Topic: Stop Smoking Support Thread

Jul 6, 2012 04:43 PM JudiH wrote:

Beckers, way to go.  You are probably past the biggest hurdle!  Dunesleeper, way to go too! As I have said before, I don't want a cigarette, my brain says another thing.  There is no desire, just the brain saying it.  Oh well, I'm out with smokers tonight so it will be interesting .... mmmmm smell the smoke!

Jul 6, 2012 05:28 PM karen333 wrote:

JudiH, be careful where liquor is involved andd a bunch of smokers, who you are used to smokong with, it was the only time I slipped and smoked one bumed cigarette.  Take care. Karen

Jul 6, 2012 09:17 PM lisamarie68 wrote:

Thanks Maddymac , I got online today with NY Quits and they are sending me more patches and I spoke to a quit coach today . little baby steps but I am getting there .. my exchange surgery is July 19th and I know I need to stop . not only for that but for me . I also am going to stay in manhatten 16th and 17th going to the Yankee game so excited and the hotel i am staying in is non smoking and as is the Yankee stadium so I really want to be on my way for that as well. the NY Quit line helps a lot . I am so glad they are here for me too ... :) i need to use my quote again " Just For Today I Will Not Smoke " 

Jul 6, 2012 11:38 PM dunesleeper wrote:

Staying cool and nicotine free here in hot Baltimore. No real cravings. It reallly does help to be too poor to buy them. LOL. If it works, then poverty shall be a blessing!

Jul 7, 2012 05:51 AM dunesleeper wrote:

LOL Beckers. Of course I used to do that. I'm actually so poor now that I cannot do that. However, this is temporary (hopefully). I'm hoping it will only be for about six months. I need to get OK'd for disability retirement, so I am getting all the documentation together and will send it or take it to them. I have to wait until July 26th for the damned shrink though, so that puts me another month away from approval. The people in that office are such asses! Hell, that's why I haven't been there for a couple years, or at least over a year. Because I have not been there for a while, they refuse to supply documentation without seeing me; and they would not see me until July 26. The mental health issues are the primary reason for my claim of disability. The bc put me over the edge, but the depression and anxiety have made it so hard to work for many years. Ugh, I dread going to that office. It is a dreadful place. I get depressed and anxious just thinking about it.

Not going to think about it. Ugh!

Jul 7, 2012 11:04 AM Beckers wrote:

Jo,

What an ordeal. Glad you are ok. Happy I had hysterectomy long before BC. Sounds like Tamoxifen has some SE's. From what I read, it sounds easier to tolerate than Arimidex (or whatever it's called). I will know soon enough!

Happy Saturday!

Jul 7, 2012 03:59 PM JudiH wrote:

Hey Jo, I'm so happy to hear the news - B9!  You have to be doing the happy dance, for sure.  What an ordeal you have been through and then, more surgery.  I don't know how you get your head around it.

Like you, I've been blessed with good news!  I went to see my MO on Tuesday and I'm now in the "wellness group".  Which means, I'm in a group who's cancer is less like to reoccurr.  Now talk about doing the happy dance.  Now, I only see my new MO every 6 months and after 2 visits and all is well, then just every year.  If you had told me this at the beginning of this journey, I doubt I would have believed it.  I just wanted two things:  to go back to the way I was, or to be like those who are where I am or now deemed a 5 year bc surviror and off of drugs.  Woo hoo, too!

Dunesleeper, take a deep breath and keep doing it.  Even though you hate going to the place because it is such a downer, the faster you get there, the faster you are out.  Then, you won't be "poor".

Karen, I didn't break down last night.  Funny, I looked at the "smokers" but it seem like a dream or fog.  I never even thought of having one or sitting right beside them.  I think that when I get stressed, I revert back to my old thinking of "I need a smoke".  So, I just have to get less stressed about things.  As if! 

Jul 7, 2012 07:37 PM karen333 wrote:

Hi Jo, been off the computer for a few days , so I just now got the news of B9 - don't you just love that word, it even sounds like a good word!!  I know I used my binkie like a fool during the time I was waiting, bet you did too, it's a lifesaver for sure.  We have been having a heat wave, humidity and no rain for the past week, don't know how you do even hotter temps., it just drains me, I do a few errands and then I am a couch potatoe, sitting in front of the AC unit.  Tomorrow it is supposed to drop into the high 70's and be less humid, maybe I'll even get on that bike, it's been too hot to get on it.  Need to lose AI and quitting smoking weight, I put on 20 lbs.!  JudiH, so glad you made it - it can be a real temptation.  hugs, Karen

Jul 7, 2012 09:29 PM MinusTwo wrote:

Jo - WONDERFUL news.  I was just signing on tonight to wish you good luck Tuesday.  B-9 Rocks.  Beckers - A month is a huge milestone. Congrats.  Judi - glad to hear your good news too.  LisaMarie - remember the "little engine that could"?  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....and eventually....I thought I could.  Just keep trying.  Your turn will come.  Karen - I didn't gain weight when I quit smoking due to a heavy duty exercise program, but 15 lbs sneaked up on me after BC.  I've been going to water aerobics 3x a week since May but no time for anything else since this is our heaviest time at work.  I'm 2 lbs down, 2 lbs up - over & over again.

I get to PARTY on Tuesday.  It's the 5th year anniversary of my quit date.  I've said it here before - I'll always be a smoker, just not one who smokes.  I never thought I'd make 5 days, let alone 5 years.   I seem to have done it so I know all of you can too.

Jul 7, 2012 09:46 PM karen333 wrote:

Me too Jo, me too!

Jul 8, 2012 08:58 AM, edited Jul 8, 2012 04:48 PM by JudiH

Jul 8, 2012 05:19 PM MaddyMac wrote:

Hey Cher - If ranting helps, I'm glad and all of us certainly understand how hatd quitting can be. But please please please do get some 12 step help if that has worked for you in the past.

The nicotine, as you may know, is a vaso-constrictor, meaning it makes your veins slam closed when you smoke. Wound healing absolutely requires proper circulation, which you are not getting. (I had a surgical wound that would not close several years ago, and when I "quit" it closed up pretty quickly. I say "quit" because like the bonehead I am, I picked the darned things up,again once I was healthy.)

Come and see us and let us know how you are!

Lisamarie - you ROCK, girl! Look at you hanging tough and going to see,the Yankees and all! Quitting feels really good sometimes, when you get to go out and enjoy the results. I'm a Giants fan here by the bay, and it's not looking good. . .that's OK though, got to see Matt Cain throw a perfect game.

I wish everyone a peaceful, healing Sunday.

Jul 8, 2012 06:08 PM JudiH wrote:

Sorry, Jo!  I too wish I had a cute MO but I do now have a male - he is cute in his own way.  But I do love him as he was so kind and thorough.  

Jul 8, 2012 08:32 PM JudiH wrote:

Jo, I feel like a "cougar".  My MO is younger then me but I never stop looking to see how good looking they are.  I'm glad to be young!

Glad to hear you and dh both like your MO very much.  I haven't spent much time with mine before and at this visit.  But if I stay with this one, then I will get to know him.  Yet, the less I'm there, is a good thing!  

Hope everyone enjoyed their July 4th holiday.  I could have a holiday every month! 

Jul 10, 2012 08:16 PM SeasideMemories wrote:

Cher,

Let me begin with sending you a huge hug!!! I can feel the pain and frustration in your post! How can something so little have such a hold over us? Yet it does....

I would venture to say that there is not ONE of us here who have not stood exactly where you are now... Feeling like crap for smoking and lighting up anyway! Till one day, we had enough (different reasons for each... different timelines... different methods, etc) and somehow, eventually, something clicked and it was time! You will get there so don't give up!

That being said... You are going through an incredibly rough time right now so it is perfectly understandable that this may not be the best time for you to quit! Although I am not a doctor, I want to add that your smoking most definitely did NOT cause your infection and most likely is NOT impeding your healing from that infection!! I think most times when people talk about smoking impeding healing they are referring to incisions and blood supply, not infections! Please do NOT blame yourself for that! The hospital... Well that is another story!

I know that when I first started thinking aboout quitting I took a good hard look and decided that, during treatment, I just couldn't do it! It was all I had to get through what I needed to without "stirring the pot"! It wasn't until I was 3 months past radiation that I quit. But leading up to that I started working on a plan... Moving outdoors to smoke, waiting a bit longer before I would light up, etc.....

So, after all that what in the heck am I trying to say? Well... Quitting outright sounds like it is just too much right now... So don't quit... Didn't see that coming, did ya?

Instead of focusing on what you CAN'T do let's turn it around and focus on what you CAN do! You CAN start just entertaining the thought.... You CAN start looking at your pattern of smoking just to get a better idea of what situations are most likely to trigger you to smoke... You CAN start reading up on different aids to help you when the time is right.... Lots of small things that will be SO helpful when you do get to the time that is right for you!

The number one thing I would recommend for you is to send a PM to a lady on this site who's screen name is VJSL8... She is a smoking cessation specialist as her job and has written a really Super quit smoking tip book that she has offered to send anyone on this thread who asks... Absolutely no strings attached! Just PM her your email address and she will send it. She also sells it on Amazon if you would rather buy it!

Take your time and read it while you heal and go through treatment. Plot your strategy and I just KNOW we will be celebrating your quitting milestones soon!

Post here even if you decide now is not the time! Support is important in the planning stages as it is is later!!!!

Hugs, Seaside