@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?