Hi, When I had my first operation, a femur flap, a nurse helped me walk the first couple of times. He said you do not want to go outside do you? No it is too cold. Good, The last time I walked a guy outside that had had your operation, he reached in his robe, covered his trach and lit up!I was stunned even though I had been a smoker. The fellow told him he was not going to change his life style because of this, one thing or another was going to kill him anyway. he said when he got home he was going to get a 6 pack and put beer down his PEG. I asked my Doctor later and he said , yes cover the trach and smoke. Good Grief, You would think they would choke! When you see the high stats for Oral Cancer , think of all the people who will not do a single thing to try to prevent it from coming back.Everyone thinks, "It will not happen to me, or if it does I will be too old to care."