Frustration and the long wait

Hi Ladies,

I've come to the conclusion that I am the only one left in the world that smokes. I am 41 years old and have been smoking since I was 12. Now it's not that I am proud that I smoke, I'm well aware that it is bad for me and socially unacceptable. I'm 2 days pre surgery, I was supposed to stop a week before and I am failing miserably at this. I wasn't smart enough to get angry and say if you want me to stop do something to help me with the cravings. is anyone else having this kind of problem?

Hi,
No you are not the only one left the smokes, I tried to quit the other day, matter of fact I even posted on here that I threw my cigarettes away, which I did, but I went and got more! I am so angry with myself. I wake up coughing really bad after I have had laps, and I did not want to be in that boat when I go in 2-24 for tah, bso and appendectomy I have 13 days to go, and I keep praying to god to give me the strength to quit! I also want to quit because I will be going on estrogen after surgery and dont want to be smoking because of the risks of blood clots, with the two combined, I am 44 and have been smoking since I was 20, foolish me! I will pray for you to gain the strength to quit, as I am for myself. Best of Wishes for your surgery!
~keep the faith~

If you do a search you'll probably find a whole bunch of posts about this, as well as one that says if you haven't quit a week ahead it's not good to stop right before. Something about mucus buildup, I believe. You might want to talk to your doctor about this.

You aren't a failure. You were given an extremely difficult task. Of course you know all the stuff about it not being good for you and you being at higher risk for problems with anesthesia because of it. But those statistics aren't THAT high and at this point you may as well not worry about it. I don't mean to say that I think you should smoke like a chimney from now until they wheel you in . . .but you certainly can be forgiven and understood for what you're going through.

Good luck getting to the other side. It's almost over!

Joselle

You aren't the only smoker out there! I too am a smoker and in March I go to a hypnotist to try and break this habit once and for all. Nothing has worked for me. I had a cig. on my way to the hospital and when I was released less than 30 hours later, I had another one on the way home. My dr. told me that the addiction to smoking is worse than almost every other drug out there...mostly because while society has been changing their attitudes about smoking, it was a very accepted and "cool" thing. Especially when you and I started over 20 years ago. Just think about how many people out there are addicts for over 20 years. For me it is an emotional crutch as well as an addiction. I know how you feel. Try not to kick yourself too much....quitting is very, very hard. I am sure that you like myself have tried numerous times to quit...and still I smoke. I wish you luck!! Hope all goes well for you and see you on the other side!

Thank You Ladies, I don't feel so alone in this right now.

You are definitely not alone. I am scheduled for TAH on 2/19/03 and have been saying for weeks that I want to stop prior to my surgery. Then I use the cop out that I am too stressed to try and deal with quitting smoking right now. I kind of think that the only way I will stop is to be in the hospital where I absolutely have no choice but not to smoke. If I am in the hospital 4-5 days and without a cigarette, hopefully I can keep it up when I come home.
Good luck to you and all the other smokers.
See you on the other side
Ljean

Another smoker here, started at 12 and I'm now 42. Up until 2 months ago I was smoking at least 1.5 packs per day. I'd been wanting to quit, but was unable to begin it, and since my husband smokes, it was preferable for us both to quit.
Since my cancer dx, I've been tapering back slowly.

My first goal was to get to less than 1 pack & I managed to do 15 cigs per day for a couple weeks. One day I only smoked 12, and that became my new goal. Each morning I count out the number of smokes for that day.

Yesterday I only smoked 11 and that (or less) will be my goal today.

It is so, so hard to quit. Not only do we have the physical addiction, but also the emotional/mental one.

I am forcing myself to be conscious of when I smoke, and when I get a craving I distract myself if it's not "time" for that cig. At the end of the day, I congratulate myself for meeting my goal.

I don't take them with me when I run errands. I don't smoke for 30-45 minutes before or after I exercise. I used to reach for a cigarette whenever I got stressed, but now I'm getting so much better about not doing that, in this most stressful of times for me.

I'm working on my final goals for before the actual quit day. Maybe only after meals, or cutting out the last of the day or something. I would like to totally stop a week or more before surgery (March 4), but don't know how realistic that is for me. If I can get down to 5 or less, I'll be happy.

Anyway, these things are working for me, maybe they'll help you. Best of luck.

That sounds very much like what I've done. I guess I was upset because I wasn't able to do everything my DR demanded that I do before surgery. This has been so long in the making I don't want to tip the boat and have the surgery canceled at the last moment. (I know, just a little paranoia there) I kept working as close to the surgery date as I could. I tried to go the cold turkey route, but between the normal demented demands of work and my co-workers and friends pretty much teasing me about having to quit. By 4 that after noon I was out in the car smoking crying and hating my life. By the time I got home and screamed at my DH for a while he insisted I do something resonable. Like limit my smoking. That helped. I didn't do what the DR wanted, and I'm not going to tell him.