See I don't think these sort of posts actually work if you are a dedicated smoker. I think they help you focus if you have already quit. but I don't think they'll stop you smoking if you aren't in the place where you're ready to do it.
We've ALL seen terrible things, read terrible stories and still we went right on smoking. I watched my beloved father die of lung cancer when I was 14.5. He was "lucky" - it was quick. A few months and he had gone. A few months of watching him hang over the arm of a chair to try and drag oxygen down into the lung that was OK. A few weeks of watching the strongest man in my world, my God, my hero, become weak and to eventaully, one dreadful morning before I went to school, cry in my arms because he just COULDN'T get that breath. And years of thinking I glimpsed him walking down the street. Thinking I could hear him whistling just around the corner. Seeing his hands as he wraped his arms around me. (I could still tell you what his fingers were like I can see them so clearly.)
The pain has NEVER gone away. I can bury it - but still, probably the most dominant memories I have of my dad, are those last awful weeks. My counsellor has a theory that smoking breaks some kind of connection in a smokers brain so that those images, those adverts, those stories, just don't affect them any more. THAT I think, is an issue worth looking at. A problem to solve.
Meantime, thanks for the bump. It tells those of us who have strated on the journey why there is no going back.
S
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/10/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,795
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] �306
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 52