Smell's back ... no ifs, no butts

30th May 2008

Doreen McLaren-Salter has come up smelling of roses well, of her favourite perfume Angel actually and for the first time in three decades is able to smell the fragrance as well.

Mrs McLaren-Salter, a Wairarapa Hospital orthopaedic nurse specialist, quit smoking just four weeks ago, and is emphatic she will never smoke again in her life.

"I've tried more than 10 times to give up, and briefly succeeded several times before getting sucked back in," she said.

"This time it's different. I read Alan Carr's book The Easy Way to Stop Smoking and it's completely changed the way I think about cigarettes. I've stopped thinking that I've given something up and stay focused on all the things I've gained my sense of smell and taste, my skin tone, my health and my future."

She said the first time she read the book she "felt stupid every time she lit up".

"I finished reading it the second time at 5pm one day, and just threw away the rest of the pack. I'd never been able to do that before."

Mrs McLaren-Salter started smoking at age 14 and tried to quit when she started nursing four years later, she said, and has made countless attempts over the years since. She tried patches, inhalers and even paid ?270 for a course of hypnotherapy that was successful "for a whole week".

The longest she has ever stayed smokefree in the past is 18 months, she said, but she took the habit back up when each of her parents-in-law died within a month of each other. "This time, despite life being fairly chaotic with family pressures and a back injury, I feel no desire to start again. I say to my kids, "Isn't it wonderful that Mum doesn't have to have a cigarette to cope."

She said she has saved the money she would have spent on a packet of cigarettes a day, and after a fortnight, splashed out on a bottle of her favourite perfume.

"I needed to do something special just for me. The next treat will be for the kids, but right now I'm really enjoying the smell and so does everyone else."