Question
Hi Leslie,
I am not sure if you can help me or not... my dad is in rehab recovering from an SCI Injury...he shattered c7-t1 and had reconstructive surgery done and has a halo on for disk damage at c3-c4.  My problem is that he has started chewing tobacco again and I was told it can cause his recovery time/fusion of surgery to take longer... is this correct?  Thanks, Kelli  

Answer
Hi Kelli- Thanks for your inquiry.  I'm glad your dad is not worse, but I imagine you've all been through some pretty serious days lately-

To the best of my knowledge, it is generally accepted that smoking tobacco slows healing of bones (it is chemicals in the smoke, ie carbon monoxide and nicotine).  I haven't seen anything on chewing tobacco specifically, but it also contains nicotine so I'd imagine it would have a similar, lesser effect.  You're in a bad spot- I smoked when I was in rehab too and I know that was hard on my mom who'd just watched me barely live through it all.  
You of course can't make him change, but you can certainly tell him how you feel about it.  It's easy to go back to old habits when everything has just been flipped around in your life, so maybe you can find a position from which you can try to understand his need for things familiar to his old life, but still let him know that watching him hurt himself after all that's happened scares you/makes you angry/etc.

Good luck, Kelli- the mental part of rehab is just as hard as the physical, alot of times, and our families get stuck in it with us.  If there's anything I left out or if you have other questions please feel free to email me again.  
thanks
Leslie

ps- Added note- though this shouldn't justify your dad's (or my) behavior, I didn't notice healing problems related to smoking--or at least it was never identified to me as a cause.  Of course, I was 21 and in good physical shape at the time.  Just thought I'd mention it-- L


This added after receiving your rating: I got an email saying I had been left negative feedback from you?  I hope in the future you will choose to ask further questions if you feel I have been unclear or left something out as opposed to quitting entirely.