Want to quit smoking? With determination and some help, you can
do it
Larry Hafvenstein smoked for more than 40 years. It was the “in” thing to do as he was growing up – movie stars smoked, doctors smoked, just about everyone smoked. When all the health complications smoking can cause came to light, Hafvenstein was already hooked and, despite many attempts, couldn’t stop. But the day he held his baby granddaughter in his arms for the first time was the day he quit –  cold turkey.
“My daughter, Lauren, was his first grandchild, and when we handed her to him at the hospital, he was thrilled,” said Gilroy resident Kati Pauley, Hafvenstein’s daughter. “But then it hit him that he must stink like cigarette smoke. I think he was holding this clean, perfect new little person, and he didn’t want to hold her and smell like smoke. I think he also wanted to be around for her as she was growing up. So, he quit. Just like that, he quit. It’s been eight years now, and he hasn’t smoked since.”
Despite the many health risks associated with smoking, it’s still one of the hardest habits to break. Many long-time smokers will quit for a family member, like Hafvenstein did, rather than quit for their own health, said Dr. Dao M. Nguyen, Chief of Patient Education at Kaiser Permanente Santa Teresa Medical Center.
“No one can tell a smoker to quit –  they have to find their own motivation,” Nguyen said. “A lot of parents won’t quit for themselves, but they will quit for their child’s health. No matter what their motivation is, it’s very difficult to stop smoking, so they are making a huge decision. It’s an addiction, and anyone that decides to quit is taking on a huge challenge.”
Pauley’s dad had tried to quit before, using nicotine gum and trying to slowly wean himself from cigarettes, she said, but nothing worked until his granddaughter arrived.
“I was so proud of him – I tell him all the time, I’m so proud of him,” she said. “He went through about three really bad days, dealing with withdrawals and all that, but he got through it.”
Most people can’t quit cold turkey, Nguyen said, but nicotine-replacement therapy – such as the patch or nicotine gum – can help reduce cravings and help with withdrawals.
“You can’t just quit smoking, you also have to deal with the behaviors that lead you to smoke,” he explained. “We use the nicotine-replacement therapy to take care of the nicotine problems, and then we can focus on the behaviors that cause people to smoke. Some people use smoking as a coping mechanism for stress, or they do it socially or for other reasons. We need to help them figure out how to replace it with healthy behaviors.”
Kaiser Permanente, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society all offer smoking-cessation programs to help people through the difficult process of quitting. Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy plans to hold classes in early 2007.
“There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking,” Nguyen said. “Aside from all the serious medical conditions smoking can cause – including lung cancer, diabetes, heart problems and emphysema – a recent Surgeon General’s report showed that secondhand smoke can lead to equally significant medical problems.”
Nguyen, a pediatrician, said he has seen a parent’s smoking habit lead to respiratory problems in their children, such as asthma attacks. He also said the children he sees who smoke most often have a parent who smokes. Currently, the youngest smoker Nguyen treats is just 14.
“When people quit, they often worry about gaining weight or dealing with withdrawal symptoms,” he said. “But after a very short time, people often start feeling much better than they did when they were smoking. They’re more active because it’s easier for them to breathe, they look better because their skin and teeth aren’t as yellow. There are obvious positive changes.”
After her father quit smoking, Pauley said he lost weight because he felt better and became more active. On the one-year anniversary of his last cigarette, Pauley and her family gave Hafvenstein $1,500 – the equivalent of how much money he used to spend on cigarettes in a year.
Nguyen said his passion for helping people stop smoking partly stems from a patient he treated while he was a medical student.
“I treated a 50-year-old woman, who was very sweet, very kind,” he said. “I was caring for her because she had emphysema, and she was really suffering. She struggled just to breathe, and she was literally gasping for every breath. That picture in my mind is very vivid. I treated her for about two weeks, but it was so hard for her to breathe, she eventually gave up and she passed away. It was a horrible thing to watch, and if I can help prevent people from going through that, I’ve made a difference.”
