NO WAY, while we are driving for 6 hours!!!!!!"
Mark, you are such a good guy! Thank you. I will let you guys know when we start.
I am also going out to get that Brewer's yeast Jackson was talking about.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Oh, Bobbie....remember I was going to report back on the brewers yeast? My report is that I can't tell any difference between taking it and not. Get it if you'd want, but I can't recommend it or not.
But.....or should I say butt...you'll find a definite improvement in your BM situation. Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tim: Ok Don! You're on!
But I'll take the new years date as my start point. I already have the box of patches sitting above the cupboards in the kitchen. Been there for a month. Just haven't got round to it yet, but I think this is perfect motivation. Plus my secret admirer is also a much younger and beautiful gal that doesn't smoke, so might make my chances better.
I'd ask John to draw one for me too, but I doubt he knows how to draw "ugly" lol Seriously though, I've never posted my pic when I was a resident for the past few years, just used the smiley face, so only those that have met me at the splash meet in Nanaimo know what I look like.
Ok, so its 8 days and counting down to quit time! Thanks for the inspiration!
Tim, you've been awfully quiet. Are you in? If not yet, join in when you're ready. The water's not as deep as it appears.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Matthew Rolli: Cigars don't count do they?
I'm in! starting Jan.1
Matthew? Same deal.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
MARAJUANA DONT COUNT...all other tobacco is banned!!! hehehehehehhe hennie tells me the story of her back in the 70'smoney was tight and couldnt by cigs..so she decided to quit em.....only she kept at it with the weed.....hahahahahahahaahah
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
What tripped me up every time I tried to quit was the thought that "just one" won't hurt, so I'd bum one from anybody I could find. Pretty soon, I was at the gas station buying a pack and hating myself. Don't give in to false logic.
Bobbie, I can't say for sure if it will help when you go to the "library", but keep in mind you don't have to tell us EVERYTHING.
We're proud of y'all and just think of how much time you're NOT wasting with smoke breaks. BTW, I'm on Day 427 and I can't remember for the life of me why I ever liked the damn things.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
Thanks for bringin' that up, O.P. If you're going to give up smokin' you've got to give up "ALL" smokin'. It's all related don't ya know.
Second hand smoke is darn near impossible to get away from. It's good to see some cities pass "no smoking" laws. I mean you can't go into a restaurant and go to a non-smoking area and not really get away from it when just a few feet away there's a smoking area. So you've got to be strong. It ain't easy. It's hard enough to quit.
[ January 03, 2006, 06:04 AM: Message edited by: Bill Diaz ]
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I don't know about the whole second hand smoke thing. Personally, I think it's all a bunch of hogwash. But, one thing for sure, second hand smoke stinks worse than first hand smoke! Not sure how that works out, but it's a fact.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Second-hand smoke, now code named "Environmental Tobacco Smoke" in keeping with Politically Correct terminology, is not hogwash, but rather a fact borne out by science.
The Mayo Clinic, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, National Cancer Institute and countless other entities have years of scientifically conducted research to prove the health risks of second-hand smoke. The Environmental Protection Agency has years of studies backing this health risk as well.
After reading all the health risks, the statistic that really sort of bothered me was a fact that *smoking parents account for 90% of ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) exposure to their kids*.
Parents wouldn't knowingly expose their kids to other dangers, and my guess is that most people don't really think about the smoke they exhale in the same way they think about the smoke they inhale. Probably the thought upon inhalation is "this smoke isn't good for me" rather than the thought that "this smoke isn't good for them" upon exhale....which is a natural response.
Here's what years of scientific research really has to say about second hand smoke:
Keep on kickin' it.....you guys are going to improve your health and the health of those around you. A very positive and admirable endeavor.
[ January 03, 2006, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
2nd hand smoke hogwash?? LOL!! Let me tell you, when I walk into a smoke filled room, my breathing aparatus is screaming for clean air and I start coughing. That's gotta mean something.
If a vehicle is running in an enclosed area, you'd choke up too. That's what smoke does to non smokers.
My sis is subject to 2nd hand smoke, her hubby smokes and she doesn't. She gets bronchitis attacks due to the smoke. There IS indeed damage being done.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
I think second hand smoke has to be harmful. How could it NOT be? It's smoke! Think about smoke inhalation if there is a fire... I am really glad we quit. I didn't normally smoke ALOT (maybe a pack every 3 or 4 days) and we never smoked in our house (we would go outside at home) or office but we did smoke in the shop (garage) when we did smoke at work. All those butts laying everywhere to sweep up... I'm determined now!
Posted by John Deaton (Member # 925) on :
I was a musician locally here for 20 plus years. Played in every club within 200 miles. Every night when I would go home, I smelled like a tobacco factory. Its untelling how much smoke I inhaled over the years. I never took up smoking , and Im really glad I didnt. You folks have my respect for trying to quit. My dad quit after smoking lucky strikes for 35 years. Them there is rot gut cigarettes.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
ok ok. I forgot to attach my disclaimer, "I reserve the right, as always, to be completely full of ****".
I'm just gettin into the swing of this quitting thing, and haven't gotten adjusted to beating up on smokers rights yet.
(damn, I sure am grumpy today)
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
FROM PAGE 2: "mom was 70, never smoked....but owned and ran a bar(2nd hand smoke) from 1957-78 when she died." last few years of her life, she had all the classic "smoker symtoms"....short of breath, coughing up crap, lite headed...and heart problems......yea i guess 2nd hand smoke aint that bad.....its even worse for US EX SMOKERS!!! i lov shootin pool, but the smoke kills me for 3-4 days afterward. i like BILOXI casinos....again 3-4 days after i hack, spit up crap, and have breathing problems. the picture that always stays in my head is of this guy in sarasota i knew.... he was 60 ish, had a quaduple bypass, and carried an oxygen bottle on wheels....would trun off the OXYGEN....LITE UP A CAMEL.....SMOKE IT, COUGH AND GAG....TRUN ALMOST BLUE....then put out the cigarette and put the OXYGEN BACK ON!!!!! how ADDICTED CAN YOU GET?????????????????
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Big Day #7 for me~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found this article today at work while surfing MSN. Good reading as it offers even MORE incentives to quit, some of which haven't been touched yet on this post!
Don, I spelled insentives correctly the "first" time (arr, arr...)
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
goofball!
Way to go, by the way!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
That's me!! How are all of us doing today??
Gotta stay strong! We all gotta stay together!
WECANDOTHIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
ok, ok, Sonny, so i won't tell you guys EVERything...anymore......
Don, you are a stinker, you are.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
hmmmm. 21 days? I guess I can start counting weeks now. One more week and I plan to stop counting altogether.
Bobbie, I may be a stinker, but you like me. What's that make you? Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
OK, I am starting tomorrow with NO smokes. Yup, just went to the store & bought me a bunch of stuff to chew on & suck on to help me out, some celery & oranges too.
My doctor's appt. is for 10 am tomorrow, & I am gonna ask her about these things that have been plaging me.
I will let you guys know how I feel!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
ATTAGIRL Bobbie!! You're in!
You can be one of the girls, just like me!
Signing off, Mr. Day Eight
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Good Luck, Bobby!! We Can DO THIS!! Just keep thinking about all that cash you'll save, how your lungs will clear out, how you won't smell smoky anymore, how your body will benefit, on and on.... We're rootin' for ya!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Well, I got up this morning, brewed a good pot of coffee, let the dog out, and didn't have a smoke all day long again. 21 days and still not fallen off the tobacco wagon.
Not bad. But, I can do better. I think I can go 40 days now.
You can do it, Bobbie! Go for one day. Put all you can into not smoking for one day. You can worry about going two days later.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
YA, what he said!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Made it through day 21. Don't know about anybody else, but surprises me. Thought certain today was gonna be my downfall. Guess i'll shoot for 22 tomorrow.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Bobbie, that is GREAT!!!! Check in often, we want to hear how you're doing. I'm totally impressed with all of you!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Don, is it Day #8 or 9 for me?? It's been soo long ago (when I used to smoke) that I honestly need to look at a calender to figure when I quit?? I still put a patch on in the morning, but I really don't think I need it. I've "almost" completly forgot the whole ordeal!
(Hope this encourages those of you who are contemplating quitting). It was the first 2, maybe three days that were tough. The rest is all downhill....................EZ.. Honest!
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Well, this morning I woke up to the alarm, hit snooze, then went back to sleep when I realized this is "the day". I did that 2 or 3 times, then finally got up. BEFORE I got out of bed, tho, I said, "I am not a smoker & I do NOT smoke!".
This held me up all day til about 2:00, then I got antsy. I had taken 3 of those lozenges with me today, but haven't tried one.
Jon smoked ONE today, which is great, & he took 2 lozenges to help him. He hid the ash trays & stuff, so i think that makes it easier for me.
I am believing you, Mark, that Day 3 is the start on a downhill slide, easy going, etc., etc.,
Talking to the Lord helps a LOT, & listening to my music.
I wish i could just go to sleep for about 4 days & wake up from all of this!
Did you guys notice something? We each got ourselves into this by ourselves, & we have to get ourselves OUT. We are each individually on our own, fighting this battle, aren't we? I am glad we have each other, & also the others on this BB that are encouraging us too.
Funny, my thoughts were SO loud today, I could almost HEAR them, telling me I wasn't enjoying driving or anything unless i had a cigarette! I talked back & said, "OH no you don't! I am not a smokewr,& I do not need a cigarette!"
I think so far, I did pretty good! PTL!!!!
Posted by Dale Manor (Member # 4858) on :
5657.5 days off the cigs for me and let's see that adds up to savings in dollars of about $22,630. give or take a few dollars.
But it's just quiting for the day, just one day at a time.
If I can do it, you guys can too!
Keep up the fight for your life!
[ January 05, 2006, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Dale Manor ]
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
Don, you're a hoot! Quick too.
I remember getting into smoking at an early age. My dad and his buds would get together at our house in the 50's for jam sessions. They played jazz. Mom would go to the grocery store and buy cartons of filtered and unfiltered cigarettes and open them up on the kitchen table. Then she massed the assortment of cigarettes in a huge bowl we used for popcorn and put them on the coffee table for the men.
I would sit at the top of the stairs and watch these guys smoke, drink and jam the night away. The music was mesmerizing. They enjoyed those smokes so much I couldn't wait to get my hands on one. The whole house smelled like an ash tray. I had an early morning paper route and would grab a fist full of smokes on my way out the door to deliver newspapers. At 5:30 in the morning no one paid attention to some kid on a bike smokin' cigarettes.
I remember another kid and I used to practice blowin' smoke out our noses. They told my dad to quite smokin' in his early 40's. He was a 4 pack a day guy and his fingers were always yellow. Every car we ever had smelled like an ash tray. The car could be brand new, but by the end of the first day it smelled like an ash tray.
They told Dad he could probably smoke cigars or pipes based on the theory that you wouldn't inhale them. They didn't know any better back then, but now we know that is total bull****. Of course Dad inhaled them anyway.
Gettin' Dad a pipe, some tobacco or a humidor was always the perfect Christmas gift, because you knew he was going to use it.
A friend and I took some of Dad's pipe tobacco and thought it would be fun to roll it into some notebook paper (8 1/2 X 11) and make a giant cigarette. We snuck into some little old ladys' garage and fired that sucker up. We had flames almost to the ceiling with big old hunks of tobacco crashing to the floor. The whole time we were coughing our brains out. That should have been my first clue.
I worked construction when I was young for my grandfather. He wanted to give all the grandsons summer work. Being around construction workers while they smoked their unfiltered Luckies, Camels and Pall Malls was not the best thing to expose kids to, that and the chewing tobacco, but that's how I grew up. That was my exposure. The whole world was firing up or chewin' it seems.
When I got to high school I played football, basketball and baseball and the school would kick you out of sports if they caught you smokin' or drinkin', so I learned to sneak it.
So my history with smokin' is long and now that I've quit (and I'm not countin' the days) I can't believe how much better I feel. I've been poppin' right out of bed and gettin' with it. I would have quit a long time ago if I knew how much better I was going to feel -- so soon.
So think back about how you got into smokin' and think ahead to how good you're going to feel, and I hope you can make sense of it all. It helps me to put things into perspective and realize that I got into it on my own and I can get out of it on my own. Good luck and God speed! Nobody said it was going to be a cake walk.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Bobbie, good for you and Jon! Lozenges?? I've never tries them, but I can tell you this. Puttting on on 21 mg Patch is sorta like flipping a light switch (to off) for me. I struggled pretty badly the first two days, but worked on some projects that kept my mind off of smoking. After day 3, it wasn't nearly as bad. Just kept myself busy and tried to not to anything that I used to occiatate with smoking (such as driving a car). I didn't go anywhere all last week. Used to build fires and that was the only way I would smoke in the house. So... I didn't build fires!
Hang in there, you're not alone! It'll get better in a few days. I promise! Keep telling you'e yourselves that YOU CAN DO IT! KNOW, that it won't be easy. Keep in mind, you've probibly smoked for a looong time!
We're rooting for ya!
Bill, really enjoyed the stories in your post. Somewhat reemind me of how our family was.
Can you tell me ONE more story before bedtime!!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
This is for Bobbie and Jon: Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Great to hear you made it through the first day, Bobbie....and you, too, John! Now on to day two. you can do it. It's just like today, only different.
Mark, you're a charactor, you know that? Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Thanks, Mark! And thanks Bill for that story, very interesting!
My Grampa always smoked, & he died of lung cancer when I was 12. My Uncle Walt, too, & My mom had cancer in her uterus.
My parents allowed me to smoke pot, but not cigarettes, because they said that the cigarettes killed Grampa, & at least pot got you high. If I was smoking cigarettes in my room & they were coming up to my room, I'd hurry up & light up a joint so they wouldn't smell it as much! Always burned incense to cover the cigarette smoke, too, not the pot smoke.
I remember feeling like I was up there with the "cool girls" when I could finally inhale a cigarette without coughing. Do you believe that? What a fool I was!!!!!
Every time you guys say it gets easier, I get encouraged. Please don't stop!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
In the morning, I'm gonna put on some coffee, let the dog out and head on over to the truck rental to begin the big move!
If all goes as planned, next time I'm here, I'll have gone 31 days without a cigarette.
See y'all then! Play nice.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
WAY TO GO, All of US!! We can do IT! One more story about Bill... We just put his Dad in a nursing home recently and it has been really hard on Bill, dealing with the whole thing, the power of attorney responsibilities, Dad's "moods" about being there...well, you get the idea. Anyway, one of the things that the Dr. told us was that THE biggest reason that Dad is having so many health issues right now is the smoking. Dad quit many years ago and when Mom died last January, he took it up again. He has been smoking ALOT! Can you believe it! His apartment's smell was unbearable! Anyway, that is another big reason that we can see the "evils of smoking" so vividly at our house! We are DONE with it!! Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Don, hope your move and stuff goes well!
As for me, I still can't remember when I quit smoking cigarettes??
Don, can you help me?? It seems the last cigarette I had was sometime LAST YEAR!? It's been soo long I can't figure it out?? I dont' even think about it anymore.
It's also so much easier knowing that Bobbie and Jon are keeping a close eye on our progress. I hope we make them proud (don't tell them how easy this has been Don, make them think it's really hard)! OK?
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Lou Rawls - - Dead today at age 72 from Lung Cancer.
72 doesn't seem that old anymore.....
Keep up the good willpower folks! You can do it! You're stronger than those things....and your family and friends love you and want you around for a good long time.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Only the 2nd day & already I could smell how bad even my bedroom smells!!!!
I do have to be honest. I have been doing very well, but when it DOES hit me, it hits, & after not smoking pot for over 13 years, the thought kept coming to my mind today! Lol!
I got me some of those "Smarties" to chew on up here in the shop.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
I think as of today I'm in,
D O U B L E D I G I T S!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, this is EEEEeeeeZZZZZZZzzzzz!
How's Bobbie and Jon Today??????????? I assume everybody else is doing good (you are all way ahead of me, except for Bruce that is. But's he's doing good, only trailing me a couple of days)! Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Where's Don? Did ya get moved??
Bobbie/Jon.....How're ya doin'?
Tomorrow.....Day 13 or 14?? Numbers don't even matter anymore!
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Way to go Mark! I'm watching all your progress but some have dropped off.. I hope that means you're so busy with your new lifestyles that you don't have time to update!! Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Bill & I are doing fine...anxious to hear word from Bobby & Don and others....I know Don was moving soon. He might not be computer ready yet.
Posted by Jeff Spradling (Member # 1615) on :
Doing the math based on Don’s last post…it appears he won’t be back here until the 14th.
Good job to all you quitters…I’m sorry…habit displacers. Keep those numbers climbing!
Jeff Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Bobbie is doing fine here, but I almost swore repeatedly after Jon made me leave the checkbook at home so I wouldn't spend any money, & I realized I didn't have it when I got to my supplier!!!!!
I had an unbelievably "trying" day today, & hope tomorrow is much better. I get to paint tomorrow, so it HAS to be better!
I have found that Starlight mints taste very good with coffee in the morning, too! Oh, & red licorice go good with Smarties, & those Ricola cough drops keep me from wanting a cig.
My hair smells like shampoo again! My jammies even stunk, & my nightie! Yuck!
7 days now, & still ok!!!!! Boy, it feels good to share it, so thanks for asking & listening, you guys!
Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
Wow Bobbie, 7 days, way to go!
You are all doing great! This is wonderful that so many of you are able to do this together! I know I'm getting ahead of myself but a word of warning about the 4 month part. Everyone I know who started cheating, started around the 4 months. I think it's long enough to tell yourself you're out of the woods and got it beat, you can just have that one little puff when you are out with your friends. When you get that urge, JUST DON'T Do it!!!
I'm so very proud of you guys! Suelynn
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
ATTAGIRL Bobbie!! This is day:
F O U R T E E N for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You had me wondering for a little while there! Now, isn't it getting a lot easier now?
Wait til Don gets back and sees how ya've done!
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Actually, this may sound weird, but I am about the same as I was the first couple of days! It has not been too awful bad except for a few times when I swore at Jon (not my nature!), but the cravings that I DO have don't seem to want to go away!
I am sticking with it, tho, & Jon said I am "not accountable" for swearing, since I am fighting the smokes!
Jon is doing good, he has one or two a day, but says he will kick it. I leave him alone!
[ January 11, 2006, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Bobbie Rochow ]
Posted by faye welsh (Member # 2524) on :
hey mr. don, just think about a nose hose and dragging tanks of 0/2 around. should be a good persuader. p.s. i never smoked daily. just second hand smoke...fiddles Posted by Carl Wood (Member # 1223) on :
kinda on topic- - - - anybody here remember the old Jerry Reed novelty song - about cigarettes - can't recall title - some of the lines were. . "boo on cigarettes" - "Quitten cigarettes. . .I dunno whether to cough or to shake. . .I think I'll make me a cough shake ! it was one of them talkin songs back in the '70's - funny as -well. . .
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Faye, I feel for you, honey. I take my neighbor to get his groceries now, & he has emphazema, & we carry his tanks around with us. He is hooked up to one running in the house at all times, too.
A couple of months ago, his oxygen was too high, & he got an OD of carbon dioxide in his blood, & could not think or anything. Everyone thought he was losing his mind, but he was real sick.
He got this from smoking.
How did you get that way from 2nd hand smoke?
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
How to get away from second hand smoke?
Spray offending cigarette, cigar, pipe, or other various smoking vessels with water hose on full blast.
Works for me.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
hahahah hiram B anyway,,, I never smoked, I physically cannot take it.. Likewise, my social circle has very few smokers in it. I guess we tend to gather together in smoke free places. Our Bunco group of over 36 is all non smokers. We had a few but they all quit.. So eventually, the temptation leaves when all others do not smoke or have the reminders (ashtrays and other foreplay junk ) around.
Good to see you all savign the money each month.. What is it?? $180 - $200 a month in your pocket?
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Actually, instead of Jon & I spending about $60-80 a week on 2 cartons, we had bought a large rolling machine & would go through $20 a week buying a big bag of cheap tobacco & rolling it ourselves. The problem I think with that is.... What the heck ar they putting in the cheap tobacco? That bugged me a lot!
Hey, I left tonite in the Blazer, opened the glove box for a cd, & there was a pack with about 4 or 5 smokes in it! I threw it out in the driveway & took off! Amen!
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
its one of the toughest things to do i can tell ya from experiance. was 1987 for me. seems like a long time ago now. i turned 42 may of that year and in the back of my mind iam countin the years till i reach 50. 50 at that time for me was like most see 30. i also had another reason it bothere me, it was my fathers age when he died. to many years of livin with the man and watchin him go down hill was not pleasant. he worked construction and traveled a lot of miles to go to jobs in pa/ohio/wva. we lived 20 miles from anyplace so he got up at 5-5:30 am to go to work. his morning ritual was get up, sit on bed, and cough. get outa bed go to kitchen make coffee and smoke...then go out on the porch and cough and gag....for 10-20 minutes every day. i listened to this till i went in the service at 19. told myself(was smokin at 11-12 already)that i ever sounded like that i would quit.....yea right. dad had a massive heart attack 1969 and i just got back home after 3 years of military service. now we where no longer father/son, but 2 grown men and was startin to have that relationship with my dad...that i always wanted.was home less then 3 months when he had the 1st one. he spent 2 weeks in ICU and had 7 more while in there. he got somewhat better they moved him to reg room and then released him to go home. he was home a week, wouldnt listen to the doctors about stayin in bed...had to go down and feed the dogs(2 flights of stairs)he went down, made it all the way back up and collasped on the front porch.that was NO.8. i got there he was still layin there....so it was engrained in my memeory how cigarettes kill!!!! from that time on i smoked and smoked....never once remeberin, sorta mental block of that day. move to 1987, i been smokin since 11-12 now and iam 42 and iam not coughin of gaggin like my dad....i cant lay down in a bed without whizzin like a whoopie cushion. iam eatin halls like candy jsut to get enough clearance so i can sleep. one nite i sorta jumped in my sleep, youve all down this, and realized my chest hurt...and i was short of breath. i sat up and tried to straighten my upper body and it felt like someone had their hand jambed into my sturnum and was pullin me back into a fetal position. still cant take a full breath, or straighten up. now i feel like i gota go to the bathroom. get up, bent over, make it to the pot and sit...still bent over. this is sept/oct and it not hot enought to sweat....i look at my right arm and see perfect drops of sweat comin outa each pour!!!! nothin doin on the bathroom end, now i get this sinkin feeling starting from my head and iam draining down. getin weaker all the time..and now this sinking feelin hits my stomach and iam feelin lite headed and i want to vomit now....slide off the commode to the floor now my head is where my butt was.....and thought for sure once i barf i would feel better....but no way jose. now hennies up and standin in the doorway sayin she gona call EMT, and iam tellin her NO...not as long as iam awake, if i pass out then call them!!!! now the nausea is passing but now iam so weak i cant move...aske hennie to get a chair from the kitchen, put my lower legs up on the chair, get some pillows and get my head up as close to knee hieght. she does this, and she had to pick up my legs, lift me and put pillows under my back and head....and i told her to keep talkin to me....now iam about the color of dirty mineral spirits when you clean brushes. iam so weak i can lift my hands. i just laid there and did my best to relax and breath slowly. this all took place in 35-45 minutes. i laid on the floor for maybe an hour after it started to feel better and strong enough to get up. now i didnt go to hospital, i say it was heart attack, if it wasnt, sure scared the crap outa me. so next day what do i do...LITE UP!!!! 2 nites later we start this again....i got up went to my recliner, and there are my cigs and lighter...so hey maybe it will help....i pick up a cig, put it in my mouth and lit it....never inhaled this cig tasted like the old dried corn silk and newspaper...which was my 1st attempt at smokin at 9-10!!!! i put it out, and have never lite another. i got past 50 and my dads death age. ive been smoke free since 87 and wish i woulda done it sooner. those who have never smoked have no idea of how hard it is to quit. of all the stuff in my life i have QUIT, smokin is still the roughest. ive quit,drugs, sodas, meat and they all was easy...compared to cigarettes.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
If that ain't testimony enough to wana quit, I don't know what is. Good for you OP.
Bobbie, you are doing unfriggin'believable! Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
That was one hell of a story, O.P!
Powerful moments like that stay with a person for a lifetime. I've heard of several people who've been found heart-attack dead near the toilet with their pants down around their ankles. It scares the begeezus out of ya.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Thanks for sharing that, OP. I am glad you quit, too, cause we got you around here on the BB!
I am not coughing as much as I was, & yea, I remember my grampa copughing like that when i was little. He died of lung cancer.
Last week "something" told me, "If you don't quit NOW, you will die." I listened to that "something".
Every time I quit before, I had cheated now & then, but this time, NO. I have not had one.
Thank God, this is day 9 without any. Might seem like nothing to some people, but to me, it is everything.
Thank you, Donna, you are such a real genuine sweetie!
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Mornin' everyone~! I'm just checking in, not wanting to loose this post! Day 18 for me. Hard to believe I'm comming up to almost 3 weeks!
And how 'bout Bobbie!!! She's gotta be getting near her 2 week anniversery? Bruce n Donna are like way out in the lead setting the pace for all of us. But... where's Don??
OP, that's for sharing your story! All of this helps guys. What works for one won't necessary work for another, but it's the reinforcement that you're not in it alone that has helped me along. Every morning I wake up and tell myself I'm doing the right thing. Sure hope I don't blow it down the road and loose my guard.
STAY FOCUSED GRASSHOPPER!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I'm back! Hey, a month today? Cool! My computer equipment is a mess....nicotine gunk everywhere. Nothin' 409 can't fix.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Last nite I lettered a semi, & while driving on the way home, I really wanted a smoke, then I thought of a joint (haven't smoked that stuff for years), then a drink came to mind!
Nope, nope, nope,,,,,, I PRAYED, & the cravings left!!!!!!
Still clean, you guys, day 10, I think. My first day was the 5th.
Yes, this does help.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Welcome back Mr. Month, ...I mean Don!
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Mark, I've never smoked but I'm a great applauder of those who are 'quitters.'
How are the mood swings, if any?
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
bobbie, after the smoke,the weed, the drink..you should had SEX.....usually fills in for those others...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA anddddddddd since iam there......you remember sex then a smoke? after i quit smokin....since i didnt smoke...I HAD MORE SEX instead of a cigarette!!!!!!!!hehehehehehe
[ January 14, 2006, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Donna, the moody part only lasted a couple of days, honest! Really cranky thru day 2 or 3, other that that, back to the same 'ol "Knucklehead Myself". I kept real busy those days working on panels. Now that I know how to post, I'll put up some photos of the stuff the kept my mind off of everything. Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Tomorrow....
T H R E E W E E K S ! ! !
How's the rest of "us" doing?
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
I hit the 3 month point two weeks ago... Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
OP, that is funny would say that about sex!!!! I have been HOUNDING Jon!!!!
Kinda like blowin off steam, you know?
I am doing real good, don't have the desire for one too often, but when I do, it is a real pain!
Where the heck is my "Nemesis" at? You all moved in to your little nest yet, Don?
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
One more thing, I have been helping out my 65 year old neighbor, & he is on oxygen from his emphazema which he told me was from his smoking.
Today he was coughing so bad, & coughing up stuff in a can. It was so awful, & smelled real bad too. Made me very thankful that the Lord is helping me, & I would really like to see this guy get better.
Can people ever get better from emphazema?
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
quote: Can people ever get better from emphazema?
No. You can retard the progress and make it a little easier to deal with the symptoms but the disease is irreversable.
Emphysema is caused by damage to the air sacs in your lungs. Damage is caused by smoking or breathing comtaminated air.
It is a really awful disease to get. I have seen the progress first hand with several people. It is truly sad.
My best to your friend, Bobbie.
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
I was speaking to a former employer of mine a couple of days ago. Back in the 70's he was a leader and innovator in sandblasted cedar signs...apparently the years of cedar dust in his lungs brought on emphysema for him too. He sold the business about 15 years ago. Now this was just from planing and sanding, not from the blasting process...he farmed that all out...thank God...hopefully those folks were a little more careful. Oh ya, he screen printed too. He had to give that up to peruse his pilots license. He went up one day and backed out in the air for a bit...later it was attributed to his having screened that morning...so that was the end of screen printing for him...I bought all his stuff...hahaha...dumb kid. Then there's all those hardners we used unprotected in the old days...man it's a wonder we're still above ground. :> Makes leaded paint look like child's play...hahaha
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
quote:I hit the 3 month point two weeks ago... [Smile]
Are ya Showing yet Bruce.... Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
bobbie if jon wont cooperate....i guess i can fill in!!!!!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... going back to my father, his lungs where destroyed. not only by cigarette smoke, but he was workin in the coal mines at age 9!!!(1928)right along side of his father and 1 older brother. then in 1941-42 he was drafted into the army. little know fact of WW2 that a lot of G.I.s never went over seas. my dad was one of them. since he was a MINER the govt took over a lot of the southwestern mines. gold/silver/copper mines where all worked by regular army troops with minning experiance.he was in from 41-45 and woked copper/gold mines in the southwest. copper mining is a great place to get SILICOSES...which he probalbly had. add that to the BLACK LUNG from coal dust...then throw in tobacco....and its a deadly ending. dad never got any diability from army for the silicoses, and was denied the black benifits after he died...cause he worked in the mines before they started keeping social security records...and had no way to prove he worked in the nmines prior to 1935-38 when S.S. records started.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
That is really sad, OP, about your dad. You know, my great grandfather, Samuel Carroll, was walking home from the copper mines in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, & dropped dead. I don't remember when that was, maybe late 1800's?
I am feeling really good today, I am taking off this morning's work & going with a friend to a bargain outlet-yee-ha!
The best part is, I always gauged whether I would go somewhere or not based on whether the person who invited me smoked or not. Not anymore!!!! I AM FREE! I CAN GO ANYWHERE!!!!!
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
You all are a bunch of quitters!
GOOD FOR YOU! Keep it up.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
That's funny you say that, Bobbie because I am having the opposite problem. When my friends who smoke invite me along, I worry about how to either say no about going along or I need be around the smokers. It used to bother me because I would want to bum one, but now it bothers me because I want to breathe! Last Friday night one of my girlfriends was over and she pulled out her cigs. She has always smoked at my house BEFORE. I almost said "Please don't smoke in here." but I just couldn't do it. And even when I smoked, I didn't smoke in our house EXCEPT for Friday nights...so now all of a sudden, in her eyes, I am saying you can't smoke here. ??? She was having a particularly rough week with her family, work & just life in general and wanted to talk to someone about it, and I just couldn't throw that new "problem" at her...maybe next week. I AM DETERMINED to join the ranks of the non-smokers!!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Here's my newest milestone. I just realized a few minutes ago that I've forgotten to put on a patch for several days. Not "didn't"...but "forgot". That's a biggie for me.
But...
I'm now up to 60 nurse kisses a day.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Glad your back, Don! Sounds like you're all settled in and cozy.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Don't know about settled in, but sure am cozy. I couldn't ask for a cooler roomie.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
did you get my email?????
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Don, you are back, & cozy too! Coolbeans!
Jane, I don't want to be around smokers, because & am finally enjoying myself NOT stinking, & I don't want to be near them & stink again!!!!
I am surprised your friend even lit up after she knew that you quit. I couldn't do that. But I guess you did good tho, right? I mean, about not wanting one from her. You are doing great!
I am on Day 13!!!
Posted by Russ McMullin (Member # 5617) on :
I don't smoke, but this has been a very helpful and inspiring thread. It feels good to see people working toward a worthy goal and making progress.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
Bobbie, you nailed it - there's definitely a sense of freedom without ciggies. We're proud of all of you (Steve and Barb - there's room for more......)
GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
I told Don on the phone about a guy who put the money he would have spent each day on cigarettes in a 5 gallon glass carboy. Do that for a year at today's prices, and at the end of a year you can pay cash for a pretty nice cruise.
That's for those of you who are still countin' days............Yeah baby! Do what ever it takes and "GET 'ER DONE!"
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
There's someone in my life that has an occasional cigar puff. He never smokes inside his home because he says it stinks it up. He never smells like smoke himself except for a tinge right after he's had a puff. You'd never know he smoked except for that occasional, "I'm going outside for a moment" thing. He even goes to the length of ensuring Cody NEVER sees him. This was his idea, he ensures Cody is no where near him. He doesn't want to leave the impression that smoking a cigar is cool.
I never say don't smoke to my friend, I want it to be his decision. He keeps saying to himself he should stop... and on it goes. His ex from a few years back absolutely hounded him to quit and it made him smoke all the more. This was in the day of cigarettes. As soon as she left, he quit cigs. LOL
I'm just curious, what was the trigger that made you say, "This is enough! I'm done!" ??? Please help inspire ME to keep my mouth shut! I know it has to be his decision and I refuse to be like his ex.
Edited to say:
I never knew about the occasional cigar thing until later. If I had, he'd never have had a chance with us. LOL
[ January 18, 2006, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Donna, I have been a christian person for about 14 years, & the WORST thing I would hear from other christians was, "Did you quit smoking yet? Don't you know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Well, as long as you KNOW it is wrong"
On & on they would go, INFURIATING ME!!!!! As long as I know it is wrong? Do you know how many very overweight people would tell me those things? I know it is not good for my body, so I don't need anyone to tell me about it. Is it a sin? I am not too sure, I guess if hurting your body is a sin, then I guess so, along with overeating, being a drunk, being lazy... oh you get the idea. And never mind the things that I DID quit, the drinking, the pot smoking, acid, coke, you name it, seemd they were not happy.
I DO have to say that not all christians did this to me. Just "select few" who thought they were perfect. You got people like this in all walks of life.
But what I am saying is, I had to see it myself, that it was going to kill me. Yep, I had those thoughts, something telling me if I don't quit, I will die. The more people pushed me, the more I smoked.
Your friend knows he smells when he smokes, or he wouldn't be so careful around your son. I would compliment him when he DOES smell good!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bill Diaz: ...at the end of a year you can pay cash for a pretty nice cruise.
"Cruise", my ass! I could buy the whole damn boat at the end of the year! Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
Donna, I couldn't have felt much worse before I made these life style changes. When I coughed at night, sometimes I couldn't stop, and it would feel like I was going to pass out.
I can't tell you how much better I feel, and the coughing has stopped. I have tons of energy. Whoops .... gottttttttaaaaaaggooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Help me!!! Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Today makes six years and still counting.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Way to go, Don!
Posted by Susan Banasky (Member # 1164) on :
Excellent Don. I knew you could do it.
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Congrats Don! You ROCK.
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Way to go Don...not only are you healthier for quitting...but you also dont smell as bad.
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
I was just looking at the Life Insurance premiums for a smoker. Holy crap! Almost double. It's time for me to quit too.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Me too Don!!!!! I have not touched one since this thread was running. And thanks for re-posting it, I forgot what year I quit!
Yeay for us!!!!!!!!!!!!
And especially, thanks to all the encouragement we got from our friends here, & thank You Lord!
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
20 years on 11/14/11 for me!
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
now don if you can kick that MAC ADDICTION))))))))))))
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Quit being a S**T disturber Joe!!....You know how touchy those Mac people are! Posted by Terry Whynott (Member # 1622) on :
Good stuff, Don! (and Kimberly and Bobbie!!) Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
I've never smoked a cigarette. My wife did before I met her. She quit 35 years ago, and from what I understand, it is very difficult. Glad I never had to find out.
Good for all you "quitters"
[ December 19, 2011, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Rick Beisiegel ]
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
I never smoked but lost two hubbys to death due to their smoking and a couple more bad habits, but my children suffered to see it happen. I feel so badly about what they never thought would happen to them. So sad.
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
Keep up the good work Don, all you really need is to see your friends and family waste away and die from smoking. That should be enough of a lesson. Bill
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And I have quit numerous times (always cold turkey) but I still want to smoke, especially in social situations. Two of my best friends smoke too, so THAT doesn't help! Lately, we have just been finding other things to do and staying away or having short visits with those people. I recently told my friends that we can't be around them when they smoke. I said "I have no problem with YOU smoking, it's just that then I want to bum one and I REALLY don't WANT to smoke any more...". We will see how that works New Year's Eve at their house at their party. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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