kiwijims wrote:

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I went to our quack the other day, my complaint was that I was loosing the feeling in my legs, they were as cold as charity from the knee down,

the result of a heap of tests is that I have lost 2/3's of the blood circulation to both legs.

this was blamed directly to my smoking over the last 50 years.

I now have to enter Hospital and have the veins in both legs opened up again

The quack said that I must give up smoking  Straight away or I might have to loose both legs,

well that was enough to scare the pants off me so, the doc stuck me on these nicotine patches,   

At first I didn't have any faith in what I called a new gimmick, but within two days I had cut my 25 smokes per day, down to 5 and today I haven't had one,

I must say, I am really surprised at how easily I found it to give up, whether it was the thought of loosing my legs, or did the patches do what they where supposed to do,  one thing I do know is that I seem to have a lot more cash in the pocket now, maybe I should have given up a long time back, we could have had a new caravan by now.

K.J. 

    

 

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 Good for you kiwijims. My father made sure I did not smoke as he smoked and was annoyed that something had power over him. He eventually gave it up. I am so grateful for his honesty AND to convince me to never try it.

 

Aussie Paul. 

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone,

I went and saw the "quack" again this afternoon, he was amazed at my reduction in blood pressure since I stopped smoking,

it was running at 150 over something, but today it was down to 131, anyway he was happy so I guess am as well,

next comes the operation, then if all goes well, I might throw out a walking challenge to all grey nomads. 

K.J.

 

    

" WOW" from 60 smokes per day zero, that's incredible Pam,

Your hubby sure deserves a big pat on the back for managing that,

after two days I am starting to feel the temptation returning,  but determination  ( hopefully )will see me through.

K.J.

kiwijims wrote:

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" WOW" from 60 smokes per day zero, that's incredible Pam,

Your hubby sure deserves a big pat on the back for managing that,

after two days I am starting to feel the temptation returning,  but determination  ( hopefully )will see me through.

K.J.

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Watching his Father die of lung cancer made him do it , I was very proud of him and the fact that he was never tempted again. i know it took a lot of willpower.  Several of his friends just couldn't do it but years later they did. they were the days when most people smoked. He chewed a lot of gum and lollies.

 

Sorry to hear about your legs KJ, but glad you are managing to kick the habit, keep at it.

I gave up at 37 (smoking 20 per day) and it is the best thing I ever did, can't stand the things now.

I had several earlier attempts but no patches around then (or all the health warnings they have today) tried not carrying a lighter or matches around with me at one time and this reduced it by a lot, surprising how often when I wanted a light nobody around me had one.

In the end, just went cold turkey, a bit hard to get along with for a few weeks while getting over the addiction but eventually started to get easier.    I would keep away from any group things (eg; bars or social gatherings) during this time in case I was tempted.

Hang in there KJ, if you can get over the worst of the withdrawal then it lessens and is worth the bad temper etc, eventually you will have to wean yourself off the patches also.

My heart specialist/surgeon was a smoker and eventually lung cancer got him, I was surprised a person who saw what he saw with blocked artery's etc smoked.   When he took your blood pressure he reeked with tobacco smell.

It is an evil substance and like any non prescribed or medicinal drugs needs to be avoided if possible with medical help.

Great news Kiwijims, and good luck with the legs op. You,ve made a good start hang in there.

Good luck with the smoking, my last one was last Dec just before my last operation on my right leg for blocked arteries. I found Champix was the easiest way to kick them and easy to give up again if you fall off the wagon, I was on and off for about 3yrs and could honestly kill for one now but I only get that feeling once or twice a day.

As far as the leg op's go they are usually painless, if it's a stent or balloon you'll be back on your feet the next day, partial artery replacement is only a little sore for a couple of days, DVT from 3 flights in one day to the bypass is absolute bloody agony - but after about 10 op's to the one leg in 3yrs, including a bypass to the bypass everything seems pretty good now.

You'll be right, my specialist has me checked every 6 months, just a treadmill test so they can check the blood pressure in your legs before and after then a simple Doppler to check for more problems, every time I get it done I need a new stent or something and you should get them to check your carotid artery while you are there, I did and ended up slit from ear to throat to clean all the muck out hahahaha ............... Better than a stroke I suppose and I'm only 57.

I've got an almost continuous scar from half way up my calf to next to my old feller from all the different ops but if you're still getting along ok you'll probably only need a balloon or stent so you'll be out in no time, just keep off the durrys.