MHM

Many thanks for you quick reply

A big thank you to everybody for your replies and kind condolences - they are a great comfort at this extremely difficult time. Following the vague details initially posted just to let you know that Helen, who is British,is planning to stay in Thailand (the place she loves) and develop the wonderful spa business that Craig and her worked so hard to develop. She has good family support in the UK and I am hoping that, with the right advice and some determination, we will be able to make things as easy as possible for her to carry on with her dream.
Thanks again for the extremely helpful suggestions, info and links.
Best wishes Sue (Helen's sister)

Sending good vibes to those trying to stop. Here's my tale.

My habit had crept up to 60-80 a day when I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in March (cause? you guessed it). After surgery I was so drugged for weeks & weeks that cold turkey was actually quite easy. Couldn't even think what cigs were. Now, 4 months on and my course of patches finished, I think of them a lot, still get rapidly aggressive, pat my pocket to check for packet & lighter, react strongly to passing smokers. I'm still not out of the woods, still get the flinches more than I should at 4 months.

But I don't want to go back to smoking.

I find it so disabling to be a smoker. Sitting outside at bars & restaurants when all my friends are inside. Terrified of long-haul flights. Unable to go shopping in malls as I spent most time in the car parks huddled round the ashtray (if any). Unwilling to ever visit Singapore (!). I bought cartons (10 packs) & got twitchy when I was down to 3 packs left. I'm glad to be free of that.

I'll never be a non-smoker, but I'm quite proud to be an ex-smoker of 4 months. Like others here, it took major surgery to make me stop (says a lot about the strength of the addiction). Guess this thread shows we're all different & followed different paths to getting to the same place. So here's raising a glass to all on the edge and thinking of taking the plunge. It's worth it, so jump.

A bitter 15C in Kanchanaburi this morning.

You can vote on Mae Nam Kwae Rd in a poll here
http://kan71000.wordpress.com/polls/