Stop smoking (again)

New target quit date: January 4, 2010.

He’s been making a concerted effort to cut back, and is now down to 4 cigarettes a day. He even restrained himself earlier and didn’t have one when I had one. I have to say, the whole thing was quite unexpected – and he’s doing really well.

It’s just the timing, that’s all.

While the stress at work isn’t going anywhere (understatement of the year), I think I can probably deal with it now that the initial shock is past. However, the period junk that’s come up this week isn’t helping one bit. Apparently, the pain pills make me want to smoke more. So…hopefully next week I will really start working on this goal. The week after at the latest.

_{I do sincerely hope, anyway. I’m tired of the nasty little surprises my body’s been cooking up…}

It’s been confirmed now that I am allergic to tobacco. This weekend, R has seen for himself – as stuffy as I am ordinarily, I get doubly so (and hack my head off, lately) whenever I or anyone else is smoking. So we’re going to quit, most likely by the end of the year.

Of course, I don’t know how we’re going to handle smoky social functions – parties, concerts, cons, and the like. I’ve proven with the last few that such events set off my allergies in a huge way – month-long illnesses and such. I hate to say it, but I may be done with them. It’s not worth it to me to get sick every time I go to one.

I’m unable to say for certain whether or not the smoking contributed to my current cold, but I can’t deny that I spent the weekend surrounded by more smoke than usual…and here I am, sick again.

I realize that quitting before con sets me up for failure, though. So after con (the end of next month), I will try again. I have the lozenges already; I’m going to try that route and see where it gets me. If it fails, I’m prepared to take up the Chantix again (though I do dread the side effects).

but this time, it’s a little more manageable. I fell down that slippery slope of “just one”...which turned to two, then four, and now I’m up to half a pack a day again. But considering I was smoking a pack and a half a day when I quit last fall, I do feel I’ve made progress!