I quit in Feb of 1987, just four months before my mother died of emphysema, several years after my father died of a heart attack. She was never able to quit, not even after she was hooked up to oxygen. (She once almost blew herself up by lighting up while wearing the plastic tubes; she had burn marks above her upper lip.) She was on oxygen and in & out of hospitals and using a "nebulizer" for the last 7-8 years of her life. I had been a smoker for 18 years by the time I quit, usually about a pack a day. I had acupuncture for the first few days, from a guy who specialized in acupuncture to help wean people from their addictions. It helped me through the worst few days, and I was so amazed and impressed that I refused to backslide after that.

I knew a few things before I quit: That I was well and truly addicted and that if I ever had one cigarette, I was caving in completely; that cigarettes had often been my best friend (I spent one entire acupuncture session with tears rolling down my cheeks); there was something else, but I've forgotten it just now. Anyway I wish everyone all the luck in the world with this, it isn't easy. But it is worth it, for everyone who loves you. Loving smokers and having to bury them too young is just a rotten thing to go through. And it's nice to regain a sense of smell, and decent lungpower.