the lucky one's

Here I am - 65 years old, look 75 and feel 85. Retired for ten years. Take heavy-duty medication for osteo-arthritis (constant pain in all joints). Dr says he's not trying to kill the pain - just take the edge off. Worked two labor-intensive jobs most of my life. Skipped meals and didn't eat right when I did eat. Smoked about 30 years till about 45.

Dr says the arthritis is from working - I just wore my body out. There is nothing that can be done, the cartilage is simply gone and can't replaced. My message is - Take care of yourself. Work smarter, not harder. Thinking back on it, those second jobs didn't get me anywhere. The more I made trying to give the kids the stuff they wanted didn't mean a thing. The more they got, the more they wanted. If I said "No", they'd just tell me how much they hated me till it was easier to keep working and not have to hear it. They tell me now that they love me but it's kind of late.

Not wanting sympathy. Just take the message to heart.

Originally Posted by Metalbestos

Mick , any tips or tricks to kicking smoking? I have slowed down but after meals and while driving I always seem to want to light up. Just Curious if you went cold turkey or gum,mints,patch,hypnosis . Idk I have been preparing myself for this day . Sadly I do enjoy smoking for some reason . I think it really helps settle my stomach after meals or if fighting some acid reflux .

Cold turkey. Woke up one morning and started going on the computer. Lit up and said "this is BS". Put it out and never lit up again. I didn't keep track of the date but it would have been around the end of 1995. Went against all the popular "tactics". Threw away the rest of that pack and the nine packs in the carton I'd just bought. Threw out all the ashtrays (although I found out years later the wife saved one - as a memento, I guess). Told the wife on condition she not make a fuss and never mention my quitting to me. No patches, gum, groups or that crap. Patches and gum are just another means of getting nicotine into your system. If you want to quit - then quit. I'd just bought my acreage where I wound up building our house. I treated myself to an expensive chain saw as soon as I figured I'd saved the price of it (over $700 in 1996). Kept telling myself that if I started smoking again, all I'd gone through to that point was for nothing and I'd go through it again to quit. One piece of advice - find something else to do for those "triggers" (times that you'd usually smoke). Like I told others - it had to be when I was ready to quit. People who kept harping at me just made me more determined to keep smoking.