Well then there was 3

[beatingthis]

I think we are the only 3 left on here! There not knocking on the door to get here are they? lol

Had a tuff one today for some reason. All day.

I still and trying to see waht 500 cigs lined up in a row would look like! And me with no matches LOL!!

Just kidding!

Terry

[kathyjo]

Hi Terry,
It's funny how, once we decide to quit, we want to get every aspect of smoking out of our lives, as quickly as we can, but what we don't realize is that we need to mourn the loss.

This article helped me understand:

My Cigarette, My Friend?
"How do you feel about a friend who has to go everywhere with you? Not only does he tag along all the time, but since he is so offensive and vulgar, you become unwelcome when with him. He has a peculiar odor that sticks to you wherever you go. Others think both of you stink.

He controls you totally. When he says jump, you jump. Sometimes in the middle of a blizzard or storm, he wants you to come to the store and pick him up. You would give your spouse hell if he or she did that to you all the time, but you can't argue with your friend. Sometimes, when you are out at a movie or play he says he wants you to go stand in the lobby with him and miss important scenes. Since he calls all the shots in your life, you go. Your friend doesn't like your choice of clothing either. Instead of politely telling you that you have lousy taste, he burns little holes in these items so you will want to throw them out. Sometimes, he tires of the furniture and gets rid of it too. Occasionally, he gets really nasty and decides the whole house must go.

He gets pretty expensive to support. Not only is his knack of property destruction costly, but you must pay to keep him with you. In fact, he will cost you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. And you can count on one thing, he will never pay you a penny in return.

Often at picnics you watch others playing vigorous activities and having lots of fun doing them. But your friend won't let you. He doesn't believe in physical activity. In his opinion, you are too old to have that kind of fun. So he kind of sits on your chest and makes it difficult for you to breathe. Now you don't want to go off and play with other people when you can't breathe, do you?

Your friend does not believe in being healthy. He is really repulsed by the thought of you living a long and productive life. So every chance he gets he makes you sick. He helps you catch colds and flu. Not just by running out in the middle of the lousy weather to pick him up at the store. He is more creative than that. He carries thousands of poisons with him which he constantly blows in your face. When you inhale some of them, they wipe out cilia in your lungs which would have helped you prevent these diseases.

But colds and flu are just his form of child's play. He especially likes diseases that slowly cripple you—like emphysema. He considers this disease great. Once he gets you to have this, you will give up all your other friends, family, career goals, activities—everything. You will just sit home and caress him, telling him what a great friend he is while you desperately gasp for air.

But eventually your friend tires of you. He decides he no longer wishes to have your company. Instead of letting you go your separate ways, he decides to kill you. He has a wonderful arsenal of weapons behind him. In fact, he has been plotting your death since the day you met him. He picked all the top killers in society and did everything in his power to ensure you would get one of them. He overworked your heart and lungs. He clogged up the arteries to your heart, brain, and every other part of your body. In case you were too strong to succumb to this, he constantly exposed you to cancer causing agents. He knew he would get you sooner or later.

Well, this is the story of your "friend," your cigarette. No real friend would do all this to you. Cigarettes are the worst possible enemies you ever had. They are expensive, addictive, socially unacceptable, and deadly. Consider all this and NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF"!
Joel Spitzer

Hope you find it as helpful as I did/do : )

[beatingthis]

Ok I will do the 2 weeks on the 14mg. then 2 weeks on the 7 mg.

I was thinking that if it takes 3 days to nicotine to leave the body, then it should take 3 days to get down to the level of the patch you are on.

Just over thinking I guess lol

Terry

[kathyjo]

A word of caution Terry. There is a reason for the step down and the duration of the patch and I strongly recommend that you do the full course. We have had a few on the board here that tried cutting corners and it didn't work out quite how they thought it would.
I'm glad to hear your husband is doing well!

[beatingthis]

Better so far today. Hubby is slowly getting better. I will not pick them up again.
My husband is my money persone. Everyday he tells me how much we saved.
EVERYDAY lol!

So Monday I am going to drop to 7 mg. I want off. Not bad for a girl who smoked 2 packs a day. So in 2 weeks I will be off everything.

T

[kathyjo]

Terry, congrats on your week! In no time, a week turns into 2, then 3 and then a month. You will look back at your early posts and see the changes from day to day and you will notice that the "bad days" happen less and less : )
If you want to see desperation, go back to my early posts : ) We (Jade & I ) have been around for a while now, Jade was there to support me when I first quit and has been there throughout. If you read her early posts and compare them to this quit, you will see a huge difference. You will probably be able to put your finger on the time when we finally "got it." It's that "AHA" moment that makes it all worth while : )

Hang in there Terry!
---
1y 7m 3w 2:02 smoke-free, 13,180 cigs not smoked, $3,163.20 saved, 1m 2w 1d 18:20 life saved

[Jade59]

In fact, Terry, I can say with certainty that I Never had a single great day when I was smoking.  I felt terrible!  I have chronic pain and smoking really made me feel so much worse.  I smoked since 14 and quit for the first time, 2yrs ago.  I made it only 3mos before I started to cheat and a little less than a year before I gave up the fight and began smoking full time.  

It didn't take long for me to start feeling like **** again, but uh-oh, now I'm hooked!?!  What to do?   Keep on smoking is what we do :(  That's what happens when you start thinking you can have "just one" so the moral of the story is...Never Take Another Puff!!!

That post that Kathy Jo drug over from whyquit?  That's exactly what happened to me and I won't let it happen again, 'cause I feel way too good not smoking and am learning new ways to deal with stress.  Other people deal with stress and they don't smoke and I can do it too and so can you!
---
1m 4d 18:52 smoke-free, 520 cigs not smoked, $143.00 saved, 1d 19:20 life saved

[Jade59]

If you wonder what 500 would look like, take a look at Kathy Jo's meter.  Maybe close to 15,000 by now.  Can you imagine?  

Sorry you're having a bad day.  I have those too :(  Not every day is like that though so try to keep that in mind.  The bad days get fewer and farther between and that's one of the thoughts that keeps me going.  Today was a Great day!  I can't say I've had a great day in over a year and I Love that I don't smoke!  I had a fleeting thought today about lighting up, but it didn't last long.  I'm just so happy not to smoke, I'm practically gleeful, lol...

People come and go here.  Happy to see them go because hopefully, they've got what they came here for and are now non-smokers.  Just like you and me! :)

Hahaha...Bad Joke! Bad Terry!  Hang in there, you're doing really really well!