Nicotine’s Addictive Hold Strangles Logic And Love

I began smoking at 16 before nicotine was considered addictive.

I didn’t enjoy it that much and could go days without a cigarette, probably because I didn’t have easy access to them and had to sneak and hide.

Over the years I became a two- to three-pack-a-day smoker. I tried many times to quit.

My children would come home from elementary school and try to shame their father and me into quitting. My youngest son, born with asthma, tried to tell me how dangerous my smoking was to his health. I felt guilt, but my addiction was stronger than my love.

Later I was to watch my father die slowly from emphysema, all the while choking on phlegm he couldn’t cough up from his fluid-congested lungs. He had quit smoking, but too late.

In 1985 I was diagnosed with sinus cancer. Surgery took half of my nose, part of the sinus and most of the membranes, leaving a large hole in my face. I now must wear a prosthesis.

One month after surgery I had a recurrence of the cancer in the lymph nodes and underwent more surgery. Five months later a tumor appeared near the corner of my eye. Forty radiation treatments destroyed the tumor but not without side effects. Osteo-necrosis, required removal of dead bone and all upper teeth and left a large hole in the palate, requiring me to wear another prosthesis called an obturator. I needed cataract surgery and a lens implant, plus major brain surgery to drain and treat fluid-filled cysts.

Did all this make me quit? No. I finally did quit when I tried to smoke after my mouth surgery and, because of the hole, I couldn’t inhale.

Today I see children standing across the street from elementary, middle and high schools puffing those butts. I see adults buying cigarettes and handing them to children waiting outside the store.

How can we get through to these children? Do we use scare tactics?

Cancer, cataracts, cysts, multiple surgeries, radiation, health, my son’s asthma, my father’s death - none of these scared me into quitting, even though I was and am a sensible, intelligent, and literate adult.

There must be a solution that will work so we can do more than just stew, worry, fret, talk, write or think about it.

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion page. To submit a column for consideration, call Rebecca Nappi/459-5496, or Doug Floyd/459-5466.