Progress

Ron has spent three weeks at 15 cigarettes a day. I like the idea of pausing the program until he feels confident about moving forward. The B vitamins are helping him, as I suspected. They help improve his mood and boost his confidence and delay smoking when he has one in his mouth. A few days ago he said he was ready for 14 a day. It has been tough for him and I think he has dipped into the next day's pack twice already. He realizes that doing this makes the next day tougher so he's careful to only smoke one or two. Seems like the first few days after the reduction are tough for him. Then he gets the hang of it and it becomes a little easier and gains some confidence. He says that phone calls are tough for him - he unconsciously lights up a smoke during long conversations. I think he's engrossed in the discussion and simply forgets about his program. I think that realizing the problem is the first step. Soon he'll realize he's reaching for a smoke and at that time he can consciously decide if it's time for one yet or not. Keep up the good work Ron. You're making it happen, capt'n.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Ron had a tough week this past week as far as smoking goes. I think he dipped into the next day's pack nearly everyday. We are going to spend another week at 15 smokes a day. He needs to feel confident in order to move on. Yesterday was the first day of his second week at fifteen and he did great. At 6:00 pm he still had 5 smokes left - 2 of those were smoked in the middle of the night. Lately, he's been waking up a few times a night and he'll smoke then.
I was worried that if I started this blog it might throw him off track by focusing on him. He doesn't like to be the center of attention. What he doesn't realize is that he's not the main attraction because this blog has no followers, so he's safe. Seems like we can't spend too much time talking about smoking or quitting because the more that subject is brought up, the more he craves a smoke. So I try to keep quiet and I'm not going to mention this blog to him anymore.
A few days ago I ordered Ron some B vitamins. These vitamins are great. You stick them under your tongue and let them slowly dissolve. It can take up to an hour for them to completely dissolve. My thinking was that this would give his mouth something else to do and might help postpone his next cigarette. He'd also be getting the complete range of B vitamins which will help improve his mood and confidence. I'll let you know if they make a difference.
Man, I hope this plan works.