Surgery & Smoking

Just wondering if any of you have had to deal with being a smoker when deciding to do this surgery?  I ask because when I decided I wanted to do this in Feb, I made a decision to quit.  Not just for the surgery, but because it was stupid of me to start back up after having quit for a year and a half due to pg and breastfeeding.  So anyway, I had set a date to quit, called our state quit line, and made the decision to do it.  But I went in for my first consult about a week before I was planning on quiting, and was told I had to wait 6 months after quiting to have the surgery.  If it wasn't for my surgery, I could have had the surgery a month later.  I was very dissapointed. Anyway, that was about 2 1/2 months ago.  I did quit on my quit date, and haven't smoked since March 2nd!  I'm very proud of this, and decided I would start looking back into having this surgery with another dr.  I had considered it back in Feb, but this dr told me all the dr's in our area had the same policy, and because of summer plans I didn't think I would have time to start over then anyway, waiting another month for a new consult, etc.  But I found out today that the new surgeon I have an appt with only has an 8wk waiting period, and I've already done that.  I was glad, though I was a little frustrated about wasting so much time. So I was just curious if anybody else had this issue, or if you know what your dr's policy is on this?  I know there are very good reasons dr's would want somebody to quit before any surgery, let alone elective surgery.  So I don't necessarily disagree with the policy.  I really wanted to do all I could to make my recovery as successful as possible.  I was just wonedering what other people's experiences had been. TIA~ *Angel

I don't think my doc had a time period--I only saw him for 2 months before I had surgery, and the no smoking was required..but I don't smoke anyway! Good luck to you and congrats on the success stopping smoking! kristi

Hmmm...I quit around November 6, met with surgeon on Nov. 16 or so and had surgery December 17! Never an issue for me. Good luck! Jana

Hi Angel, I believe the reason they want you to be smoke free for so long is to insure that you won't start smoking again.  I spoke with one surgeon *****quires you to be smoke free for 3 to 4 weeks before the surgery and I personally was only 3 months smoke free before my surgery.  It only takes about a month for nicotine to get out of your system.  Knowing that it is was not an issue physically for me to be only smoke free for three months, I just lied about my quit date.  It has been 2 months since my surgery now and 5 months since I quit smoking.  I have not had any complications.  Hope this helps.

I totally agree w/dr's wanting you to quit smoking before surgery, and like I said I was totally prepared to quit when I went in for my consult.  (BTW, my consult was w/Metz also...and frankly if I had known that it was a 6 mo waiting period I may have lied about it myself).  I was just curious about other's experiences because CO Bariatric's 6 mo rule seems to be pretty stiff compared to any other dr's I've heard of.  Mostly what frustrated me was that Dr. Metz told me the other dr's in the area have the same policy, which just isn't true.  I feel like he was trying to dissuade me from going to another dr, which cost me time in getting to have the surgery (although admittedly, my own summer plans also got in the way so I don't entirely blame him for the lost time...plus I should have just done my own investigating).  Congratulations Suzanne on quitting!!  That's awesome.  Hope your recovery & weight loss are going well. Thanks to everyone.  I just needed to vent a bit.  I appreciate your input! *Angel