My name is Sherry. I am 64 years old. When I was a teenager I started smoking. I quit when I was 56. My doctor at the time told me that 50% of the people with the severity of lung disease that I have will die within two years.I decided right then, that was not going to be me. I wrote this a few years ago and thought I would share it with you today.
I share this in hopes it may help someone decide to quit smoking too. I want to reach out to you that are still smoking. No judgement from me. I smoked for 42 years and I know how hard it is to quit. I would get mad at my family when they would tell me how bad it was and that it was killing me. I thought to myself, I’m not an idiot, I know it’s bad but I love it. It calms me down, I enjoy it and I know I can never quit. Way too hard. That is the addiction talking. It makes you think you love it, need it, want it and can’t quit but you can.
I watched my mom die from COPD in 1999. My brother and I were smokers at the time. Neither us read up on the disease and let ourselves believe it wouldn’t happen to us. I lived in denial.
I worked at a physical job on my feet all day, hardly ever stopping just going , going, going for a 10 hr shift 4 x a week. I would have to go to the bathroom and try to get my breathing under control. I did pursed lip breathing before I even knew what it was because I found it helped me. I always had a cough and my allergies were bad. What I didn’t know was smoking was making mucus thicker and making me get sick often. When coworkers caught a cold and theirs would be gone in a week, I would catch it every time and it would take a month or more to feel better.
Again what I didn’t know was each time this happened it was Progressing my disease, I denied I even had. I let myself believe it was “only” asthma. Until at the age of 56 I ended up in the hospital with respiratory failure and put on oxygen. Later I was diagnosed at stage 4, COPD with 28% lung function. That was when I quit.
The hardest part really is… making up your mind to do it. With the help of nicotine patches and the desire to do it, I was able to quit. I was actually shocked at how easy the patches made it for me, a 42 year heavy smoker to do. After 2 weeks I didn’t even need them anymore. Every time I even thought of smoking, had a craving, a desire to have a cigarette, I reminded myself of the reason I was quitting and to tell myself I could not allow myself to take even one puff. That I wanted to not get sick as much, breathe better and live longer.
Now I can’t believe how bad people’s clothes smell and their homes are horrible smelling too. To think I smelled that bad at one time is hard to imagine.
I feel better now. I certainly can breathe better and I don’t get sick as much either. No one can make you stop. I only hope by sharing my story with you and others that it might put just a little bit of desire in someone’s heart and just enough of confidence to know you can break those chains and live a better life. It feels so good to break those chains of addiction. You will be proud of yourself and your family will be proud of you too. Don’t wait until oxygen tubing is put on your face to quit like me. You can do it.
Peace, Love and Happiness….
My name is Sherry. I am 64 years old. When I was a teenager I started smoking. I quit when I was 56. My doctor at the time told me that 50% of the people with the severity of lung disease that I have will die within two years.I decided right then, that was not going to be me. I wrote this a few years ago and thought I would share it with you today.
I do it in hopes it may help someone decide to quit smoking too. I want to reach out to you that are still smoking. No judgement from me. I smoked for 42 years and I know how hard it is to quit. I would get mad at my family when they would tell me how bad it was and that it was killing me. I thought to myself, I’m not an idiot, I know it’s bad but I love it. It calms me down, I enjoy it and I know I can never quit. Way too hard. That is the addiction talking. It makes you think you love it, need it, want it and can’t quit but you can.
I watched my mom die from COPD in 1999. My brother and I were smokers at the time. Neither us read up on the disease and let ourselves believe it wouldn’t happen to us. I lived in denial.
I worked at a physical job on my feet all day, hardly ever stopping just going , going, going for a 10 hr shift 4 x a week. I would have to go to the bathroom and try to get my breathing under control. I did pursed lip breathing before I even knew what it was because I found it helped me. I always had a cough and my allergies were bad. What I didn’t know was smoking was making mucus thicker and making me get sick often. When coworkers caught a cold and theirs would be gone in a week, I would catch it every time and it would take a month or more to feel better.
Again what I didn’t know was each time this happened it was Progressing my disease, I denied I even had. I let myself believe it was “only” asthma. Until at the age of 56 I ended up in the hospital with respiratory failure and put on oxygen. Later I was diagnosed at stage 4, COPD with 28% lung function. That was when I quit.
The hardest part really is… making up your mind to do it. With the help of nicotine patches and the desire to do it, I was able to quit. I was actually shocked at how easy the patches made it for me, a 42 year heavy smoker to do. After 2 weeks I didn’t even need them anymore. Every time I even thought of smoking, had a craving, a desire to have a cigarette, I reminded myself of the reason I was quitting and to tell myself I could not allow myself to take even one puff. That I wanted to not get sick as much, breathe better and live longer.
Now I can’t believe how bad people’s clothes smell and their homes are horrible smelling too. To think I smelled that bad at one time is hard to imagine.
I feel better now. I certainly can breathe better and I don’t get sick as much either. No one can make you stop. I only hope by sharing my story with you and others that it might put just a little bit of desire in someone’s heart and just enough of confidence to know you can break those chains and live a better life. It feels so good to break those chains of addiction. You will be proud of yourself and your family will be proud of you too. Don’t wait until oxygen tubing is put on your face to quit like me. You can do it. Peace, Love and Happiness….
