Hey SmokinJoe, I is a hollerin at ya.

[R J]

How ya doing on the quit smoking.....

It has been 27 years, 4 months & 13 days since my last coffin nail in my mouth....

Thinkin on ya Brother........

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I failed the first try 
I'm now in the second round...I'm fighting it as I type this.
I did 93 smoke-free days first time and did pretty good till I went back to work .
I plan to win this war with myself cause if I don't I know they will kill me 

[Willow]

Joe, you didn't fail the first time.  You gained ninety-three days of smoke free experience.  That is going to be especially valuable when your body tells you you have to have a cigarette.

You're going to beat this thing because guys like you and me are tougher than a little rolled up vegetation.

How's the missus doing?

[Carolyn Schmidt]

I’ve been reading the posts on the “I think I’ll quit” thread since the first post and I think WOW every time. The support provided by this club in the good times and bad just amazes me. When tell people about my VRCC “family” they think it’s so cool. However, I never ready wanted to post a response until now.

For those of who’ve been able to quit smoking I’d like to say congratulations. For those like Joe who are still struggling “PLEASE” don't stop quitting.  I know how hard it is to quit. I’ve been a smoker and a quitter more times than I care to admit. It took the death of a woman around my age; this was over ten years ago, in a tragic car accident leaving two teenage children. I thought this could be me leaving my son who was in high school at the time and I thought, “I’m smoking and slowing killing myself everyday”. Well, that lasted for a long while then I would want to “sneak” one here and there when I was out with the “girls”. Well, when my Mom died two years ago back on June 9th of liver and lung cancer who hadn’t smoked since I was a little girl something changed in me.  I seem to have completely lost my desire to smoke. So, I feel for those who are having hard time. I can say quitting smoking is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and continued to be until my mother died.

I know that someday I could still get lung cancer because of the years I did smoke. I also know I’m much more healthy today because I don’t smoke; not to mention I smell better and I’m not spending money or cigarettes.

It does get easier and you don’t think about it all the time. Hang in there. You’ll be so glad you don’t smoke.

Carolyn

[solo1]

I had to jump in here too.  I quit on November 22, 1963.  My wife didn't quit for another 20 years or so.  Even then, I lost her due to COPD, brought about by smoking during those years..

In the last two years I've lost two friends of small cell lung cancer.  One lasted 2 years after diagnosis and the other lasted 7 months in the prime of his working years at 44.

I was an Xray tech for a number of years at the VA hospital and I saw many, many, veterans with emphesema.  That's real bad too.

Getting back to quitting, I had to quit drinking beer and coffee temporarily because of the association with cigarettes. I chewed a lot of gum in place of lighting up during stress, I chewed toothpicks, I tried everything.  All of that worked and I got past the first 6 months finally.  I knew that I had it whipped when the ashtrays at work smelled like S***.

Keep at it Joe, you'll lick it.  You DO NOT want the alternative, as you know.

Wayne

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I've tried to answer but my laptop has finally met the ghost I think. I'm on the road and in the motel lobby now on the HOUSE PUTER ...I'll get back to this thread when I get home thursday... Thanks for the words no one knows more than me that I need to quit smokin' .

[Skinhead]

Hey Joe,

I just wanted to say I was proud of you, before we ever met, when I read about your decision to quit.  When I met you in Gettysburg, I was disapointed to see you with a butt burning at the tire kick off, but as an ex-smoker, I must say that that is the ultimate test, when your drinking and socializing, especially if there are other smokers around.  I quit many times, the drinking will always get you until your finally done with them.

I once traveled with a gal that I thought never smoked.  We were drinking beers in the hotel parking lot after a long day, somebody lit up a smoke and she said, " I'll give you a thousand dollars for a cigarette."  I thought she was kidding, I never once saw her smoke in the 2 years we worked together. 

Just don't quit quitting. 

I'm proud of you, 'cause even if it takes you a few tries, you've inspired alot of people to quit, you can be proud of that.

[Brad]

It might not work for you being on the road by yourself but it will work for Obama and others (males anyway) who have people around them all the time.  Just tell everyone you know and everyone you work with.  Wear a sign if you have to but let everyone know that if they catch you smoking that you want them to kick you square in the nuts.  Aversion therapy, im thinking by the 6th or 7th time it would be hard to light one up. 

Its just a joke and I don't think that I will hear back from President Obama on this subject.

I do offer this plan to the guys at work all the time.  As of yet none of them have been serious enough about quitting to put the plan into effect.

 

Good luck with whatever program you are using