Today I awoke at silly o’clock. Since giving up smoking my sleep patterns are all over the place and I feel myself wanting to doze off in the middle of the day, then wide awake before the birds are even chirping.

I’m in week 3 of a smoke free zone – it’s too early to work out what day number, somewhere around 18 I think.

Other symptoms I’m experiencing include bleeding gums, upset tummy, terrible wind, inability to concentrate and generally feeling a bit crap. Apparently, these symptoms are fairly common when you’ve given up smoking. I can only conclude that giving up smoking is bad for your health. At least in the short term.

Long term, there’s no question, it is better not to be smoking. That doesn’t make the here and now any easier though. No worries, I will persevere.

A few people have sent comments on how I’m doing a really good thing for my sister and how well I am doing giving up smoking. Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I think most of you would do the same if you were in my position though. And it is pretty strong motivation for stopping smoking. You can’t really entertain any serious thoughts of going back to smoking in this situation. It’s just not an option.

I have read alot of blogs on here, written by people in various stages of giving up. By far the funniest is this one, from someone called velenephobe. Maybe it is my warped sense of humour, but it makes me laugh out loud. Another one, not smoking related, that makes me chuckle is Humorous Dispassionate, I don’t know where the author gets them from, but when you need a smile, take a look.

I spoke to the lovely people at the Living Donor Centre yesterday. They are waiting on the MRI results from my local hospital but I am pushing for the transplant to happen before Christmas. It feels like one of those things that hang over you, preventing you from planning other things in life. I just want it done. And if you are reading this sis, hang on in there.