300 Days!

Holy Smokes!!!

300 Smoke Free Days! Can you believe that??

Do either of my two followers remember my post from July 7th of last year:
Threesome Anyone?

It started out --
"~Three Days ~ Three weeks ~ Three Months ~
Good things often come in threes, but so do our challenges sometimes."

And now I am here, 10x the distance from back then .... I don't think I've gone 300 days without a cigarette since I was 14/15 years old! Sad Really.

But as I said, better late to the quitting party than never! 52 days and about 8 weeks to go until my one year anniversary!!!
Wish me Luck ~ (I'm on vacation this week with un-repentant smokers!)

Four Twenty Friendly ~

Smoking and Periodontal Disease

Tooth is Fixed!!!! Thank Goodness ...

One of my best friends from childhood is a Periodontist. He tells me there is a growing body of evidence which suggests smoking and periodontal disease are closely linked.

Smokers have more of the harmful bacteria that causes periodontal disease, and they are four times more likely to have advanced periodontal disease. (All the more reason to NOT smoke -- right?)

According to Dr. Brad, smoking is the single major preventable risk factor for periodontal disease. Smoking can cause bone loss and gum recession even in the absence of periodontal disease. The risk of periodontal disease increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Smoking cigars and pipes carries the same risks as smoking cigarettes.

The excruciating pain and then sudden relief of having the root canal can really only be compared to watching Kate Gosselin getting voted off Dancing With the Stars!!!

Another Root Canal ~

This has been my least active month as far as posting to my blog ... Sorry about that.

This past week I have been battling a horrendous tooth ache ...

Did you know smokers have a higher ratio of root canals than non smokers.

I have an appointment for 2:00 today at an Endodontist ... This will be at least my seventh root canal!

The hidden cost of thirty years of smoking seem to never stop!

However, better late to the quitting than not at all .... 289 days and counting!

40 Weeks and Still Counting ~

This past weekend I surpassed the 40 week mark!
More than 280 days smoke free ....

In just 12 short weeks I will be smoke free for
ONE FULL YEAR!

I haven't gone without a cigarette for one entire year since I was 14/15 years old ...
Can you believe that??

Up until now I have been tracking how many days and weeks I have gone with out any nicotine intake ... Now I can start the countdown to One Smoke Free Year!!!

Saving Grace~

My former neighbor Grace used to call me several times a month asking me to bring her a "thirty pack of Miller High-life, a half a pint of Canadian Mist and two packs of GPC Full Flavor Menthol 100's" ...

Grace was diagnosed with MS and retired from the post office ... since then her family had moved her to an apartment that's closer to where they all live. I really hadn't heard from her in quite a few months.

Apparently, Grace is having a hard time getting family members to supply her with all her vices and since I do not live right next door any more it's not as convenient for me to deliver her bounty.

I have not been to her new apartment since she moved so I did do some shopping and take her by her request ... Here's where things got a little dicey:
Grace didn't have a lighter ... asked me if I'd take a cigarette in the kitchen and light it off the stove. As you know you can't do that with out drawing on the cigarette. Of course I could do a Clinton and not inhale ... but I was sure this was a dangerous game for me to play and I just did not want to risk even a small inhale.

I left the apartment and went to the nearest Shell operated by a new American buddy and picked up the cheapest lighter they had. Dangerous situation averted!!!

The Real Cost of Smoking ~

40 Years Ago Today: April 1, 1970 ~

Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette ads on TV and radio...

(Copied from: http://www.history.com/)

On this day in 1970, President Richard Nixon signs legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation at the increasing insistence of public health advocates.

Alarming health studies emerged as early as 1939 that linked cigarette smoking to higher incidences of cancer and heart disease and, by the end of the 1950s, all states had laws prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. In 1964, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed that advertisers had a responsibility to warn the public of the health hazards of cigarette smoking. In 1969, after the surgeon general of the United States released an official report linking cigarette smoking to low birth weight, Congress yielded to pressure from the public health sector and signed the Cigarette Smoking Act. This act required cigarette manufacturers to place warning labels on their products that stated "Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health."

By the early 1970s, the fight between the tobacco lobby and public health interests forced Congress to draft legislation to regulate the tobacco industry and special committees were convened to hear arguments from both sides. Public health officials and consumers wanted stronger warning labels on tobacco products and their advertisements banned from television and radio, where they could easily reach impressionable children. (Tobacco companies were the single largest product advertisers on television in 1969.) ... (Check this out: Fred & Barney Enjoy a Smoke!) Cigarette makers defended their industry with attempts to negate the growing evidence that nicotine was addictive and that cigarette smoking caused cancer. Though they continued to bombard unregulated print media with ads for cigarettes, tobacco companies lost the regulatory battle over television and radio. The last televised cigarette ad ran at 11:50 p.m. during The Johnny Carson Show on January 1, 1971.

Tobacco has played a part in the lives of presidents since the country’s inception. A hugely profitable crop in early America, Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson owned tobacco plantations and used tobacco in the form of “snuff” or smoked cigars. Regulation of the tobacco industry in the form of excise taxes began during Washington’s presidency and continues to this day. In 1962, Kennedy became the first president to sponsor studies on smoking and public health.

Presidential cigarette smokers include Taft (who quit during his term), Harding, Franklin Roosevelt (who was frequently photographed with his trademark cigarette holder), Hoover (a chain smoker) and Eisenhower. Adams, Coolidge and Ford enjoyed smoking pipes. Presidents Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Carter and Clinton engaged in the time-honored, after-dinner cigar-smoking ritual at many state functions. Kennedy, who also enjoyed cigars, had his press secretary buy as many Cuban cigars as possible before he strengthened a trade embargo against Cuba in 1961. Though McKinley did not like to smoke cigars, he was known to break them up and chew the tobacco inside. Taylor also preferred to chew his tobacco, and chewing-tobacco spittoons dotted the White House during his tenure—he claimed he could hit his mark from 12 feet. On the contrary, Truman, Hayes and first lady Hilary Clinton banned smoking inside the White House during their respective time there.

First ladies have also enjoyed tobacco in various forms over the years. Though smoking was considered unladylike until well into the 20th century, Dolley Madison, Rachel Jackson and Margaret Taylor all used snuff. Though Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush all smoked cigarettes at one time in their lives, most smoked only socially or had quit by the time their husbands became president.

Tobacco has not been the only thing smoked at the White House. In 1978, after country-music entertainer Willie Nelson performed for President Carter there, he is said to have snuck up to the roof and surreptitiously smoked what he called “a big fat Austin torpedo,” commonly known as marijuana.