I’ve been a cigarette smoker since you could buy smokes in a machine for .25 a pack. If you Bought regulars, not the new “king” sized killers, you even got three pennies back in change. They were under the cellophane on the side of the pack.

My first brand of choice was Camel unfiltered. I wandered through Lucky Strikes and Pall Mall before taking a mini hint and switching to filters a long time ago.

I’ve gone through many bouts of pneumonia, bronchitis, shortness of breath and chest colds. I even collapsed a lung back in ’74. But I continued to light ‘em up at every opportunity.

Until four weeks ago.

I’d been waking up every morning at about 4 a.m. unable to breathe. If I sat up, I could get more air, but it was still scary. One night I even slept in my recliner because it put less pressure on my lungs.

That decided it for me. The following morning I bought nicotine patches and have been wearing them ever since. I still have a nagging cough, but I can breathe!

Hopefully, this time it will take. I’ve tried and failed many times before, but I need to quit. Hell, I should have quit countless years ago.

Shit ~ I should have never started.

Later,

obi