Anyone on Coumadin before WLS?

I'm on Coumadin for life. I have never had a blood clot but have a family history of blood clots. My mom died at 28, sister at 43 and another sister at 41 all from blood clots. I've had my first appt. with the pulmonary doctor and he seemed concerned about having surgery. Is there hope that I can have this done? Or am I just going through all the appts. just for the surgeon to say no.

I found this in the library area here at obesityhelp.com maybe it will help? http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/question.phtml?N=a930246455

Hi Sandy, I haven't had my surgery yet, either, and I've been looking into the Coumadin question, as well. I have to take it for the rest of my life, too. In the beginning, I was afraid I'd be denied for surgery because I take a blood thinner but I don't believe that anymore. I have had deep vein thrombosis 3 times already and take a fairly high dosage of Coumadin... I alternate, 9mg. one day and 10 the next so I was really concerned about getting a pulminary embolism after surgery. My fears worsened when I somehow ended up reading the memorial webpages here at this website. Pulminary embolism seems to be the cause of many of the deaths of the people listed there. In fact, I found out that the most serious complication of gastric bypass surgery is getting a pulmonary embolus. I decided, after MUCH consideration, that I will have the surgery in spite of the additional risk for me and I'll ask that my surgeon take additional precautions to prevent the possibility of a pulminary embolism. I'll also MAKE myself get up off my butt as soon as I can after surgery and walk, walk, walk and I'll cough as much as I can, after surgery, even if it hurts like hell. I figure obesity is slowly killing me and it's already taken my quality of life away so this surgery is, honestly, the only hope I have left to be healthy and normal. Speaking of additional precautions... it helps to know that the hospital will have me wearing compression stockings that flex to help circulate blood, during and after surgery, and that I'll be on a blood thinner (heparin) while I'm there, as well. I believe that's standard procedure for everyone who has this surgery... maybe any surgery, I'm not sure. There's also a device called a Greenfield filter that can be implanted into your vena cava (the large vein in your legs that carries blood up to your heart.) The filter prevents blood clots that may form in your legs or lower abdomen from moving up and getting stuck in and blocking smaller veins. That blockage is what causes a pulminary embolism. Any clots that may form are trapped in the Greenfield filter and they stay there until they naturally dissolve but blood can still move around the clot to the rest of the body. My dad has had a Greenfield filter for several years... it was installed when he was in the hospital during one of the many times he "crashed" due to problem from COPD & emphysema. The medical staff discovered that he had several small blood clots in his lungs and his doctor immediately treated him for the clots and installed the filter. He hasn't had a problem with blood clots again, so I'd say the filter is doing it's job, since he's now totally bed-ridden. Of course everyone knows that lack of activity is one of the major causes of deep vein blood clots. Anyway, here's a bit about how the filter is installed... they make a small opening in the groin or the neck and then they guide the filter to the vena cava. Once it's in position it's "legs" lock to the sides of the walls of the vena cava and it stays in place there doing it's job for the rest of your life. If you'd like to read about the Greenfield Filter here is a link. You can find alot more info, also, by entering the words Greenfield Filter into a search engine like Google. http://www.greenfieldfilter.com/ Sorry this post ended up being SO dang long !! I obviously don't have the gift of providing alot of info with few words, that's for sure ! lol Good luck to ya... and remember... walk, walk, walk after surgery !