‘Best Friend’ Is Woman’s Worst Enemy
It’s not just the nicotine Kay Morrell needs.
“A lot of it’s this - holding it,” she says, waving an unlighted Doral Ultralight clenched between two fingers.
Sometimes she holds one after another after another. She smokes until her tongue tastes burnt and her mouth feels like wood.
“It’s my best friend,” she says. “But I don’t want to die like I see so many of our patients die.”
Kay works in Kootenai Medical Center’s cancer unit. On Thursday, the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout day, she’ll try again to quit smoking.
She’s scared. Her seven older brothers introduced her to smoking when she was just in elementary school.
“If I smoked, too, I couldn’t tell on them,” she says.
At 52, Kay has smoked 30 cigarettes a day for 37 years, through breast cancer and blood clots, diabetes and weight problems. She’s out of patience with herself.
“I know what I’m doing to myself,” she says. “I’m stupid.”
Her children almost convinced her to quit once. Then she found out they were smoking. She tried a stop-smoking class once, but she couldn’t relate to the teacher. Now, she’s listening to her granddaughters.
“‘It’s bad for you, Grandma,’ they say,” Kay says. “I’m tired of my car being ashy ugliness. I’m tired of smelling like smoke. I want to feel better and not be so out of breath.”
As if to show Kay her future, life landed her in KMC’s oncology ward a year ago as unit secretary. A doctor heard her wheezing and suggested pulmonary tests.
Lung cancer cases overwhelmed Kay. One woman walked in on her own with lung cancer and died breathing through a mask six days later.
“God, I don’t want to die like that,” Kay says. Her tests showed some blockage in her bronchial tubes.
Smoking isn’t tolerated at the hospital. Kay has to light up outside whether it’s sunny, raining or snowing. She resents feeling like a lone wolf. It’s another reason to quit.
“I’m going to take it one day at a time and pray,” Kay says. She’ll use a skin patch and give up coffee, which she drinks only when smoking cigarettes. “I want this to be forever. Statistics say it usually takes five times. I really want to be around to see my granddaughters grow up.”
If you need help quitting smoking, call the Panhandle Health District at 667-3481.
Rock-a-bye baby
More than 100 people rocked at the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Rock-a-thon for the Homeless last Saturday in Coeur d’Alene. Only 17 people rocked in chairs, but about 100 came to watch, listen to the bands and donate money.
St. Vinnie’s raised $1,660 to build a playroom for children at its women’s shelter. It wouldn’t have happened without bluesman Jim “Bossman” Brown and the people who contributed rocking chairs. Coeur d’Alene rocks.
The thing to do
Post Falls’ Dannell Rasmussen didn’t hesitate when I asked for favorite holiday traditions. She said her family’s favorite Christmas tradition is to take a day away from shopping and all the glitter and head to Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Wolf Lodge Bay to watch the eagles.
“We take a thermos of hot chocolate and our binoculars, and my husband takes a day off work,” she says. “It’s a nice time to get away from the whole commercial aspect.”
And traffic isn’t so bad out there on weekdays, Dannell says.
They’ve got the blues
The Inland Empire Blues Club has picked Coeur d’Alene’s Tubs Cafe as the best blues club and venue in the region. What an honor for a place that was barely standing two years ago. Stop in and say congratulations to owners and persistent remodelers Tom and Kelly Sullivan.
Where’s your favorite place in the Panhandle to get away from it all? Dream big for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; or send a fax to 765-7149, call 765-7128 or send e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo