It’s hold on me is FINALLY broken!!!

If you frequent this blog, then you may be familiar with a ticker a little ways down and to the right indicating how many days it has been since I last had my "beloved diet coke".... You may also know if you know me in person, that other than a few scarce things, diet coke was right up there with "one of my favorite things". It had to be I guess, because at the time I gave it up, I was drinking upwards of 4 Liters (yes, liters) every day!!!!! I knew I needed to stop but one morning I woke up and just decided I was done - no big ceremonious last diet coke (it would have come from McDonalds if there had been one)....just done.

The first few days were really rough. I am not going to lie. From 4L to Zero cold turkey - it's not for the faint at heart! I am pretty sure that I looked like I was detoxing off heroin and that most of my patients during that time were probably scared to death of the pale, diaphoretic, shaky nurse that was attempting to start IV's on them =) It really opened my eyes though at just how dependent I had become on all of that caffeine! Everyone always asks me why I didn't just taper off... well, there was no tapering for me. I tried, it didn't work. I am an all or nothing kind of gal.

After the with drawl was over, I just missed it. I used to think about how it tasted, how it felt to drink it... I was only drinking water b/c I didn't want to move my "addiction" over to something else... Eventually, little by little, I stopped thinking about it so often.

A few times I have come pretty close to just having a diet coke but wasn't sure I wouldn't slip right back into my old ways. So the calendar pages just kept turning... June... July... September... November... December... By accident on Christmas Day, I picked up my sister in law's can and took a sip. I had such a bad cold that I didn't even notice... but then when she pointed it out, I realized that whatever I had taken, kind of tasted - (gasp...) BAD!!!!

So where has all this rambling been going? Well last weekend, nearly 7 months after my last "beloved diet coke" I spontaneously decided while out for a sandwich with the hubs, that I was going to have a diet coke. I filled up our drinks at the fountain and sat down to enjoy every last drop....

Here is the first sip....

and then I realized, what I think I knew on Christmas. It was NASTY!!!!


I couldn’t believe that I could drink so much of it before… I even took two more really big sips and let is swirl around like a fine wine before dumping it out and getting water…

I guess in the end it is probably for the best that I didn’t like it. I can drink a Dr Pepper or a Sprite and have no affinity for having to have another… and I guess my kidney’s are probably thanking me too!!!

I think I’ll continue to hang this on the tree every year though – just to remember “the good ole days” =)

I’m going to get a glass of water now…. =)