He and Phlegming

Here I am at 1 month, 3 days cigarette free.

I have noticed that my coughing has cleared up dramatically, which includes general "throat clearing."

I used to clear my throat constantly, throughout speech.

My Smoker's Cough was pretty bad. It was like a calling card. In fact, more than one former roommate told me they knew I had come home because they heard me cough. It was like a decrepit, indirect version of "Honey, I'm home!" (not that I'd ever refer to any roommate as "Honey" in anything other than jest).

Any childhood dreams of double-O'ing for MI6 or excelling in any ryu of Ninjutsu were dashed on the rocks by such self inflicted damage resulting from my addiction.

But then, James Bond was a smoker (see this link, although info not cited; or research for yourself). Perhaps not so much in the movies, as the years went on, as direct links to lung cancer and heart disease are more openly pointed out, and pressure to dissuade increased. (Also, beginning with The Living Daylights, he didn't get to bang as many chicks per movie, as AIDS awareness came into vogue.)

It must have been feared that 007, being the ultimate role model for awkward, pubescent males, may influence them to take up cigarettes themselves. That would be a much easier Bond characteristic to emulate than his other abilities, such as physical stamina, hand-to-hand combat, extreme snow skiing, or wooing the hottest women on the face of the earth into bed within 0-2 hours.

Show him killing and maiming thousands of people with impunity, fine. But God forbid we show him smoking.

How was he (for example) able to sneak up on security goons in silence? The answer: he is a fictional character. Simple as that. In reality, someone who "smokes sixty per day" could not be silent for long without at least some minute wheeze, especially after all the running, climbing, jumping to get there. Besides, he would bear a perpetual aura of stench that would portent his approach, silent or otherwise.

Oh, and forget about those scenes of holding his breath underwater for absurd lengths of time.

His creator was a heavy smoker as well. Interesting that the author's last name is Flemming, as well. (Get it? Smoking...makes you, heh, cough up phlegm? Heh.)

Anyway, the other thing that is just amazing me lately is that I can actually inhale long and deep.

I don't feel that my lung capacity has increased per se. It's just that, before, I could only take in a very small increment of air into my lungs without feeling a tickling in my throat. This tickling would instantly trigger a coughing fit.

So I find myself pausing to draw as much air as my lungs will hold and exhaling slowly, in wonderment. But, as I said, I still don't seem to be able to fill them to the level I feel they should be able to hold. But it's so great to do so without doubling over, coughing and hacking.

What I really need to do is begin some rudimentary, realistically-demanding cardiovascular exercise regimen. But, we'll see how that goes...

In conclusion, although the point of this entry is to acknowledge some improvement, I still have some coughing/hacking fits. For example, immediately after consuming my lunch today. But by comparison, such episodes come much, much less intensely/frequently. And besides, I've been warned that after quitting, one 's throat regains some sensitivity, and there is some purging to be had.