A 45-year smoking habit is not an easy thing to overcome, but Joe Carbaugh has done it and regrets only that he did not do it sooner. Joe found the support he needed to finally give up smoking through the free Quit for Your Health tobacco cessation program at Licking Memorial Health Systems (LMHS).

Joe smoked his first cigarette at the age of 12. Looking back, he now realizes that he was influenced by his friends, as well as his father. “My dad smoked unfiltered cigarettes, and I wanted to grow up to be like him,” Joe said. As a 12-year-old, Joe did not have much spending money, so he sneaked cigarettes out of other people’s ashtrays. In his early teens, he purchased cigarettes at a corner store. “Back then, they did not really care about the age limit. Besides, I was tall, so they usually did not question my age. Cigarettes were easy to buy,” he recalled.

Joe married his wife, Cindy, in 1974. They established a home in Newark and raised two children. Cindy did not smoke, and Joe always was vaguely aware that cigarettes could affect his health, as well as his family’s. “I smoked about one pack a day, and I think that I just repressed any health concerns and got on with my life,” he explained. “When we started having grandkids, I became more aware of how bad smoking and secondhand smoke are. At that point, I went outside to smoke.”

With a family history of heart disease, along with the growing concern about having a negative influence on his family, Joe resolved to quit smoking at the age of 50. “It never happened,” Joe admitted. “I never stopped smoking, even with the knowledge that my father had a heart attack at the same age.”

“My father passed away in 2012 from bladder and kidney cancer – conditions that are both often linked to smoking,” Joe acknowledged. However, his personal “wake-up call” did not take place for yet another year. He said, “I remember the day that I really decided to quit smoking. I was lying in bed and just could not breathe! I prayed to the Lord to give me the strength to quit.”

Cindy found a copy of LMHS’ Community Connection newsletter that contained information about the Quit for Your Health tobacco cessation program, and Joe called to request an appointment. On August 17, 2013, he met with Melissa Phillips, R.N., a tobacco cessation counselor. “She made me feel very relaxed and comfortable. I asked her if I should throw away my cigarettes immediately, but she said that it could wait until the next day,” Joe said. Then, on August 18, Joe threw away his cigarettes for good.

Over the next 10 weeks, Joe visited Melissa every other week for counseling and to monitor his progress. “Melissa is so easy-going,” Joe said. “She supplied me with free nicotine patches and gum, and we discussed the inevitable cigarette cravings and how I would work through them. For me, the answer to cravings was butterscotch-flavored hard candy. I think I went through four pounds of butterscotch candy in the first two weeks!”

“I tell people that the patches and gum help a lot, but ultimately, giving up smoking is really a personal decision,” Joe advised. “You have to want to do it, or you will not be successful. I still have cravings that arise from time to time. When I used to smoke, I always had a cigarette as soon as I woke up in the morning. Occasionally, I will still have that craving when I wake up, but I have to work through it.”

Joe is appreciative of the support supplied by his own personal cheering squad. In addition to the encouragement he received from Melissa, his family has made their feelings very clear. “The grandkids are very proud of me,” Joe said. “In fact, all my family is very proud of me. My family doctor, Thomas K. Petryk, M.D., even congratulated me and shook my hand. If it were not for all of them, I would not have been able to quit. I am very blessed – very fortunate.”

Joe added, “For me, it was a big motivator that I soon began to breathe easier. I started to realize that with this program, I was going to be able to remain on this Earth a little longer and stay with my family. After just one week, I found that my sense of smell had improved, and food was tasting good – really good!”

Melissa called Joe in mid-March 2014 to see how he was doing, and he proudly reported that he was still smoke-free. “We call our Quit for Your Health graduates six months after they complete the program to make sure they are still abstaining from smoking,” Melissa said, “and I always stress to my clients that I am here anytime if they feel tempted to light up again. The first year of quitting can be difficult with cravings popping up out of the blue, and it is important that they remember they can always call me for support. Just because they are not seeing me on a weekly basis does not mean that I am off their quit team. We develop relationships that last much longer than the 8 to 12 weeks they are enrolled in the program. Nicotine addiction is tricky, and one puff of a cigarette can rekindle 80 percent of the nicotinic receptors that the client has worked so hard to shut down.”

“The community has needed this for a long time – for someone to step up and provide a tobacco cessation program like Quit for Your Health,” Joe said. “Nicotine patches and gum are expensive. In reality, I had the money to buy cigarettes, but I was reluctant to spend money to quit. Besides, the program’s counseling and education were a large part of my success. Even now, I know that if the cravings get too strong, I can call Melissa, and she will help me work through it. I am so impressed with the tobacco cessation program that I urged some family members and a friend to sign up. I am pleased to say that they are currently going through the program, as well.”

Joe now makes infrequent stops at the corner store for some iced tea. Reflecting on the sum of money that he formerly spent there on cigarettes, he shakes his head. “I could have used that money to restore my 1970 Mustang convertible,” he said. Joe reports that although he does not miss smoking, the occasional nicotine cravings take effort to overcome. However, instead of reaching for a cigarette, he calmly unwraps a butterscotch candy and pops it in his mouth.