DUi

I'm almost 5 months post op. I went to a xmas party and had two cosmos over 7 hrs, I ate a little food . My second drink was 4.5 hrs before I decided to go home. I didn't feel the drinks due to eating and drinking several glasses of water. I was very coherant and conversational social at the party. When driving home at 12:30 am I was followed by a state trooper for almost 3 miles. He pulled me over and asked me to do a sobriety test. He said i FAILED BUT i KNOW i PASSED EVERY ONE EXCEPT THE HEAL TO TOE BEING THAT IT WAS 17 DEGREES OUT AND WINDY. I blew a .10 and was arrested for DWI. I am devestated. All my co-workers know that I wasn't drunk and had no more than two mixed drinks over 7 hrs. I have a lot of should ofs now after the fact. It was a xmas party and thought it wouldn't be a problem. I was very coherant all night. I know that my OBSORPTION WAS THE PROBLEM. I WILL NEVER DRINK AGAIN. THIS HAS COST ME MY REPUTATION AND RUINED A 31 YEAR CLEAN DRIVING RECORD. Also, I am 49 and never saw the inside of a cops car before this night. Does anyone know if I have any defense formy case?

You have to realize................ at 5 months post-op, medically, you have no business drinking and because of this surgery, alcohol hits us ten times worse than a person without the surgery. Putting aside a DUI............... you put your surgery in jeopardy by drinking so soon out after surgery.

SORRY this happened. BUT i feel driving even after one drink is wrong and more so for us. AS said by previous poster it can hit us far differently then the regular person. SO i feel thats why you failed the testing big time. I havent drank once since surgery but the rules from my surgeon was no drinking for a year. SORRY i feel even one drink is to much behind the wheel. SORRY just my personal view. all the best during a stressful time.

Im sorry i dont know much about the laws or what defense you would use. You made a mistake. We all made mistakes and luckily this one was made and nobody was hurt. I am happy to read you learned from your mistake and hopefully this will not happen again. I feel if you choose to drink following surgery that is your decision, in my opinion not the best one but not for me to decide. But the choice to get behind the wheel of a car after any alcohol consumption i strongly feel is a mistake. Hope you can get past this mistake and move forward. Good luck. LisaMarie

It might help to get a statement from your doctor or surgeon explaining the effects of the surgery. You obviously learned your lesson about drinking, so 'nuf said about that. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I spoke to my Doctor and he told me that I am more dehydrated than reg patient. Also I drank coffee that night and everything seemed to affect my absorption. Caffeine also dehydrates. I know I was stuid but I got caught up with the social aspects. I havent had a drink since.

I'm sorry, I imagine how devastated you feel and I'm sure through my life I've made that mistake a few times and am just lucky I didn't suffer the consequences. Bottom line is that .10 is driving under the influence. Take it as a lesson learned, even if you didn't feel impaired, you were. The fact that the cop followed you for a while shows he saw something you didn't. Better ruing a clean driving record and know never to do it again than to kill someone.

PS, since becoming a wife and a parent I *never* drink a drop if I am driving and I won't get into a car with someone that does, either. Better safe than sorry.

You can't do anything about it now, but at the time you could have requested a blood test if you knew that you were not really drunk. A blood test would have proven for sure if you were above the legal limit. They can't refuse you a blood test if you request it and it would erase the brethalizer test if it came back under the limit.

Thanks for the info. I was so much in shock and disbelief that I couldn't even give my brothers police badges. Hopefully I will never be in this situation ever again.