Hi Guys,

I'm in New Orleans, LA going for my consultation in the morning. I'm starting at 425 and had an accident with injury 2 years ago that has stunted my life in a lot of ways. I'm nervous about tomorrow. I am a smoker and know I have to quit. I'm paying out of pocket so I'm hoping to schedule this in mid January. I guess my questions are these. 1) When paying out of pocket, what tests etc did you have to go through? 2) How quickly were you able to schedule it? 3) If you were a smoker, did you quit? If you didn't what complications did you have? 4) What questions should I have ready for the doctor? Thanks in advance for any answers I get.

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Quitting smoking will extend your life as much as the surgery.

A lot of surgeons will not do the procedure if you do not quit smoking at least for 2 weeks prior to surgery and 6 weeks after due to the fact that smoking after surgery can lead to infected wounds and slows the healing process

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I don't smoke but my fiancé does at the first appointment she smelled it and explained to me that if I smoked she wouldn't do the surgery until I quit. But since I don't she just said no second hand smoke because it can slow the healing process. Some surgeon do a nicotine test before surgery too! So if you really want it done just quit... I know easier said then done.