100-A-DAY MAN’S BID TO QUIT
NOW, AFTER CANCER & HEART ATTACK, TONY’S QUITTING
GEELONG retiree Tony Faulkner estimates he has smoked about 1.5 million cigarettes in his lifetime but now, after 50 years, he is ready to kick the habit.
The Norlane resident had his first cigarette at only 11 years old and has smoked about 100 cigarettes a day since.
The addiction was costing him a minimum of $210 a week to sustain.
Mr Faulkner, 61, never gave any thought to quitting until he had a heart attack last year and kidney cancer surgery not long after.
“You think you’re bulletproof and then one day you realise you’re not,” he said.
“I went into ICU and woke up three days later than I should have because they couldn’t get the tube in and out of my airway, all because of the smoking.
“(One nurse) laid the law down, telling me it didn’t matter what drugs I took because they wouldn’t work if I had nicotine in my system.”
Where once medical advice went “in one ear and out the other”, Barwon Health staff were successful in having the message stick.
“If you’re a smoker and you’re at the hospital for anything heart, blood, lungs, cancer-related, you’re wasting their time,” Mr Faulkner said.
“You’re trying to kill yourself and they are trying to save your life.”
Mr Faulkner’s journey to quit for good has seen him cut back from 100 cigarettes a day in November to a handful a day now, with the goal of getting them out of his life for good firmly in his sights.
Strengthening his resolve is a move to Wehla scheduled for September where the shops in the two nearest towns close at 6pm daily and the closest after-hours cigarette stop will be a three-hour round-trip away.
Mr Faulkner, a non-drinker, said nicotine patches and swapping from coffee to tea helped him cut back and improve his quality of life.
“There’s food I haven’t eaten in years that tastes good now, water tastes better and now I can walk up and down a hill without batting an eyelid,” he said.
Today Mr Faulkner will go cigarette free for World No Tobacco Day, which raises awareness of the impact tobacco has on the health of people worldwide.
The most recent data for Greater Geelong shows 12.2 per cent of the population are current smokers, compared with 13.1 per cent of all Victorians.
Barwon Health urologist Richard Grills said surgical risks were significantly increased with smokers.
“Surgery and hospital stays are a good kickstart to quit smoking because you can’t smoke in the hospital and we have the resources and staff to support you in that noble quest,” Mr Grills said.
“A serious health issue really drives home all aspects of improving your health and lifestyle.”