How well you'll fare during and after surgery depends on what you've done to prepare your body for the operation. — Edel Rodriguez
En español l Jean Hanson needed a new hip. After years of teaching P.E. and tearing up ski slopes all over the world, the Sedona, Arizona, resident was in so much pain that she relied on a walker. She finally decided to have surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, but there was just one problem: Doctors there wouldn't do the operation unless she quit smoking.
It turns out that smokers, compared with nonsmokers, have nearly double the risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or other severe complication during or immediately after surgery. Stopping for even a few weeks can make a dramatic difference. "It doesn't make sense for us to subject you to a huge operation if we know you are going to have the worst possible outcomes," says Tom Varghese, a thoracic surgeon and medical director of Strong for Surgery, a public health campaign aimed at optimizing patients' health presurgery.
Indeed, while your surgeon's skill is an important factor in determining how well you'll fare during and after surgery, your own actions matter more than you think. Here's what you need to do.
A high blood sugar level may increase your risk of dying during heart surgery. — Mark Harmel/Getty Images
1. Get your blood sugar tested
Having high blood sugar during surgery quadruples the risk of dying during heart surgery and triples the risk of wound infection. Incredibly, a quarter of surgery patients without a prior diabetes diagnosis had elevated blood sugar on the day of their operation, according to a 2011 study in the journal Nutrition. If you're scheduled for surgery, make sure to ask your doctor to schedule a fasting blood glucose test.
Quit smoking; sneaking just one cigarette before surgery can raise blood pressure and reduce oxygen to vital organs. — Getty Images
2. Toss the cigs
Nicotine and other compounds in tobacco smoke constrict the small blood vessels, which increases the risk of heart attack during surgery and restricts the blood flow needed for wound healing. But if smokers quit for just a month before surgery, they have outcomes similar to those who never smoked, Varghese says. Sneaking just one cigarette before surgery, though, can raise blood pressure and reduce oxygen to vital organs.
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