I am 75 years old. I can't believe it myself. On October 20th, I decided to quit smoking cigarettes. I did this because I was up for my Annual Lung CT Scan. This annual event always brings home the idea that this might be the year. Well, I escaped again--no problems. I'm lucky. I'm active, healthy, (I think)) and feel like I can do the things I have always done--however, before the CT Scan and its results, I really began to think about the physical danger I was courting, every time I lit up. I've smoked for most of my life. So why quit now? I can tell you only that I was a closet smoker ( hiding from everyone, and deluding myself), and I really couldn't stop thinking about dying in a hospital, gasping for breath, or worse, living the rest of my life, hauling an oxygen apparatus around with me--stuck on a porch. Anyway, I quit on October 20th. I'm not even close to being out of the woods on this thing at all. Surprisingly, I've had it good so far--only one day of constant craving. To cope, I've been playing my guitar,( I used to stick a lit butt between the strings and the tuners) and continuing to learn how to play the piano, I play golf, so I'm safe there--no body I play with smokes ( one does chew--yuck), walk my 10,000 steps per day, and pray--yes, I actually pray to God, although I wouldn't consider myself much of a Christian, and hope I can beat this. It ain't easy. If there's anyone out there, who's around my age, who'd like to be a pal and a fellow quitter, I'd love to hear from you. I know I'm going to need some help.
