Discouraged:(

I have never smoked but my surgeon told us that he absolutely requires people be non smokers because incisions don't heal well. He had a patient who was not healing well and discovered that she had lied about her smoking. He changed his pre op protocol to test for nicotine before he will operate. So it really is for your own safety. GL and I hope you get your surgery even if you have to wait a bit. I am going on 10 years and its been a great thing. I had to wait quite a while before I could have surgery due to insurance appeals and some scheduled traveling but it was well worth it. Diane S

Well my friend lied to her surgeon and said she didn't smoke. She's smoked for about 25 years. She quit breathing during surgery and had to be intubated for 24 hours. When they intubated her, they cracked her front tooth. Her oxygen level was in the 70s. She had to stay an extra 3 nights in the hospital. I don't know if her smoking contributed this but I'm sure it didn't help things either. Definitely follow your drs orders

I can relate to what you are going through. Back in 2004, I was getting ready to have my surgery and put my life back on track. I had a number of health issues, including a heart attack at 37, sleep apnea, and diabetes. So the day before when I was getting ready (drinking that nasty stuff to clean you out), I get a call from the staff nurse telling me I didn't have a letter from my cardiologist stating it was okay for me to have the surgery. Now, this wasn't something they didn't know, and I had in fact checked to see if they needed anything from him. I was told no which didn't sound right but I went along with it. Now I had less than 24 hours to get a letter from him. Of course, he was on vacation and the doctor taking over wasn't about to clear me without seeing me. The earliest was a day after the schedule surgery. So I had to cancel and reschedule. This was the best time in my work schedule to get it down. Now it was plan B.

Almost three months later I show up to the hospital ready for the surgery. That's when my wife and I noticed how dark the hospital looked. Yep, a power outage had hit the area. After waiting an hour the nurse who had told me about the letter two months early came out. I could tell from her face it wasn't good. There was no way they could do the surgery that day. I was devastated. Not only was it going to be difficult to schedule a time in the future, my insurance was about to change their policy in a couple of weeks and wouldn't cover any of the surgery.

Fortunately they were able to reschedule me before the end of the month and things turned out fine. That is what you have to keep thinking of. Yes, it's a setback of such but you will have the surgery and get your health/life back on track. Just hang in there. Two years from now this will be a non-issue. Take care.