Smoking Cessation: An Ordeal Requiring Motivation and Support

Smoking cessation is the process by which a person changes their behavior and body chemistry to lose their addiction to nicotine and quit smoking tobacco products. The smoking cessation process requires motivation, a change in lifestyle and attitude, and sometimes, drugs and medical help.

Smoking affects a person's heart, lungs, brain and nervous system. Many people use smoking to reduce their appetite, to attain calm, sleep better and sometimes to make social contact. Smokers not only affect their own health, they affect the health of their families and friends.

My dad smoked for most of his life. He has had two heart bypasses. During his last bypass surgery, he had a heart attack on the operating table. Post-surgery, he came down with pneumonia and spent a week or more in the University of Washington hospital in intensive care. I visited him during this time and one night, my husband and I showed up while the nurse was clearing the fluid out of my dad's lungs so he didn't drown. He used a syringe that looked quite a bit like a large turkey baster to suction the fluid and then dump it into a pan. While I watched him do this, I noticed the fluid was milky but tainted with dark gray. I asked the nurse, "is that from smoking?" The answer was yes. I was horrified. At the moment, my dad is living day to day with congestive heart failure-a condition in which fluid builds up around his heart and makes it difficult for the heart to pump.

At the time my dad had his last bypass, my fiancé - now my husband - smoked. He, too, was horrified and disbelieving that so much smoke remained in the lungs. It helped I think, that his doctor found a spot on his lungs that looked like potential emphysema or cancer. He also had recently divorced his first wife who smoked. His son offered him $1,000 to quit smoking and later paid it to us by doing work on our property. I refused to allow smoking in the house. I also told him that I wasn't going to marry a dead man. Lucky for me, he realized I was serious. All of these things provided the motivation for him to quit smoking.