I have been wanting to quit again ever since I lost a two year quit. I became complacent and fell for the idea that I could have just one cigarette on a
night out with friends. I was back to a pack a day within a month.
I kept setting quit dates, then I would watch them come and go...still smoking. I started smoking in my house, which made me so embarrased about the smell,
I stopped inviting people over. This time around, I felt like I had totally given up everything to smoking.
I herniated a disc in my neck a few weeks ago, and decided to go for the surgical solution. In doing research on this, I found that not only does smoking
hinder the ability to heal from this surgery (bones have to fuse together), but it may have played a big part in my having this problem in the first place.
My disc may not have herniated so badly, or at all, if I hadn't been robbing it of oxygen for the past 20 years (minus two quits that both lasted two
years).
I had surgery on Tuesday, so I had my last cigarette on Monday night. They offered me NRT in the hospital, but I don't believe in that, so I made this
my opportunity to quit. I love the fact that this website has the same opinion about NRT that I do!
I kind of feel like I'm cheating a little bit because I'm not dealing with life in a normal way. The first 48 hours of my quit were in the hospital,
where I had no choice. And I'm on medication, so I don't feel like I'm suffering withdrawl too badly. I'm sleeping a ton, which is how I
got through my first two quits...going to bed every time I had a bad craving. My main priorities right now are to sleep, eat, try to walk a little, and take
my meds. I have been having wicked smoking dreams all week, and I have been dealing with more cravings today than I did the first few days...even though I
should be out of the physical withdrawl phase. So, this is somewhat easier, but also not easier, if that makes any sense.
My other two quits were planned out well in advance. This one snuck up on me, and I only had 2 days to really decide to take advantage of the situation. I
was wondering how I'm going to do with this once I'm healed, I get back to work, and life gets back to normal when I remembered the girl at work who
has NTAP on a big sign in her cubical. I asked her what it meant once, and she told me about www.whyquit.com. I'm pleased to find the videos, and I watched them last night until I fell asleep (yay for laptop computers). I am really
holding on to the 72 hours...that now the cravings are all in my head and I would be taking a huge step backwards to put nicotine into my now nicotine free
body. This has helped me get through today.
So, here I am, healing in more ways than one, and making the commitment to not put nicotine into my body. I never want to take another puff!
B.
Quit Time: 3D 18h 45m

