145 days
It is now day 145 for me! It gets easier and easier every day. I fact I don’t even think about it that much anymore. I do however still having some throat issues, trouble swallowing and recently I’ve been getting a lot of hiccups and on and off swollen lymph nodes under my jaw line. That has me really worried and I’ve been bugging my doctor to have me referred to an ENT. My doctor even without seeing me due to COVID19 has been very dismissive of my concerns and told me it’s probably jI st allergies. I DONT want guesses over the phone. So finally on September 17 (3 months after the referral was sent, I’ll be seen by an ENT. If there is a silver linning about the way that I am feeling (and I’ve had the dry cough since February) is that it scared me enough that I never want to touch a cigarette again EVER! It’s a filthy disgusting and expensive habit that will eventually kill you! I’m only 40 years old and thanks to smoking, I am now wondering if I have cancer and if I will live to see 45! I shouldn’t have to feel this way at such a young age but here we are! I urge everyone please do everything you can to quit and stay quit. Or else every pain you get, you will think it’s cancer!
Hi smokeless
Yea if you have swollen lymph nodes I would be going straight to the doc for sure that's a scary thing. I also have had a health scare with my thyroid I had a lump there and continued to keep smokong untill I had the thyroid removed and found out it was a cancer. So don't give up on this go and see.your docs and keep on top.of it.
I'm in Australia the best place for health care and I am as we speak in the middle of treatment
Best of luck
And keep.of the fags
So not worth it to smoke
Will Rob your health and your happiness and everything in between
All the best
You are doing your best to help yourself, you must not be put off from seeing your doctor. Next time you ring insist and say the word insist to get that appointment. 145 Days is a great achievement smokeless keep on going and well done.
Thank you so much Gemma and Softly! I will finaly have an answer on September 17 hopefully as to what is wrong with my throat. I guess in regards to my lymph nodes, the good thing is that 2 out of the three swallow lymph nodes, I can’t feel anymore but the one under my jaw line feels like a hard but movable pea sized ball. It hasn’t gotten bigger nor has it gotten smaller in weeks. Sometimes it’s a tad sore when I touch it but most times it’s not. The cough and food getting stuck in my throat hasn’t gotten worse in months but then again it hasn’t gotten better either. It’s pretty much the same everyday. The hiccups are about a few weeks old and are intermittent. So I don’t know what to think of all of this but I am happy I will finaly hopefully have an answer in mid September. If I’m not satisfied with that ENT I will request for a second opinion. Anyway despite my health issues with my throat, I feel good, I walk many km a day and I have no cravings right now and no real want to pick up those disgusting cancer sticks! Regardless of what happens on September 17, I can now say I am a non smoker!
Hi Gemma, how are you doing? I’m so sorry I never got back to you and happiness. The last couple of weeks I decided to stay off the net in terms of looking at smoking related/cancer searches etc. It was driving me crazy in anticipation of my ENT appointment. I had my appointment on the 17th and the doctor also put a scope up my nose that reached to the back of my throat. I told him about all my symptoms, dry cough, food getting stuck, lump under jaw etc. He felt my neck and he told me he could feel the lump that I was talking about. Although I thought he went rather quick and almost didn’t feel like he felt right up against my jaw. But anyway in that moment I didn’t think to ask him to double check or to confirm that the lump he felt was the one I’m talking about. But anyways, in regards to the lump he felt, he said it was a normal size and didn’t give it too much importance. After checking with the scope his exact quote was “I can assure you, you don’t have any tumor”. He seemed very sure of that answer, so for my sanity. I will accept his result but keep a watchful eye on my symptoms. He told me I have GERD (which might be true as I do often have heartburn and a lot of acid). So he gave me a three month prescription and told me I don’t need any follow ups. I will try the 3 months drug and hope this clears my symptoms. So at the moment I feel very relieved and I feel like I can now enjoy my actual quilting experience. If all of this was because of GERD, this is a real blessing as it scared me to death. It scared me so much that I will NEVER pick up a single smoke EVER again. I think I really needed this health scare to rid me of this horrible addiction. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you are doing well and happy!
I am glad that I clicked to reaquaint myself with your quit. I read your lovely post above and just want to say how happy I am to hear of the good result. Now you can enjoy this journey that is so worth the effort!