Six years ago Dec 3rd I lost my father to a smoking related disease. It was a slow, unpleasant death. Please, if you smoke, spare yourself from this death, give it up now.
When he was young he said “Its my body, I’ll do what I want”
In the early part of his disease he said “I know men who smoked until they were 80, smoking doesn’t cause this.”
As his disease progressed and he was gasping, struggling for breath he said “This isn’t life, its not living. I’m just waiting to die.”
It was horrible to watch.
One of the worst moments of my life was when he lay in his hospital bed gasping for breath and he looked me in the eyes and said: “I’m scared.”
Someone else close to me, a good friend, died more than 13 years ago of lung cancer. In the end, he was begging God to take him because it hurt so much.
I have now been smoke-free for over a month and don’t crave it any more, although I do (and likely will continue to) have occasional nostalgic thoughts about never enjoying a cigarette with my coffee/wine/beer ever again.
To be honest, I didn’t quit for me, I quit for her!
I’ve always said that I’d quit when I turned 30 or my wife got pregnant, whichever came first.
I got married last year and my wife took me out for a special 30th birthday dinner last week. At the start of the dinner she told me that she found out a couple of weeks beforehand that she was pregnant. We think she’s 9 or 10 weeks but will find out when we get a scan soon. All of the little signs I’d been noticing fell into place (morning sickness, bigger breasts…).
I haven’t smoked since. Admittedly it’s only been 7 days but I’m as sure as I can be that I won’t smoke again. I haven’t really even felt much of an urge to smoke like I did in previous attempts.
I quit 11 weeks ago. I have smoked for 29 years. At the end, it physically hurt to smoke, and I was in total fear of having a heart attack. So on Week 2 of this year’s NFL season, I just quit. Cold Turkey. That’s it.
Although I have other health issues, I feel great for not having smoked. My doc even gave me an ‘atta boy’ for doing so.
I consider myself a pretty smart guy, and the smartest thing I’ve ever done in my life is quitting smoking. I don’t want to die this young.
Also, seconding all those who suggest quitting for your family. Imagine what they’ll have to go through to lose a family member due to smoking.
I quit on January 1st, so coming up for a year now. I still dream about cigarettes - quite literally; I often have dreams in which I smoke, and God it is good - but I am not going to buckle.
Dec 27 2005 was my quit day (didn’t want to wait til New Years) To paraphrase MLK: Free at last! Free at last! I still occasionally have nightmares about smoking, but not very often now
My parents finally quit about a year and a half ago. Took my mom getting COPD to finally motivate them to quit for good (they also have a prescription that helps with the cravings). Sad that my mom can’t do as much walking as someone in her early 60s should be able to do, but I’m hoping with her kicking the habit and undergoing treatments that she’ll improve.
I lost my father when I was 16 to lung cancer. It took him a year to die, coughing and hacking up blood. The worst time of my life up until my mother died of a stroke (smoking related).
Kansas City has gone smoke-free in their bars and I love it. The Armageddon that would supposed to befall the bar business didn’t happen (one of my best customers is a pair of sports bars). In fact I’m more eager to go out and see live music when I know I won’t have to deal with smoke. I was reminded of how wonderful when I was hired to videotape my neighbor’s hard rock band last weekend. I didn’t find out until I got there when I found it is in one of the piss-ant little towns around KC that still allows smoking. And every last fucking audience member was smoking. My camera still stinks of cigarette smoke!
I quit the day I moved back to Massachusetts (either 9/12 or 9/19 - don’t remember).
I suddenly had no reason to smoke anymore. I used to smoke with my coworkers but I no longer had a job. I smoked with my sister and her boyfriend but they weren’t coming to MA with me. My boyfriend quit smoking a couple years ago so smoking wasn’t allowed in the car or the house.
It just seemed stupid to make special trips outside to smoke all by myself.
So, I quit.
I haven’t had any cravings. I haven’t had any interest in smoking at all actually. The smell of cigarettes makes me feel ill now. I have had dreams about smoking but even in my dreams I feel stupid for smoking.
One thing that sucks though is that all those changes you’re supposed to feel in the first months after quitting…not feeling them. I feel exactly the same.
Just bumping the thread again. I quit 4 years and 3 months ago, after smoking for 30 years. Every year since quitting my risk for lung cancer goes down until I hit 10 years, but for now the risk is still there. Anyone reading this who is still smoking and thinking about quitting - **DO IT!!! **It’s the single best thing you can ever do for yourself and your loved ones.
I’ve lost a couple of friends over the years to lung cancer. Take our word for it, it’s horrible.
Even if you don’t get lung cancer, smoking can complicate any other illnesses you might get and make things worse. Smoking is bad for your teeth too, and you can end up losing your teeth.
I will reach my one year anniversary on January 19th.
For anyone who is thinking about quitting but it seems to daunting, too hard, I highly recommend you check out The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It seems gimmicky I know, and I was skeptical too, but it works.
I was a pack and a half to 2 pack a day smoker and I quit overnight using that book. You *can *do it and it doesn’t have to be painful.
