Having surgery and need to quit
 

Hi Everyone,

I have been diagnosed with oral cancer and am having surgery on July 11th. I have been hiding my daily drinking for years, about 10 beers a night. I am terrified of the overnight hospital stay unless I can get the drinking under control.

I have a loving family who is aware of my problem, but it is like the elephant in the room. No one talks about it.

Any advice would be welcome!

Sorry to hear that, cancer is scary. I am sure you'll come through just fine.

That's coming up pretty fast. At ten beers a night I think I'd get the assistance of my family physician if you are going to quit drinking, they can give you medication to cushion the withdrawals. You'd be pretty much through the rough parts by the 11th if you quit today, but time is getting short.

Maybe this is an opportunity to take that first step and make a lasting change, though, that'd be pretty cool, huh?

Good luck on the surgery!

Oceanlover, welcome!

It's very important for you to be honest with the hospital about your drinking. You're not the first person that they have admitted that has a drinking problem. It's also important for them to know this for the anesthesiologist because your body may (important to note "may) react differently to the anesthesia. Everything is also confidential.

If you have withdrawals when you aren't drinking they can give you something to help with that. In fact, I believe that in the admitting workup the question will come up if you drink and how much. When they admitted my brother who has heart problems for fluid retention they asked the question. He drinks about every other night and if there's an 18 pack he'll find his way through it. He was honest and then they asked if he needed anything to help him but he said no.

Don't be embarrassed and be honest.

Come back here too and keep us posted!

You need to tell all of your doctors including the surgeon and anesthesiologist about your drinking. I had open heart surgery in February of 2011 and was actively drinking at the time (about the same amount as you) and it is imperative that they know.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I live in a very small town and am afraid to tell my family physician. I have no problem not drinking all day if I am at work. No shakes, etc. so am fairly confident I can do this.

I am not ready to quit completely yet. I also stopped smoking last week. Dealing with the smoking and cancer is about all I can handle right now.

Oceanlover,

I can't stress how important it is to tell your doctors about your drinking...ESPECIALLY the ones that will be taking care of you at the hospital. Are you willing to risk a complication during or after surgery because you are afraid to tell your doctors? I would have to be pretty damn confident to take that risk.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I live in a very small town and am afraid to tell my family physician. I have no problem not drinking all day if I am at work. No shakes, etc. so am fairly confident I can do this.

I am not ready to quit completely yet. I also stopped smoking last week. Dealing with the smoking and cancer is about all I can handle right now.

Fear makes me irrational! I am ok with telling my the doctors at Mayo where I will be having it done. My hope is to really cut down before then. I wasn't aware that there is medication they can give me to help me through. Thanks!

About time to talk about the elephant ... to everyone who can help.

Once I began to get honest I found that the elephant was just a mouse casting a big shadow ......


All the best.

Bob R

Hi Oceanlover,

I believe that your family doctor will be bound by confidentiality rules which would prohibit him/her from telling anyone (even your family) about your alcohol intake. I understand that if you aren't ready to quit that telling may put you on the spot later. But I'd add to those who say that this is a medical safety issue and that your health should be your primary concern here.

I felt much better after I talked with my family doctor, although I avoided it for a long time for similar reasons. It was a relief!

Danae

if you are afraid to tell someone you can never be honest to yourself about it.
Free yourself, let go and get the help you need.

tooo dangerous to F' around

I know I need to tell my surgeon but talking about the elephant right now is too much for me to handle. I am still trying to get my head around the nicotine addiction and the big C.
I am just very thankful that I found this website.

Yes, do be sure to tell your surgeon and don't be too confident that you can just quit now with now problems. Withdrawal from alcohol is very unpredictable.

I wish you all the best with your surgery.

This could be just the thing you need to get sober and live on the path of recovery. You are facing a large challenge with the cancer, and I am deeply sorry for that, but the silver lining could be you can detox at the same time. Be as honest and upfront with your doctor as possible and tell him what is going on. They are trained to help in these situations, and doing you detox while already in the hospital may make it way easier than doing it at home by yourself. This very well could be a major blessing in disguise!!!

I am truly trying to look at this as a blessing. I will be forced to detox in the hospital and probably not a good idea to drink with pain meds when I get home! I spent most of yesterday reading posts and it got me through the day. Went on a boat ride last night and ended up having 6 beers instead of 10 or 12. Starting my 2nd day one 15 minutes at a time.