Question:
Will smoking interfere with lung capacity during surgery?

I have been smoking for about 14yrs and I've quit twice for a total of 3 years so, I'll say 12 years then. I know there is some kind of buildup on my lungs like tar and nicotine and whatever else the put in stinking cigarettes. My surgery date is 9-19-01 and my pre-op stuff begins on 8-19-01. I have made the decision to quit on 7-19-01 with the help of stop smoking program and nicotine patches. From 7-19 to 9-19, will my lungs be strong enough (not that their even weak right now, but...) to hold up through surgery. I mean, sometimes people go into surgery and something completely unrelated to what they go in for goes wrong or fails. That's scary...but I don't mean to scare anybody. I'm going through with the surgery no matter what but I want to be as clean and healthy as possible. I'm even stopping some of my medications. (that's another story)    — Sylvia E. (posted on July 11, 2001)

Sorry, no answers yet. Perhaps you have one to contribute.