[Twotone]

I’m so sorry to hear of your experience. The only similar situation that I’ve heard about is overweight friends being denied knee replacement surgery. Well, if knees hurt, you’re not likely to exercise so it ends up being a chicken & egg situation. Wouldn’t going ahead & doing the surgery to ease the pain & make mobility better be the best thing?

I guess not.

[WHBates]

"Apparently, he had been told that I use e-cigs and sometime actual cigarettes.

Who told them this. If it was you why? Is it a condition of your policy?

[tje]

This is a ‘Thanks Obama’ moment.

[Andy'smom]

That sounds crazy.

[GeronL]

what is the recovery time on that surgery?

[cripplecreek]

I’m assuming the docs are getting paid.

Should have told them you were gay and if they don’t perform the surgery you’ll sue.

[al baby]

Cancelled or post poned because they don’t want you to have nicotine in your system prior to going under??

[KoRn]

That’s insane!

I was needing to get on the Transplant list for a Liver last year, and was told I had to quit smoking to be eligible for a transplant. I asked what in the hell smoking had to do with my Liver, and they didn’t have a good answer. I could understand them telling me to quit drinking, but I already didn’t drink at all. I believe Nicotine leaves your system rapidly. It would likely be gone within a week or two. Just quit ahead of time before your next appointment.

Now days, it’s VERY bad to tell your doctor that you do ANYTHING perceived to be ‘unhealthy’, because you WILL be penalized for it, sometimes even years later. The computers never ‘forget’....

[umgud]

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.

[PIF]

you gotta wonder about all the surgeries since the 1920s that were done on smokers ... I think it is just more smoker Nazi hate. Suffer you vile smoker, and so on.

Like the orthopedic doctor told me when I asked how I could drive after a rotor cup operation as I have a stick shift - he said, “You should have gotten an automatic.” Bedside manner and all that doctor-patient schitk ... gone these days.

Going for a second opinion as I no longer trust that doc.

[Drango]

the level of nicotine in my system would make healing more difficult...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.

Sorry for your difficulty, but this is a known result of smoking. Would you like us to demand the surgeon perform the operation?

[blueplum]

Under the heading, “Healing” is an explanation of how cigarette smoke (and/or nicotine alone) impacts tissue healing, and may be helpful to understanding why you need to quit all nicotine before elective surgery until well after the surgical wound is healed. Time to quit my friend. Be well.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/410808_3

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting, lee martell. Very interesting. Great thread. Thanks to all posters. Great health / long enjoyable BUMP!

[heartwood]

Are you counting the e-cig use in your 1-3 a day, or is that separate?

I had a patient who was getting chronic bronchitis from cigarettes - he replaced about half his smokes with e-cigs. Chest cough got a lot better but his circulation was terrible - feet cool and purple.

Now you probably weren’t going into surgery with cold purple feet, but e-cigs can deliver more nicotine than tobacco cigarettes, and it’s a potent blood vessel constrictor, slowing wound healing and increasing the chances of infection, and it makes sense for a surgeon to be concerned.

However, you should be judged on your individual use and response to nictotine.

[OpusatFR]

You have a good doc. Anesthesia is a problem for heavy smokers. It’s better if you stop smoking prior to the operation. Start back afterwards, if you choose.

[taxcontrol]

I sounds to me like some lame excuse is being offered to cover for their lack of availability of something critical.

[Don W]

I just (3 weeks ago) had abdominal surgery, and one of the surgeon’s “requests” was that I stop smoking before the knife comes out. I’ve been waiting for 8 months for an anesthesiologist to become available, so I went ahead and quit.

Not a big deal to me, though when I smoke, I SMOKE (between 2-3 packs daily). Other smokers can’t understand how easy I stop the weed, while I have trouble understanding why they have so much trouble dropping the habit. Note, I said HABIT, not addiction, or crutch, or any other pseudonym for lack of determination.

I did however, tell the doc that I consider his request out of line, because I consider what he does as “mechanical repairs” to my body. I wouldn’t honor a request from my garage to fill the car with premium and run it through a car wash before having a tune-up done, so why would I alter my lifestyle for the doc? He merely smiled and said I had a point.

Best of luck with your dropping the stinky sticks, and may you have less trouble with your recovery than I seem to be enjoying.

[Veggie Todd]

Do you smoke with your feet? Most people use their hands.

[Askwhy5times]

You should have three words for your doctor(s). YOU ARE FIRED!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My brother was a smoker for forty years. He just had a knee replacement with major complications because his blood flow is so low in that leg. He had the original surgery in January and just had another last week, with several in the meantime.

Have them measure the blood flow in that foot with Dopler. If there is not enough flow, you might be fighting infection if you have the surgery.