Posted on 10/31/2014 3:14:25 PM PDT by lee martell
I was supposed to have surgery on one of my ankles to reduce chronic pain. Eventually, I will need flatfoot corrective surgery on the right foot too. I've been ready for quite some time, and miss being able to walk without limping like an old man. The procedure would be a Sub-Talar Fusion. I have Veterans' Health Insurance only. I was less than 3 days away from the surgery date when I got a call from one of the Resident Surgeons. Apparently, he had been told that I use e-cigs and sometime actual cigarettes. My actual cig use is very low, from one to three a day, if at all. The concern was that the level of nicotine in my system would make healing more difficult. Therefore, the surgery I had waited over a year for was off. However, I was offered a chance to take a blood test, and if nicotine levels were significantly lower, I could still have the procedure in the first half of November. Was I interested? Of course I said yes, put me down for that date. The thing is, not once was I told verbatim that if my nicotine levels were to exceed a certain threshold, the doctors would cancel the procedure. I was given advisories, but never a clear directive, a definition of a 'dealbreaker' from my end of it.
Not much later, I realized that by having my surgery then in the middle of November, I would screw up the work schedule for all my coworkers. I work at a Care Facility for mentally ill adults. I had hoped to be ready by mid December to take some of those shifts open because of other's taking their Christmas Breaks. I;m probably the oldest person on staff, and I don't want to take too many chances with my position, i.e., absences due to recovery times. I realized I would be better off just dealing with the discomfort until after the holidays. I'm now waiting to get a new surgery date that is hopefully in January or February. I dealt with the change of plans logically and I think stoically. However, I felt a crushing disappointment inside, knowing that I would not be starting on the road to repair after all. I was still stuck on 'Pain Island'. I requested to meet with one of the Attending Surgeons next week, just to give them an update view on my general health and demeanor. I wonder how common it is for hospitals to cancel surgery within the last three days prior to the procedure. I've somewhat recovered now, a week since that phone call. However, I don't think that I have felt quite so down in years. The last time I felt that bad was when my mother died. Now, I have less trust in the doctors, but, I'm stuck for now. Have others had this kind of experience?
Oh yeah, I should’ve figured that out. I had heardcsome pain killers were getting more difficult to get. Thanks.
“Most surgery patients who are smokers usually die after surgery. Second hand smokers don’t fare much better. If we had only known the relationship between post surgery deaths and cigarettes decades ago, we could literally have saved at least 10’s of millions of people.”
Here we see the newest kool aid being spewed to and by the gullible.
A short scan of the posts will find me begging for forgiveness for forgetting the sarc tag. I am utterly amazed folks would take that seriously.
Poor Umgud, two days later, and people are STILL falling into your ‘Rabbit-Trap”! It’s like the Bell that cannot be unrung.
I know you were purposely talking ‘over the top’ but something about your statement really struck a nerve with some people, really shines a light on a hidden fear.
I love this forum at free republic. For people like me, someone who is a news hound and loves to write, it great. This easy set up helps us to learn more about ourselves. Unlike Facebook, you need not give up the safety of anonymity unless you chose to.
The sad part is that we have actually seen FReepers make even more silly arguments. There is a strong contingent of nanny staters here on FR, especially when it comes to tobacco.
I thought that there was a chance that you may have forgotten your sarc tag, but I decided that it could have been a serious post and reacted accordingly.
Thank you for the clarification and I apologize for my misreading your post.
Have a good day FRiend.
“War on Drugs”... prohibition. Frequently discussed on FR when it comes to the reduction of our civil liberties.
With the pro-nanny-stater activity we see - even here on FR - the “mystery” of how police states in the past were voted in by citizens should be no mystery any more.
Even amongst the sharpest of groups, many will fall for the trick of government being presented as a “defender” of the people, culture, etc., providing “preventative safety measures”, etc., by those seeking to turn government into a diabolical police state.
I just heard a National Guard recruiting commercial the other day on the radio telling the listener how they would be “helping people in emergencies”.
Even with clear, recent past examples many people can’t see the same endgame sought in their own time.
Yeah...because when the government tells me that I won’t get paid for any care afforded to someone that develops a post-op infection, despite my following ALL usual precautionary measures, I’m complicit in demonizing smokers?
Ain’t buying it. Doctor’s favor detailing to you your risk of surgery, based on medical history (like diabetes and obesity), social history (like smoking), and then letting YOU, the PATIENT make the decision.
First come the smokers for government beat down, next will be the obese. Watch.
It’s not just the nicotine, or the chronic conditions caused by long-term smoking such as peripheral vascular disease..it’s much more complex than that. I’m not going to sit here and conduct a CME re: the effects of cigarettes on wound healing, there are multiple articles in the literature that discuss that such as this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1422653/
And, my point was not to chastise smokers or state that I was in favor of restricting elective surgical procedures in smokers...just stating WHY some Doctors and yes, hospitals, might be forced or coerced into following what the the government mandates due to financial pressures they are starting to impose.
If someone is informed of the increased risk of infection if they continue to smoke peri-operatively and they choose to do so, they or their insurer should bear the financial risk associated with this behavior...not the Doctors and hospitals that are providing care.
Of course, this isn’t the way the heavy-handed government wants it to work, as they are becoming the ‘insurer’ for the majority of patients in this country and they don’t want to assume that cost...so, they throw the blame and financial risk on the providers and facilities then stand back out of the fray.
I’m just saying to all that stand by, you’re gonna see a lot more of this coming down the pike.
I guess we can tell them we smoke pot and they’ll schedule our surgery immediately.
Probably so..lol
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