Hi all, I’m Jaye. I’ve had psoriatic arthritis since 2005 and it’s finally time to replace my right knee, which has gotten dramatically worse in the past two months. I’ve gone from being a fairly active person to being dependent on a cane and spending a lot of time icing it. OS has been saying it needs to be replaced for more than a year, but I was chicken. I’m not chicken anymore.
So I got a call today from Kaiser to schedule my surgery, and the scheduler asks,”do you use nicotine in any form?”. I smoked from when I was 12 untilI was 50. I tried everything under the sun to quit - patches, gum, hypnosis, acupuncture. Nothing worked until I tried ecigarettes. I haven’t had a “real” cigarette in more than five years now. So I answered yes, and she told me I have to be off nicotine for four weeks and then schedule a nicotine test..
I teach a tax class in the fall (now), and do taxes during tax season. My original plan was to do this next May, but at this point I don’t think I can wait that long. My class ends at the end of November, and tax season really gets going in early February. I figured I’d have just enough time to get this done and still meet with all of my tax clients. If I have to wait four weeks after I receive the non nicotine e-cig juice I ordered as soon as I got off the phone with the scheduling (I had it expressed, so it should be here Monday, latest), to even schedule this, I will be scheduling at least least a week after “sign-ups” open, because they won’t even schedule the surgery until I pass the test. Each month’s schedule opens on the first of the month two months prior for scheduling. If I have to wait into the second week of October just to schedule, I’m afraid I wont get a slot the first week in December like I need. Geting that date is literally the only way I can see this working.
No one at Kaiser had ever mentioned this to me. They told me not to get a steroid shot less than three months prior, but no one ever asked if I “used nicotine” before. They always asked about tobacco or smoking. I don’t do either of those things, so I always answered no. If I’d known ahead, I could have tried to taper down, but now I have to go cold turkey. Even then, I may not be able to get the surgery this year. I am angry and upset. I can’t live like this until May!
I emailed my doctor to see if maybe there’s an exception to be had, but when Kaiser says “that’s the protocol”, I’m not exactly operating from a position of strength. As if this weren’t stressful enough already, now I have to quit nicotine completely for a month.
So I got a call today from Kaiser to schedule my surgery, and the scheduler asks,”do you use nicotine in any form?”. I smoked from when I was 12 untilI was 50. I tried everything under the sun to quit - patches, gum, hypnosis, acupuncture. Nothing worked until I tried ecigarettes. I haven’t had a “real” cigarette in more than five years now. So I answered yes, and she told me I have to be off nicotine for four weeks and then schedule a nicotine test..
I teach a tax class in the fall (now), and do taxes during tax season. My original plan was to do this next May, but at this point I don’t think I can wait that long. My class ends at the end of November, and tax season really gets going in early February. I figured I’d have just enough time to get this done and still meet with all of my tax clients. If I have to wait four weeks after I receive the non nicotine e-cig juice I ordered as soon as I got off the phone with the scheduling (I had it expressed, so it should be here Monday, latest), to even schedule this, I will be scheduling at least least a week after “sign-ups” open, because they won’t even schedule the surgery until I pass the test. Each month’s schedule opens on the first of the month two months prior for scheduling. If I have to wait into the second week of October just to schedule, I’m afraid I wont get a slot the first week in December like I need. Geting that date is literally the only way I can see this working.
No one at Kaiser had ever mentioned this to me. They told me not to get a steroid shot less than three months prior, but no one ever asked if I “used nicotine” before. They always asked about tobacco or smoking. I don’t do either of those things, so I always answered no. If I’d known ahead, I could have tried to taper down, but now I have to go cold turkey. Even then, I may not be able to get the surgery this year. I am angry and upset. I can’t live like this until May!
I emailed my doctor to see if maybe there’s an exception to be had, but when Kaiser says “that’s the protocol”, I’m not exactly operating from a position of strength. As if this weren’t stressful enough already, now I have to quit nicotine completely for a month.