smoking pre op

Hi all!!!! I'm new to this forum and just have one small question. My surgery is set for june 4th and my surgeon is Dr. McDowell at Metabolic Surgery Center in Nashville. Ok here goes, does anyone know if they take a urine test before surgery to check for nicotine. I admit it i am a smoker and I know this is so bad for me, but now is just not the time for me to try to quit. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Jamie,         I had Dr. Spaw and he is in the same office, I am not a smoker so I was not concerned with this, however I remember they were stressing before we did our pre-op testing that they would know if there was nicotine in your body during the pre-op testing and if this came back positive your surgery would be cancelled, because they will not operate on a smoker!!   You may want to check into this, but it has to do with the healing process and this is a very major surgery. Good Luck!! Shelia

I quit smoking 2 months ago so I can have this surgery without any complications.  Dr. McDowell is also going to be my surgeon.  I do know that respitory problems are very common in people who smoke after this surgery and can cause serious complications.  I do not plan on going back to smoking after the surgery.  I have worked too hard to clear out my lungs which was not easy as I was a 2 pack per day and sometimes 3 packs a day on the weekends.  You might talk to your doctor about getting a prescription for chantix.  It really works miracles.

Thanks for you kind and understanding letter. i have quit smoking at this point, but just a few days ago. I will think about the meds, but hoping to handle it on my own. once again, thank you for your response.

Your surgeon needs to know everything about your health. They don't tell you to quit smoking just to get you to quit. You may need to just call the office now and admit that you are still smoking so they can reschedule your surgery rather than get there next week and have them send you home. Stress wise this may not be the best time. Does that mean that post-op is going to be a better time? I don't mean to sound mean, but, if you can't quit pre-op I don't think it's going to be any easier post-op when you may have to deal with head hunger and the inability to turn to food for comfort during times of stress. You have to decide how badly you want this surgery. Like Shelia said, this is major surgery. Most of us faced enough of a surgery risk just from our weight that we certainly didn't need the respiratory risks of smoking right up to surgery. You are no different I'm sure. Whatever you decide, I hope everything turns out well for you. Please let us know what you decide, especially if you go through with your surgery on the 4th.

in case you aren't aware, stopping smoking is just as hard as not being an over eater. Obviously, we all have problems with that or we wouldn't be here or going through with this. If i could just simply stop I certainly would have done the same with my eating.

I am very aware how difficult it is to stop smoking. However, the difference between smoking and overeating is that everyone must eat to live so you can't just quit eating entirely. I did not mean to sound harsh or judgmental. It appears that is how you took it though. I never said it would be easy to quit smoking. I'm glad you have been able to quit for the past few days. That will make your surgery and recovery easier. I've heard that the positive results of stopping smoking begin as early as 24 hours after a person quits. The person I responded to has not quit though and I was giving him/her my opinion regarding the upcoming surgery. I would hate to see anyone wind up in the ICU with pneumonia, or worse, because they failed to follow their surgeon's orders. 

The reason that you were told to quit smoking is, according to my surgeon, if you quit smoking as late as 2 weeks before your surgery it will decrease the likelihood of post op pneumonia by 70%.  As someone else said, there are too many other risks involved for us to add this one.  I am not judging/flaming or *****ing at you, but if you can't commit to quitting smoking, I don't think you are ready for the surgery yet.  I don't know which surgery you are going to have, but you said that quitting smoking is as hard as quitting eating (and I agree I did both and have started back both before my surgery)  if you can't commit to quit smoking, I'm afaid you won't be able to commit to the surgery .  If you can't commit to the surgery you are setting yourself up for alot of pain and heart ache.  I would suggest therapy to quit smoking and when you have succeded at that then have the surgery.  I only tell you this because I am concerned that you haven't fully wrapped you head around the emotional impact that surgery will have on you.  If you have, I apologize .  Either way I wish you the best of luck in  your journey. Darlene

The two main reasons to stop smoking are 1)respiratory, as already mentioned and 2)for healing purposes.  Smoking robs your blood of oxygen and you need oxygen to heal.  Even if you have a laproscopic procedure, there is still a lot of cutting internally that is done.  If you continue to smoke, it will take you much longer to heal and may cause difficulties that you would not have faced otherwise.  If you are having a difficult time quitting, then ask your doctor for the patch or one of the new meds available.  Good luck and God Bless!  Keep us posted.  ~~Elena