Finding a reason to stop smoking
By Terry Rindfleisch of the Tribune staff
Milt Tyler was lying in a hospital bed in need of a new heart valve.
Tyler had a pack of cigarettes at his side and a carton of cigarettes nearby just in case he had a long hospital stay.
Dr. A. Erik Gundersen, a Gundersen Lutheran heart surgeon, walked into the room, and Tyler said he was ready for surgery. “Dr. Erik told me he wasn’t going to repair my heart just so I could die of lung cancer,” Tyler said. “I quit cold turkey that day, and I haven’t smoked in 25 years.”
Gundersen said he doesn’t remember that day, and of course, he would have done valve replacement surgery anyway. “But it’s good to know someone listened to me because patients don’t automatically quit smoking after heart surgery,” Gundersen said. “The addiction is so bad.”
Tyler, now 62 years old, said he was 38 years old when he had heart surgery, and received another valve eight years later.
“I decided on the spot that I couldn’t smoke anymore,” Tyler said. “When smokers quit, it doesn’t take great willpower. It takes great won’t power.
“It was a great decision,” he said. “I feel better today. I breathe easier and everything tastes better.”
Susan Lundsten, wellness education specialist in community and preventive care services at Gundersen Lutheran, said smokers quit for a number of reasons, including for their health and quality of life.
“Primarily they are ready to take that step, and they want to do something for themselves,” Lundsten said. “A lot of people say they want to see their grandchildren grow up. Others are tired of tobacco and cigarettes controlling them, and they want to take control of their life.”
When he was growing up, Tyler said everyone smoked.
“I was a child of the 1940s, so when I was 14 or 15, everybody smoked,” Tyler said. “There was no clue how addictive tobacco was.
“I don’t know how people smoke today -- the knowledge we have about how bad it is for us and the cost alone,” he said. “I don’t know how people can afford to smoke today.”
Just before he quit, Tyler said he smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day. The cost was $1 for three packs. Now that cost would be about $10 a day, he said.
Everyone in his family smoked except for his mother. “There were many more heavy smokers in my day,” Tyler said.
Cigarettes took control of his life, he said.
“I used to wake up in the morning and have a cigarette before I was out of bed,” Tyler said. “Then I’d light up a cigarette just before going to bed. It’s a terrible addiction.
“I smoked a lot when I’d get upset over something, and then something else would happen, and I’d light up another one,” he said.
There were two kinds of tobacco addiction -- cigarettes he had to have and cigarettes he wanted because he enjoyed them as a way to relax, Tyler said.
“I have two friends who smoke, and one is hacking and coughing, and those first seven to eight cigarettes are pretty good, but I wouldn’t want to put up with that anymore,” he said. “A cigarette in my face bothers me today.”
In addition to the addiction, Tyler, who also tried to quit smoking many times, said smokers have difficulty quitting because they enjoy smoking and they convince themselves the sideeffects are not that bad.
He suggests smokers think of all the money they can save by quitting smoking.
“My advice is to try one more time to quit, and think of something positive that you can accomplished with the money saved and how many more years down the road you’re going to be here,” Tyler said.
Smokers should set a goal and be ready and committed to quitting smoking before they take the first step, he said.
“If I were still smoking, I would not see my seven grandchildren graduate from high school,” Tyler said.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
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