I’ve been a smoker for quite some time. About a year ago I decided quiting was someting I should do.
I started the mental process of quiting. I started reading about the effects of it, how bad it is for you, doing the math on how much money I spend on cigarettes, etc, etc. I also started cutting down. I used to smoke more then two packs a day but this last year I’ve been keeping under a pack a day.
I put off on a quit date because, well, I really enjoy smoking. I also figured a time would come which would make quiting easier then just picking a date out of the blue and trying to stop on that day.
So two weeks ago I learned I needed surgery on my nose, sinus and various other parts in that area of my head. I’m told recovery from the surgery is going to be 8 to 10 fun filled days of pain and discomfort. The good news, the doctor is more then happy to provide plenty of behind the counter releif.
This is it. This is just what I’ve been looking for to quit smoking. A major distraction.
I had my surgery last tuesday at 11:30 am.
I smoked my last cigarette last tuesday at 8:50am. In the waiting room of the hospital at 9:00am I handed an almost full pack of cigarettes to my wife and said “do me a favour, throw these away for me”. She was thrilled.
Not smoking tuesday was easy. I was so messed up from surgery, even if I didn’t quit I don’t think I would have smoked any cigarettes.
Wed and Thurs were not too bad. There were a few times I had the urge to smoke but being really messed up on pain killers made for a great distraction. I’ve also been sucking on nicotine gum and have the patch to take the needed edge off.
So today I wake up. Oddly my face doesn’t hurt at first. In fact, it felt pretty good as long as I didn’t touch it. I hold off on my pain meds for a bit because it’s nice to have a few minutes of clear thinking. I also hold off on the gum or putting on a patch just to see how it goes.
The first two hours are ok. I’m sort of craving a cigarette but I’m not really bouncing off the walls. After being up and semi-mobile the pain in my face kicks in doubletime and I have to take some pain killers. Within an hour I’m sucking on a piece of gum as well.
Now, I figure I’m already over the big hump of quitting. I’m at the end of my 4th day and I’m doing pretty good.
Mentally, the thought of lighting up a cigarette doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m happy I haven’t smoked in 4 days and it feels good to be away from all that.
But I know I’m not out of the woods yet.
For those that have quit smoking, how long did it take for you to loose the physical craving? I’m not taking about the mental “habit”, but the physical addiction itself.