Smoking and surgery

I have some questions. I am in the process of being scheduled for surgery. I was wondering if anyone knew of a weight loss surgeon in TN (west) that would perform surgery while a patient was still smoking?. I know that in order to get healthy I need to quit smoking, but right now the weight is more of an issue for me and I am not sure if I can handle so many major life changes all at one time. I would like to have the surgery, work on the weight issues and life changes associated with that, and then plan to work on the smoking issue in about a year or less. Maybe I need to work on the smoking first and put the surgery off for a year? I don't know...I am just concerned that taking away everything and making so many major life changes at once is setting me up to fail before I even start. Any thoughts or feedback?

Since you don't have a surgeon yet and scheduling the surgery can take a while I would work on quiting now before surgery. You did not mention if you are approved. If not that actually gives you more time. Most doctors (I believe requires you to be smoke free for sometime). I also believe there are problems that can happen if you smoke after surgery (I can not remember what they are) I smoked until Jan 1. My surgery is May 11. It has not been as bad as I imagined. I used the patch and they actually worked. I have not gained any weight which was a big concern!!!. But quiting smoking is required for surgery for this doctor and he does a nicotine test. Don't let smoking stop you from surgery if you really feel it is right for you. I hope this helps! Pam

Hi Pam, Thanks so much for the reply. I do have a surgeon, Dr. Woodman, and things have been moving really fast which is what prompted me to write the email. I went to the seminar last Sat., had my appt with the nurse this past Wed, and my psych appt yesterday. All the other paper work for the insurance comany is completed. I don't know how long approval takes, but since I have been thinking about this for some time now I went ahead and contacted the insurance co and did a lot there on the front end. From what the nurse said, the next steps are a blood work up and upper GI test, and then an appt with Dr. Woodman to schedule surgery (if he feels everything is in order) From what she said at the seminar surgery can be scheduled within 3 weeks. I think that I need to slow down a little and work on the smoking issue as you had suggested. Once I am smoke free for several months, then maybe I can pick up the surgery date. I think Dr. Woodman's office will probably slow me down also. I got a little scared because all of this was happening fast and it was a lot of MAJOR life changes all at once. Thanks too for your support on the smoking issue. I bought the gum yesterday, but I think the patch may work better. Will keep you posted and good luck with your surgery! Thanks again for the reply! Carolyn

I was a smoker when I started this journey. At first I thought I'd just lie and say I'd quit smoking, because I really didn't want to quit, and I resented somebody telling me I had to. In the end, I decided that I wanted to have surgery worse than I wanted to smoke. I've been smoke-free for almost two months now, and I'm having surgery April 1st. My surgeon did require I have a couple of tests to make sure my lungs were in good enough shape for surgery, so you can't really fake it. Do yourself a favor and give up the smokes. You can do it!