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Welcome back to the Vietnamese
Journal program. We're interviewing Hao Nguyen
and Dinh Huong. Hao Nguyen is a someone who
smoked for more than 20 years and he decided to
quit smoking and has not smoked for 4 years. You were
able to quit with will power and for your family.
Do you find the experience of quitting
difficult or not?
It seems it would be easy to quit
but at times it was very difficult.
I had tried to quit many times before I finally succeeded.
You told us that your decision to
quit accounts for half
of your motivation and the rest came from
thinking of your daughter and your wife. Your
family's health was important to you when you
decided to quit smoking this last time. So when
your husband said that So when your husband said
that, Dinh Huong, what did you think?
When my husband said that he was quitting,
I was very happy and encouraged him every day.
After he quit I could see how healthy he looked and
I see him as a father and a pillar of our family.
And I know if he had kept smoking it
would have affected his health and
the health of the family. And it was expensive
for our household budget. After we talked about
it he said he would quit smoking. I did not
worry then because I knew if he thought of his
family then, he would quit. Because if he continued to
smoke it affects not only him but the whole family.
After we discussed this my husband decided
to quit for good. From the day he came to the U.S., my
husband was still smoking,
but smoking less. He smoked at night and
coughed a lot when he smoked. Because summer
went by fast he only smoke part time because too
cold in winter to smoke outside. And smoking
part time he had a better opportunity to quit.
This question I want to ask both of you.
What has been the effect on the health of
your family of quitting smoking?
I would like to answer first.
First I talk about my health.
My health has had very positive
changes since I quit.
I used to have colds
often but now one or two times a year only. My
throat no longer feels sore.
Often when I was
smoking I had sore throats
and was coughing. I would
cough all the time,
keeping me up at nights,
and not feel well for weeks. Now I feel very
strong and do not often get colds or coughs. I eat
more and I sleep well. And
now my wife and child
no longer have the smell of tobacco in our house.
They no longer need
complain about the smell.
Those who smoke don't notice the smell but
those who don't smoke notice and are affected
by the smoke and smell of tobacco around them.
My wife and children do not
worry any more about the smell.
I agree that
a long time smoker is familiar
with the smell of tobacco. So now
that you have stopped smoking
for four years,
does the smoke
make you uncomfortable?
When I smoked
after every meal, then I would
need a cigarette. I
didn't think about the smell on my breath
and thought of the smell as natural and normal.
I liked the smell. But after I quit, when I am
around someone smoking
it feels uncomfortable
and I do not like the smell.
It smelled bad in
the past when I smoked but
because I smoked every
day it smelled normal to me. Now, the smell
is very bad to me.
I want to ask about
the support from your wife and family that
helped you have the
determination to quit and
make the decision to quit.
Dinh, if you could say
something to a wife
watching this program how
would you suggest that she
could help her husband
who is still smoking.
What might she do?
After my husband
decided to quit, I
was very happy and glad
for my husband. I have
experience with my husband being a smoker.
If you have a husband that
smokes he should stop
soon as possible. If he
doesn't stop there are
harmful effects on health for
the smoker and their families.
if continued long-term smoking
affects health, first for yourself, then
affect children and families.
Smoking has many
negative effects and I
have ideas of advice for
women who have husbands
who smoke so they can
support their husbands to quit.
When in Vietnam,
I visited a friend in the hospital.
He was a smoker and his lungs had
problems so that he had
to have surgery and a tube was in his chest
to drain fluids. He laid in bed in the hospital
in pain and unable to sit up. After a time
he was released from the hospital.
But he did
not stop smoking and after a time he died.
I was very afraid for
my husband I think that
even if you are very
rich if you do not have
good health your family
will not be happy. I
respectfully beseech you
to urge your husband or
relatives who smoke, to
stop because smoking is
very harmful for your future.
Thank you.
So it is good for you
to hear the words your
wife that is happy, right? There are some
jokes about wives and smoking,
but it is a serious subject.
What advice would you share with the
audience about how to
quit smoking, Hao?
In answering
this question, I would
like to mention some things
that my wife said
that encouraged me to quit.
She said that I must want to quit. And I
wanted to quit for myself
and my family. I promised her I would stop.
And I have kept my promise.
So my advice to a
smoker is that it is you
who have to quit smoking. First you must see
cigarettes as harmful and
quit for your health and for the health
of everyone around you. Second, if you want
to quit for good, you
must be determined. Not
because of peer pressure
but because you want
to quit and you will not give up. You must
keep trying again even if you fail.
Never give up.
That is the gist of my advice for those
who are trying to quit cigarettes.
Change the
way we see cigarettes and make a sustained
commitment to quit.
Thank you both,
for this very useful discussion. I wish you
continued success. We will return
and speak with Doctor Giao.
Please stay tuned.