[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]
3/30/24
Aloha Everybody --
Our fun guests left Tuesday evening and it has seemed awfully quiet since then. Of course, we've kept busy with house and personal projects, but we kind of miss being on the tourist circuit. Our visit to the volcano area, which we haven't seen ourselves in quite a while, was interesting as always even though Pele is taking a deep snooze at the moment. The rest of the trip around the island was likewise interesting, though it is quite a drive, far more than most tourists expect,
On Monday I passed a very significant personal milestone. It was my 30th anniversary of quitting smoking! As promised by the anti-smoking campaigns, my appetite returned, my sense of smell increased,
I never got sick again, my hair grew back, my hangnails disappeared, I was able to bench-press 600 pounds, I became immensely popular, smart, and rich. Well, maybe not all those, but after a year or two I definitely felt better, and my risk of lung cancer has declined almost to that of a non-smoker. Of course, no one mentioned emphysema..... This year's anniversary is more significant than usual, because it marks the crossover point from years smoked to years not-smoked, Believe it or not, I smoked a total of 40 years, starting when I was ten years old! It's been 30 years since I quit, and 30 added to my 10 years of childhood innocence makes 40 smoke-free years, Each day from now on will add to my smoke-free time and a celebratory excess over the smoking total. Note, however, that I am likely to die before I can claim more consecutive smokeless than smoking years. Sheesh. Youth is definitely wasted on the young!
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My recovery from my newest retina vein occlusion continues to be frustratingly slow. I'm eager to get another shot, scheduled for 2 weeks from Tuesday. If it seems to be getting worse I may have to make an earlier appointment, even though that would mean being treated by someone other than my regular doc.
On Thursday we managed to get back to the gym for a light workout, followed by an antidote of salt and cholesterol at Taco Bell. Sure wish the stuff that is bad for you didn't taste so good! We attempted to go to the driving range at Makalei on Friday but got rained out. We may try again tomorrow or Monday. I'd sure like to get back to whacking that little ball, though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to see where it goes with my current eye problems.
We got a proposal for replacing the pool solar heating system this week, and even though it is a bit more than we expected, we are likely to go ahead with it. The work will include adding two more panels to the system. This adds to the cost, of course, but it will also bump up the system's heating capacity. The project will also include replacing all the old valves and gauges that control and monitor the system, something that might preempt problems in the future. Now the next question will be how long we will have to wait before the work actually gets done. Things tend to move a bit slowly here in near-paradise.
Ok, that's it for the week. Off to market and picnic. Hope you are well and in good enough shape to handle the upcoming election campaign! If not, now is the time to buy some good earplugs and blinders...body armor and a helmet might be a good idea, too, just in case rhetoric becomes reality.
8 comments:
Congratulations on your smoke-free years! I miss having fun on the Big Island with you and Karen.
A big congratulations on quitting smoking! So many of your brain’s formative years were spent with the smoke. I would think that would have made it tougher to quit. I am impressed. I quit at age 34 after having smoked for 19 years. I didn’t feel any different but I’m sure I did myself a lot of good. And I saved money. My 46 year old stepson smokes. I tried to get him to at least think about quitting when I told him that the population of women he might be attracted to and who would go for him is much smaller than if he was smoke-free. So many women won’t go past the first date when they smell the smoke. He is quite the lady’s man so I think it made an impression, but still no dice.
What I hate about being a former smoker is having to answer that medical question every year about “have you ever smoked” and having to say yes after over 40 years of being smoke free. It is like having a ball & chain to carry around forever. I repeat, I hate it.
Thanks for these thoughtful comments! Quitting was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was truly addicted, to the point that even though I would stop with every intention of quitting for good, I'd have a panic attack if cigarettes weren't around. I started when my older sisters experimented with tobacco -- our parents smoked at the time and it was easy to filch a cigarette or two. Pressure and stress in college and during my career contributed to the allure of smoking. Anyway, I'm very sympathetic to anyone who is still smoking these days -- it is very likely they'd quit if they could, and I encourage them to take advantage of the many more options for support that are available now than back in my time.
SimoneStan, I feel the same way. I do medical coding now (getting ready to retire soon) and “smoker” or “ former smoker” we are required to code. If neither true, it is assumed “never smoked.” What kills me is drug use, abuse, or dependence (and alcohol) are not routinely coded except in certain circumstances. Also, obesity is not coded if it is on the patient’s problem list. It is only coded if the doc specifically documents it during the current visit. Go figure!
Richard Sherman, there is a special place in my heart for children who smoke, for obvious reasons. I think a 10 year old smoker was pretty common back in the day, more horrifying (and rare) now. Parents just didn’t know. Heck, they showed doctors smoking on TV commercials! My brother started smoking when he was 29 yrs. What’s up with that? He was heavily addicted for the rest of his life. He died at age 61 (cause was not related to smoking…it was an occupational injury).
Well done, Richard! My father lived to be 96 and smoked most of his life. Go figure! He could have started with corn silks in his teens and soon continued with tobacco until near the end. With doctors always telling him to stop, he outlived two pacemakers, but lung cancer eventually did do him in. Imagine all the second hand smoke I inhaled growing up; all of us, actually, surrounded by smokers everywhere. My mother smoked in her adult years, but had the wisdom to quit when she was pregnant with me, and not start again. She lived to be 107. Referring to Coleen's observation regarding her stepson's apparent choice of smoking over female companionship, what a clear indication of the strength of nicotine's addiction.
Yes, congratulations on your non-smoking anniversary! I'm just about at the break-even point, and I totally agree with you, the hardest thing I have ever done. My dad is like many others, could not kick it even though he DID get sober from alcohol. So many addictive substances! (and these days others, evidently stronger).
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