@colleenyoung - Thank you for inviting me into this conversation.
@kowalski- Good afternoon. Welcome to Mayo Connect. Stopping smoking is extremely tough. There's no easy way. You have to gear yourself up for it, set a day and just do it. The bite the bullet and hang on. I put a patch on and wore it until I went to the hospital for my operation. It had to be removed before I went into the OR. I never thought that I could stop smoking but a week before I had my right lower love removed I did just that. And after I came home the only thing that prevented me from smoking was a phrase that I repeated over and over again, a mantra given to me by my husband. "If you smoke you'll die". Even now, after 22 years after stopping, it comes automatically if I need it, which I seldom do. However there are options other than cold turkey for sure, and support groups, and programs.
Here is a blog post that I wrote about it: https://my20yearscancer.com/smoking-and-lung-cancer/
How long have you been smoking. What treatments have you had for your cancer? Can you bring me up to speed a bit on your current situation so that I can help the best I can and for others who want to chime in too?

Quit after many struggles in 1995. What helped was Nicorette 2mgs. and then Original Trident gum. Have no idea why Trident was and is so satisfying, but it still is. I like being smoke free and not heavily addicted as I had been. Was in a place where there was heavy smoking earlier this year and I felt like I was going to be unable to breathe. Still, every once and a while the urge comes back and I just say I won't smoke because I want to be healthy and live my life as fully as possible.

I tried patches, the pill which made me sick and lozenges. My Sister quit after 50 years cold turkey. She said keeping busy kept her mind off cigarettes. Going to try July 30, cold turkey. I also tried to count but that lasted 1 day.