No pity from me! I smoked for years - 14 of them - and me and the hubs gave up before we came back to Australia- just like that, as you guys did. You make a decision, and do it without excuses, which is absolutley the ONLY way to give up smoking. Anything else is weak mindedness. I was sooo sick of being beholden to this addiction when all it needed was me to say 'enough' - I mean, you just have to reset those neural pathways, as the nicotine itself leaves the system fairly quickly, so for me, I just gave myself a talking to!

However - I do feel for you having COPD. I've always had a shitty relationship with my breath, being asthmatic. It affects my anxiety as well. Pranyama helps enormously. I suppose you are already onto the herbs that might help - turmeric comes to mind.