Dear Doc,
I have been trying to quit smoking for some time. I have tried various medications but seem to develop side effects to the medications my physician has prescribed. The nicotine patches and gums didn’t work. My friend went to a hypnotist and was able to stop smoking. Do you think hypnosis is an option for me? I am skeptical and don’t want to cluck like a chicken like you see at a hypnotist show but will try anything at this point!

A. Congratulations on your efforts to quit and become healthy! Quitting smoking will decrease your risk of having heart attacks, strokes, cancer and improve your quality of life. The long-term benefits of quitting smoking are fantastic. According to the American Heart Association, non-smokers, on average, live 14 years longer than smokers (AHA, 2011). Quit today, and you’ll extend your life span and live those extra years with an improved cardiovascular system that will allow you to be active and feel great.
Now for the hard part…Smoking (nicotine) is one of the most addictive practices ever invented. As you mentioned, there are FDA approved medications that help improve the chances of quitting. There are also nicotine replacement products: gum, patches, inhalers, or electronic nicotine cigarettes that may be of benefit. As you have stated, these traditional methods have not helped you.

The first step to making any positive change is feeling good about yourself and having reasons to live longer! If you don’t think in terms of your reasons to live longer, it is hard to make a positive change! Change is hard work and requires effort. If you are not feeling good about yourself deep down, the path of least resistance is staying with the status quo and making excuses of why you can’t change or to delay change. Although it sounds goofy, write down three reasons you want to live! These may include: watching your children graduate from college or seeing the Grand Canyon. Whatever the reasons, write them down. This exercise makes them real and emphasizes that you still have much to live for and that making this positive change is necessary for you to live.

Hypnosis is a treatment option often listed in the category of complementary medicine. Note, I specifically wrote “complementary,” not alternative. In my opinion, hypnosis, acupuncture, and naturopathic medicine can play a very positive role in treating patients. However, I do not view them as alternative, but rather, complimentary to traditional evidence based medicine.

Hypnosis is a state of mind that is induced that allows positive suggestions to be introduced into the subconscious mind. Persons under hypnosis have heightened focus and concentration with the ability to concentrate intensely on a specific thought while blocking out sources of distractions. While in this “trance,” the mind is open to accepting positive suggestions. The hypnotic suggestions are introduced by a hypnotist or may be self -administered if the individual is practicing self-hypnosis. (Many consider meditation a form of self- hypnosis).

We have all been in a light trance at some point. Have you ever daydreamed while on a long drive, ending up in your driveway and not remembering the last few turns? If you have, you are like most people. You were in a light trance and turned driving over to your subconscious mind as you were daydreaming. If a car pulled in front of you, hopefully, your conscious mind would have reengaged and stopped your car. If you ever played sports and were in the “zone” where you couldn’t miss a shot, you were in a light trance. You were focused and outside noises such as crowd noise were blocked out by your subconscious mind.
Hypnosis comes from the Greek word hypnosis, which means sleep. However, hypnosis is not sleep. To the contrary, someone in trance may look as if they are sleeping but their brain waves are active.

Hypnosis is nothing like it is portrayed to be in the movies with someone made to serve a master’s wishes. No one can be made to do something they don’t want to do or to go against their own ethics. If given a suggestion that goes against their beliefs, their conscious mind would simply awaken them from the trance.

I know you are going to ask how do the hypnotists get people to do silly things on stage? Is that real? You may be surprised to learn, yes, it is real. The stage hypnotist is asking for volunteers to come on stage to participate in a show in front of others. So, they are preselecting a group of people who want to be the center of attention. Second, when they do their “induction” (beginning of the trance); they are able to recognize those that are going into a deep trance and can dismiss those that are not going into a deep trance. Those uninhibited volunteers are individuals who, when in a deep trance, are highly suggestible and entertaining. My personal experience and studies suggests that about 20 % of the population is able to get into a very deep trance and 20% of the population find it difficult to get into a deep trance. Most of us are somewhere in between. Even if you are in a light trance you can benefit from positive suggestions given to the subconscious during hypnosis; suggestions that you may remember and carry over into your conscious day to day activities.

Those that find hypnosis most successful are those who believe it will work and those with a good imagination that allows for the use of guided imagery. Most hypnotists use guided imagery to deepen the trance after the initial induction. An example of guided imagery is taking a deep breath and imagining yourself on the beach and with each wave that comes in, you allow yourself to relax deeper. When another wave comes in and goes out, you allow your body to relax and be open to positive ideas…

If you believe you would benefit from hypnosis and post hypnotic suggestions, I would suggest you talk to a friend, your medical provider or local hospital to see who they would recommend. Hypnotherapists vary in skill and competency as they are not as regulated as other medical providers are. I wish you luck in your pursuit of health and believe hypnosis is a real option for some that are trying to stop smoking.

Now take a deep breath and blow it out while relaxing and believing that this medical column is a great addition to the Times of Wayne County. Stay healthy and remember the quote by Beverly Sills, “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

Arun K. Nagpaul, MD
Medical Director / Hospitalist
Newark Wayne Community Hospital

A pick up truck operated by Michael Keller, age 51, of Palmyra was westbound on Route 31 in the Village of Macedon. The vehicle veered off the south shoulder of the highway striking a mailbox before shearing off a power pole at its base. The pole fell off across Route 31 pulling down major power lines causing a dramatic show of arcing wires and fire that lasted for hours.

Keller’s vehicle then veered back on the highway and hit two bushes on the north side of Route 31, ending up in front of the CVS and Dunkin Donuts stores. Keller, who was unhurt, was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for a safety check up. He told police he did not know what had happened, but police believe he fell asleep at the wheel.

New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) responded by 7 a.m. to begin the task of untangling the mess of wires that continued the “light show”, and a light rain began to fall.

Macedon Firefighters responded to take control of the scene and cut off the heavy morning traffic snarl at Route 31 and Route 350 on the east side of the Village, and at Canandaigua Road on the west side. The resulting detours caused back-ups for frustrated drivers for hours. “It was a nightmare. Cars were backed up all the way to Alderman Road (on the east). They are still cleaning up the mess today,” said Macedon Police Chief John Colella on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the McDonald’s Restaurant and Dunkin Donuts locations, along with several other businesses along the busy Route 31 were treated to the light show, but lost more than a half day of business.

According to Wayne County Deputy Tom Baker, the electrical wires melted two large holes in the pavement that required the highway workers to cut and re-patch the roadway. The wires reportedly burned out a safety check on a nearby transformer that lead to the extended arcing. Baker reported that, luckily, gas leaking from Keller’s pick up truck failed to ignite in all the sparking and fire. Power was restored Thursday afternoon and the roadway reopened at 3:15 p.m. Keller was ticketed with Failure to Keep Right and released after a check up at the hospital.

Macedon Village resident John Strong resides on nearby Kemp Drive and captured the pictures seen above. “I just happened to have my phone ready to take picture, when it erupted. It only lasted 2-3 seconds, but you could feel the heat.”

Macedon Police began receiving angry calls from motorists unable to traverse Route 31 en route to their destinations.

Chief Colella summed up the day’s event. “I would hate to be his (Keller’s) insurance company. The loss at Dunkin Donuts alone…”, said Chief Colella.

Later in the week, umpire Fieldin Culbreth was suspended for two games for allowing Astros manager Bo Porter to improperly switch relievers in the middle of an inning. Culbreth immediately admitted the mistake and took full responsibility.

I can’t imagine it’s much fun being an umpire. You definitely have to pay your dues just to make it to that level. You have to go to umpiring school, put in your time in the minor leagues making around $1800 per month, there’s the travel and the time spent away from home all for the hope that you’ll one day be called up to the majors.

I used to ref summer rec leagues when I was younger and I remember how much it sucked back then…..long games, getting yelled at by parents….people just took it way too seriously. I can’t imagine being responsible for making judgment calls in front of thousands of people for a living.

It’s obvious that Major League Baseball will need to review and improve their replay process next season to prevent future issues.

Here’s an idea….why not have booth officials who can confirm an on the field judgment call? Football does it.
Honestly, I hope the replay process isn’t used often. The games already take forever….

Rather than fixing the replay process, maybe they can fix some other baseball rules that I don’t understand like: When a relief pitcher comes in and blows a save in the top of the 9th when he gives up the tying runs, he can still be credit with a win. If his team scores in the bottom of the 9th, his failure gets rewarded. What about the guy who gave you the lead going into the 9th? What does he get? Nothing.

Here’s another one: If a pitcher makes an error and the guy scores, the run is unearned. Why should it be unearned? The pitcher did it to himself! Why should his ERA benefit from his own inability to catch and throw?

And finally…with two strikes, a batter swings and misses completely at a pitch for the third strike, then the batter should be out, right? Not necessarily. The batter can reach first base if the catcher doesn’t catch the pitch cleanly. If the batter can run to first before the catcher either tags him or throws to first base, he is awarded the base. This makes no sense to me.
Other things I’ll never understand: What is considered a balk and what is not? Why pitchers are allowed to intentionally walk anyone and the infield fly rule. I guess this is why I got into golf instead.

Some within that category are Memorial of Horace Eaton by Anna R. Eaton, 1886; Gazetteer and Business Directory of Wayne County, NY for 1867-8; Military History of Wayne County by Lewis H. Clark, 1884 and others. The information they contain is priceless and the small budgets allowed most public historians in Wayne County don’t allow for costly time-consuming processes like microfilming or digitizing. This is where Marsille’s knowledge and skills are invaluable.

Her cozy shop on East Main St., Palmyra is not only home to thousands of pre-enjoyed books, but is also where she repairs and restores books. “I’ve loved books as long as I can remember. Some just can’t be replaced and that’s why I learned to repair, restore and bind them.”

Marsille grew up in East Palmyra and graduated from Newark High School. She purchased the inventory of Kavannagh Books and opened her shop in 2007. She realized book repair would be an important part of her business and initially sent books out for rehab but soon took things into her own hands. She bought some antique equipment from Sylvia Bornarth of Pultneyville, studied the subject and began small-scale repairs. As jobs became more numerous, they became more complicated until book rehab grew into a sizeable portion of her business.

Marsille averages 10 or more projects per month and says she learns from each one. “The first lesson I learned was that it’s very easy to overglue. That’s why this is one of my most often-used tools.” She took a very slender knitting needle from a cubby in her desk and demonstrated how she applies glue to a damaged book gutter.

Her tools are simple and include paper and plastic clad bricks, multiple pressing boards, two pre-1900 hand-operated book presses and lettering blocks. The drawers of her antique map chest storage unit contain archival materials for page and gutter repair, rebinding and sewing materials, cover-weight board and fabrics.

She said many books that she “treats” are easy to repair, but occasionally a job is very challenging such as the “cookbook twins” project. She described a very large, unwieldy book containing two volumes of Mary Margaret McBride’s Encyclopedia of Cooking, which she divided into two separate books, each with new covers, lettering and face pages.

Marsille restored one book that was later sent to auction where it brought a 4-figure bid, but to her, all books deserve a second chance and equal care. Most repairs or restorations run from $50 – $100, although some can go higher depending on the needs.
One FAQ she’s asked is, “Is this book worth repairing?” which she always answers with the question, “What’s it worth to you?”
Many of her “patients” are irreplaceable antique leather-bound family Bibles or old cloth-bound cookbooks, some hand-written, which are passed from one generation to the next. “…they’re loved to death. Repair is their salvation and a way to perpetuate their messages and information,” she said.

She has treated book “patients” from as close as down the street to as far away as California. “I love fixing books. It’s one way to preserve history even if it’s just Grandma’s cookbook.” Knowing the book would have the best affordable care possible and that after repairs it would be preserved and useful for decades, I turned over the Town of Palmyra’s copy of Landmarks of Wayne County, N.Y., (1895) from which the covers had separated. “I can’t make it look like new, but I can extend its life,” she said.
More information about Marcia Marsille, her book restoration ventures and related items is available online at www.villagebookmarket.com
By Beth Hoad

I recall grammar school catechism (the little blue book) where pictures indicated it was alright to bear arms for God and country, as long as God was on your side. “Sister, doesn’t the other side believe in God too”, I inquired. That is when I discovered Catholic dogma trumps all other faiths. I soon learned not to ask questions that were not immediately covered in the blue book.

“Protestants even spread rumors that Catholics eat Protestants babies,” stated one nun with a chortle. “Damn those Protestants,” I thought. But wait, Keith up the street is a Protestant. I play with him all the time and I don’t recall any horns coming out of his head. “Sister, does that mean that even if a Protestant is a good person they can’t go to heaven?” The nun smiled. “No, but it will take much more for them to go to heaven,” replied the sister. That was confusing at best.

Back to the sex thing. We had this sacrament called confession. We were taught to go into this booth and tell the parish priest all our sins. Of course, one of the major sins of any young boy is…discovering parts of his body that make him “grin”. “You must confess all your sins to cleanse yourself,” instructed the nuns.

“Uhmm, okay Father (the Priest), I started, at the weekly confessional. “I, uhh, pleasured myself 12, no 13 times this past week. For these and all my sins…oh yeah…I probably lied once or twice also,” I stammered. I had to admit, after the first few times it became easier to admit “self abuse” as the nuns referred to it. A few Hail Marys and one or two Our Fathers cleansed my soul and the process started all over again.

“Hey, how many Hail Marys did Father make you say, asked friend David. “Six,” I replied. By matching up the penance with the sins, you could almost tell how bad your friend had sinned for the week.

On one trip to the confessional the priest, the head of the parish, really dug into me. “You must stop doing that, he echoed from the other side of the mesh screen separating us. For your penance do 12 Hail Marys,” as he proceeded to slam the little door between us.

Okay, 12 Hail Marys was quite a punishment, but I knew, in my heart, sin would win out, regardless. At least I hadn’t eaten any Protestant babies, that I knew of.

Why did you get involved in politics?
Well, I guess my first introduction to politics in a small way came when my parents’ restaurant (The Dutch Treat on the corner of Durand and North Street in Rochester) held a fundraiser for a City Councilman named Urban G. Kress. My next interest in politics came when, in grammar school, I was intrigued by the campaign of John Kennedy. I remember I was home sick from school when we learned that the President had been killed. My parents were Kennedy Democrats. So was I when I first entered politics. Democrats outnumbered in my district 2 to 1, and I ended up defeating my opponent who was an incumbent. I switched to the Republican party in the late 90s.

How long have you now been Minority Leader in the New York State Assembly?
For 4 years and one month. I was incredibly honored as a legislator to have earned this honor. It is a very prestigious position. I serve as one of only 200 (or fewer) such legislative leaders in the Country.

What are your impressions of Governor Cuomo?
Overall I think he is doing a good job. But I reserve that for the work he did in his first 2 years more so. He still has done some good things, but even some of his early successes, focusing on the key fiscal issues, have been ideas which originated with the Assembly Republican. Article 10, concerning Power Plants in New York State, and his Power for Jobs Incentive — all Republican ideas. Initially, Cuomo was very pragmatic, he had to be; the State needed help fiscally. Now he has turned a bit more liberal with his issues. We still all have to deal with update vs downstate agendas — tourism, manufacturing, farming engineering, technology – these are our upstate focus. Downstate deals with ferry tolls and some other types of transportation issues that have no relevance up here. I think the Governor needs to do more on Mandate relief – schools, counties, towns, he has done some, but not enough.

Your feelings on Fracking finally coming to a head in New York?
We are working on our 6th year of looking into it. We will have to finally make decisions. I think parts of the state really welcome it. The Southern Tier seems to be right for fracking and would do well with it. The Finger Lakes region — not so much. Whatever we end up doing with fracking, all I want to be sure that we do is strongly regulate it! It’s time to figure out what to do – and then just do it. We are so reliant on natural gas and the safety of that type of fuel. I find it difficult in discussions, when people work on “fears”.

What are your feelings on the New York SAFE Act?
I voted against it. It was one of the worst things we ever passed. The Act is awful, and the process was awful. There was just no input – none from the public, or law enforcement or mental health providers.
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Assemblyman Kolb lives in Canandaigua, and serves in the 131st Assembly District incorporating all of Ontario County and the northern half of Seneca County. He worked for a number of years in Newark in Wayne County as the owner of North American Filter, and later as President of Refractron. Kolb was the guest speaker at the Republican Chairman’s Club dinner last Thursday at Docker’s Restaurant, at the bequest of his friend and colleague Assemblyman Bob Oaks.

“If you take care of your customers and employees, the rest will come!” This is Stone-Gansz’ motto and it is working very well for her in her new business venture.

A 25-year veteran of Xerox Corporation, Stone-Gansz retired in 2011 to assume the role of President / CEO of Stone Goose Enterprises, Inc. Shortly after the formation of Stone Goose Enterprises, Inc., the company purchased Smith’s Gravel Pit. Stone-Gansz has been solely operating/managing the gravel pit and yielding huge successes to date. Stone-Gansz said, “I am in a man’s world and I like it, you have to be strong willed and never, EVER, doubt your decisions and abilities.”

Stone-Gansz is very involved in the community, she is an Executive Board member on the Wayne County Business Council & Professional Women of Wayne County and also serves as a member of the Sodus Rotary. Stone-Gansz is married to Ross Gansz, General Manager for CGS Fabrication in Webster, NY, they live in Newark, NY and have two children, Jacquelyn and Jon Ross.