We've come a long way, baby

Three Olympian staffers remain nonsmokers six months after deciding to quit

JIM CARLILE, THE OLYMPIAN

Feel that? It's the cilia regaining normal function in our lungs after several months without a cigarette.

Smell that? It's the lack of cigarette smoke fouling our clothes, homes and cars.

Taste that? It's subtle flavors we haven't been able to detect since we started smoking.

See that? It's another day crossed out on our calendar -- marking a milestone six months without smoking.

A project we started more than six months ago has yielded some interesting results, including better health.

Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath should have all decreased, and our lungs should be significantly cleaner since the last time we lit up.

Because we are all more or less smoke-free, we beat the odds. Seventy percent of smokers want to quit and 34 percent attempt to quit each year, according to the American Lung Association.

Methods such as the patch, nicotine gum, inhalers, hypnotherapy and prescription drugs have helped double the cessation rate between 1965 and 1995, yet only 2.5 percent of those who try to quit each year succeed. As of 1995, 48.6 percent of adults who had ever smoked had quit.

According to the American Lung Association, close to 350,000 Americans die of lung disease each year. It also contributes to the two leading causes of death -- heart disease and cancer. More than 30 million Americans are currently living with chronic lung disease.

Update

Here are the six-month journal entries from each of the participants:

- Name: Frieda Bush.

- Age: 43.

This is one of those times I would have left the building to have a smoke. It's late afternoon, I have to be at my grandson's daycare by 6 p.m., I'm missing a story for tomorrow's paper and I have at least one more meeting today -- that I'm not looking forward to.

The good news is, if I wasn't writing this column, the idea of smoking probably wouldn't have crossed my mind. I haven't smoked since Feb. 4.

I have been sorely tempted, particularly when I'm stressed, angry or sad.

I haven't given in. Instead, I've taken deep breaths, walked away, chewed gum, taken a nap -- anything but smoke.

I also got more than fresher breath out of the deal.

It turns out quitting smoking was just one part of a series of life changes that were set in motion by a nasty cough that wouldn't go away and my 43rd birthday. As I hacked and smoked on my back porch last December, I remember thinking, "I'm not happy and I don't want to die this way."

So just a couple of weeks after my smoking-cessation classes ended I joined a weight-loss program. I'm nearly 40 pounds lighter already.

And I've decided to apply for a legal name change, returning to my maiden name for the first time in 24 years.

I think stubbing out what I hope will be my last cigarette was really about starting a new healthier, happier chapter of my life.

But perhaps the most gratifying moment was when, as I headed out the door to walk my dog, my grandson asked me if I was going outside to smoke.

I hope he got the message when I said, "Grandma doesn't smoke anymore."

- Name: Amy (Uptmor) Carlile.

- Age: 27.

It's been more than six months since I had my last cigarette. I've gone longer without one, but it's never been this easy. In fact, I feel so detached from the habit that it sometimes strikes me as odd that I ever smoked.

The past six months haven't been stress-free. I planned and pulled off a wedding, for one thing. I'd be lying if I said that smoking never crossed my mind when dealing with wedding-related fiascoes, but I didn't do it, and that's the point.

Smoking always seems like such a good antidote to stress, and stress is ALWAYS a part of life, so the secret to quitting smoking, I think, is realizing that there'll never be an ideal time or place to kick the habit. You just have to do it anyway, and find some other way to deal with stress.

So how do I deal with stress now that I'm smoke-free? And how do I spend all that extra time that once was eaten up by cigarettes?

Several things have taken the place of smoking: For one, I walk all the time. Even if it's just around the block at work or home, I get up and get out. It's great. I also cook and bake, almost compulsively, which hasn't helped the weight gain that came with quitting smoking. But it keeps me busy, and it's fun. Finally, and most strangely, I've started flossing my teeth all the time. Yup, it's a weird habit, but it beats smoking any day.

I'm not trying to crow about my success (or my wonderfully clean teeth). I'm thrilled to know that quitting smoking can be a success story. I feel confident that I'll never again be a full-time smoker. I feel confident that quitting worked for me because I was passionate about doing so. The method I chose worked for me, and I was ready to make a change. And the support I received from friends and loved ones made all the difference.

This battle isn't over, but I'm winning, and it feels great.

- Name: Jim Carlile.

- Age: 24.

It has been more than six months since I went through hypnotherapy to quit smoking, and it has been less than five minutes since I last longed for a cigarette. The cravings haven't gone away.

Not long ago, the cravings got to be too much and I caved. After six months without so much as a puff, I went out and bought a pack of Winston Ultra Lights, brought them home and smoked one alone on the back porch.

There were dozens of ways to justify it. The one I latched onto was, "If quitting gets easier each time, why put myself through this misery? I'll start again and next time it won't be this bad."

After so much time without one, it was, and is, embarrassing how much time I spent thinking about them. No particular time was worse than any other. After meals, after a movie, around other smokers, in the car, on the phone -- all times I still associate with cigarettes.

One thing I tried to do in the beginning was convince myself that smoking was a filthy habit and I'd just have to always think it was. Trouble is, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at someone smoking and not thing, "I'd like one of those right now."

When I finally did smoke, I felt more guilt than pleasure.

The sensation of smoking was bizarre. I've had so many dreams about smoking in the past six months -- but the dreams were simply of me smoking. In more than one, I started crying the minute I inhaled -- as if reunited with a long, lost friend.

The ritual of tapping a single cigarette out of the pack, tasting the end of the filter with my tongue, lighting it and inhaling the first drag was more nostalgia than anything else. I got a bit lightheaded, as with the first time I ever smoked, realized how much I missed cigarettes then realized how it just wouldn't be worth it to start again.

I smoked six cigarettes in three days and haven't had another since.

But I'm not making any promises.

Jim Carlile writes for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0204 or jcarlile@olympia.gannett.com.

Smoking facts

- Every day in Washington, 65 young people start smoking. The average age of the smoker is 12.

- In 1998, 8,000 people died in Washington from tobacco and tobacco-related illness. Of those people, 290 of them are from Thurston County.

- Smoking is responsible for an estimated 12 percent of total medical costs in Washington -- that's $1.3 billion in health-care costs.

- Adults who smoke in Thurston County: 41,000.

Source: the American Lung Association of Washington and the Washington State Department of Health

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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