Yes, I am a smoker..........or was!
I was advised that I should stop smoking to enhance my recovery after surgery. It is advisable to quit smoking at any time, but for those of you that smoke, or used to smoke, it is a difficult thing to do.
It is breaking both an addiction and a habit. The habit is the hardest thing to break, IMHO. The nicotine cravings actually leave the body after three days. It is all the other chemicals that are harder to withstand the cravings. But he habit is more difficult to break for me.....the cigarette after dinner, the cigarette on the way to work, the hand to mouth movement etc.
Still, I am doing ok. It is not easy, but I am just over a week without a cigarette now. I am using a vape to take the edge off. There are mixed views about vaping, but I think there is a consensus it it better than smoking. It is definitely cheaper!!!!! £15 for a packet of cigarettes, the savings are definitely a helping motivation.
There will be a lot of changes in my life from here in, so this is the first significant change. I need to prove to myself that I can adapt - soon, with a kidney removed, I will have dietary changes and many other previously normal things will be sacrificed on the cancer alter.
So this is the first significant lifestyle change..........and probably the most difficult. But if I can do this (and I will), I will prove to myself that I will be able to adapt to the other changes that are to come.
