written a week before i quit smoking for the final time and originally posted on november 12, 2001; in it, i introduce myself to the other members of the american lung association's freedom from smoking online program.

introduction

2008 December 26

my name is kevin, and i've been smoking for 35 years. i found out today that i have emphysema. when i got back from the doctor's office, i went online to see what i could find out about emphysema, and ended up here (the american lung association's "freedom from smoking" program online).

every time i've had "just one" after being smoke-free for a period of time, i've gone back to smoking a pack a day in a day or two. so i guess my challenge is "staying quit".

i've quit smoking a number of times (the longest time for nearly three years after going through a program called "smokenders" back in the 80s), but, apparently like a lot of people on this board, i've been foolish enough to think that i could smoke "just one" or "occasionally"...

wrong. every time i've had "just one" after being smoke-free for a period of time, i've gone back to smoking a pack a day in a day or two. so i guess my challenge is "staying quit".

before leaving my doctor's office this morning, i asked him to put me on zyban (i have a friend at work that used it to successfully quit smoking recently) and he wrote me a prescription for it.

i intend to become a non-smoker again a week from today. the zyban should help with the physical part of this, but, as everyone who's ever quit knows, that's just the tip of the iceberg. i'm hoping this program will help me find ways of coping with the rest of it.

3 responses leave one →
  1. 2004 May 4
    rosspink permalink

    Hey Kevin have just read your post, and all I can say is gosh you have come so far and done so well in your fight for freedom... CONGRATULATIONS...

  2. 2005 October 13
    anonymous permalink

    hey kevin i know what u mean i have quit smoking know three times in the last three months i think i will smoke just one and then thats it a pack a dayagain i quit again the 23rd of sept2005

  3. 2008 December 26

    note: these comments were left on the original tale on the dates indicated.

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