My Six Year Anniversary off Cigarette's and Nicotine! I am No Longer Phillip Morriss' Bitch!!

Along Monday of this week (November 11th) being a day to celebrate our Veterans and the freedom they provide us, this is a really special day of the year for me. This is the "luckiest" day of my life. Six years ago today, I quit my 30 year addiction to cigarettes and nicotine! 11/11/07 is the day I got another chance. I had COPD, beginning stage emphysema and when the doctors told me in a matter of fact, flat out tone, "I...t's not IF you will get the oxygen tank, its WHEN and HOW BIG WILL IT BE?!" I KNEW they weren't kidding!! They did not nag me or tell me how bad cigarettes were for me as I already knew--I just COULD NOT quit! I had tired EVERYTHING and more than once!! Funny thing, a brand new method had come out and it was called Chantix......no one had heard any negative side effects, no one had even heard of it, including my own doctor!! I went to the stop smoking clinic at Kaiswer medical center and began getting the psychological habits and issues under control and had started on the patch. I had to "fail" the patch which was not all that hard....I could always get down to the first step but when I went down in milligrams and to the second step--FORGET IT!! I SMOKED! After I failed, I went on Chantix (the anti-quit, non- nicotine replacement medication) and prayed to GOD it would work! I did everything to ensure the odds were gonna be stacked in my favor: I sought on-line support, I blogged for a solid year (I needed something to do with my hands instead of hold onto a cigarette) and followed other people's on-line journies (A special shout out to the following sites and people: Maggie's Mind, Brandie Collins, Antonio R. Howell and a 78 year old holocaust survivor who encouraged me DAILY and told me about his time in the death camps and having to relinquish his old ideas that a cigarette meant comfort-- just for a second, the smell of a cigarette would take away the smell of the burning bodies in the camps) so young lady, "If Chantix worked for me, it will work for you ..... just believe!!" Its funny how people are placed in your life for a reason....I thank God every day that I am no longer a slave to nicotine or Phillip Morris' bitch! If you want to quit, all things in life are possible!! Just do it! If you blow it again, pick another plan and try it again!