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Hello my dear friends at OBGYN.net,

It has been quite some time since I’ve sat here and wrote Reflections and to tell you the truth I have missed it. I guess I thought no one read them or whatever and so I just stopped. But I have found that I miss you more then perhaps you have missed me…. The truth of the matter is I have I found I really enjoyed writing this column and have Missed You.

I think you all have figured out by the title just what I am going to write about today. I know I am not the only woman that smokes and I am not the only woman that would like to quit but I do have the ear of many of you and so I am taking it upon my little old self to be a spokes-woman for those of us who would truly like to quit this dastardly habit

I met Dr. James Carter, (in person) at the Chronic Pelvic Pain Symposium in Hartford CT and we were busy each day doing Video interviews for that section of OBGYN.net. I have to confess here that I did read his CV when he sent it to me and I did see that among other medical areas he is involved in is a program for Smoking Cessation…. I thought about the fact that I smoke and I Know Better! I wondered if he knew…. Well it’s sure hard to keep a non-smoker from smelling That Smell isn’t it? I decided to fess up and share with him the secret that I can’t find a way to stop. I asked him if he would do a Video with me on this topic and he most graciously said yes.

Dr. Carter is a sensible, kind, caring physician and not the type of man to give you a lecture on the evils of anything so I felt very comfortable talking about this with him. The out-takes on the Video were hysterical but those are for a later viewing. I do hope you will watch this Video and listen to what he has to say and play it over again whenever you feel that you may be coming closer to the big day called, "Quitting". We are going to leave this up for awhile as I think there are many of us that will gain the strength from his words to give it a go and at least try.

I have been smoking on and off for many years but over the past three years it’s more on then off. I have used up just about every excuse I can come up with for why I do it and now I am admitting I’m Hooked. It’s a stinky, rotten habit that sneaks up on us and before too long we are hooked, Big Time.

I am Not going to get into all the things I could do with the money I would save by not buying cigarettes because someone that is addicted doesn’t even care about that, do we? I am going to try and quit for the reasons Dr. Carter speaks about in our interview; I need to do everything I can to guarantee that I will live many more years and be a valuable contributor to this little world I live in. To insure that I won’t get lung cancer when there was no real reason for me to get it. To insure that I can use my lungs to breathe with when I’m 99 and not have them clogged up and unable to function.

Well enough of my lecture on this topic………It Won’t be easy. It will be Very Difficult. I may not accomplish my goal but I am going to try. I called my Ob/Gyn today and made an appointment to see him for Wellbutin and look into Biofeedback as soon as I return from ACOG next week. I am seriously going to TRY and quit. I have come to hate it and so for me it looks like it’s the perfect time to stop. I have sure run out of excuses for why I can’t quit haven’t I? No broken leg, no nothing to Blame it on just hooked I guess.

I have shared so much of my personal life with all of you and now I have shared my last secret (oh maybe there are one or two others but I’m passing on those J). If there are any of you out there that want to join the We Can Do It Club, email me and we can at least get a support group going of OBGYN.netters and share the good and bad times together. I’m truly going to do it and I welcome anyone to my club that wants to join.

Hugs to all

Barbara
Editor, Women's Health at OBGYN.net
Barbara.Nesbitt@obgyn.net

Read more of Barbara's Reflections