I have had my endoscopy on 12/28, leg ultrasound 12/17, ekg on 12/29, Psych eval today which went really well, two nutrion visits already and one to go. Sleep study done on 1/4, Pulmonary dr visit on 12/17 still need to have echo and stress test done next week. I have my follow up visit with the surgeon on Feb 5th with he will go over all my consents for surgery from all the dr's I have seen. My question is how long does it usually take once that is done for them to schedule surgery? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks..:tt1:

Has it been submitted to your insurance? Or are you self pay? Have you started the pre-op diet? Do you have to do one?

From the time my insurance approval came in till my surgery date was a month. Pre-op diet was 2 weeks.

Denise

I had my first appointment on Thursday. We did the usual 1 hour talk. I am about to schedule my pre tests all in one day (that's how they do it there) after that they will submit to the insurance. They said they will get a result in 3 days. I guess once all your pre tests in and they submit to the insurance, it depends on them. It could take up to a month or more or it could be in just in days. After they approve it, you may have a pre op diet. That may take weeks or days. For example, mine will be 2 weeks on a liquid diet. You can lose weight with the liquid diet. :tt1:

Oh ok so once I go back to the surgeon then its really up to the insurance co? Am I correct? I just want to get this done and over with...

Yes, the surgeon will submit all of the reports from the various consults to your insurance company. I was told the typical wait was 4-6 weeks, and I was approved right smack at 5 weeks after submission of the paperwork. The day my surgeon got the approval, I got my date. It was just about a month later (this coming week), but much of the delay was due to the holidays and the doctors' vacation schedules. (There are two doctors in the group, and they always operate in tandem; if one is on vacation, the other does not operate.)

During that time, though, there were things to keep me busy. There have been appointments for bloodwork, to sign the consents, and another seminar focusing on the preop and postop diets.

Since I am self-pay, I guess the process will go faster? I see the doctor on Jan. 25 and hope to have surgery 1-2 weeks after that. I have already had all my tests done, and my doctor doesn't require a pre-op diet!

Funny enough I got a surgery date before I ever went to my surgery consult. I met him on 12/3 and surgery was on 12/16....they scheduled it as soon as my insurance company gave the approval (I had to do his seminar, a support group meeting, and the dietician's meeting-actually conference call-before they would submit to insurance)...I guess I got lucky!

Just FYI'ing ... went to my initial information session.

Seemed like a lot depended on insurance, but they tried to lift up the ones that had insurance that required the 6 month diet plan. They said, start tomorrow, start scheduling all your necessary appointments, which aren't going to be *tomorrow*, and then by the time you are done with them, the surgery will really only be realistically weeks away.

On the other hand, they said, if you are a 45 year old female, 100lbs overweight, high blood pressure, some type 2 diabetes stuff coming on, but otherwise in good shape with no other majore stuff going on, good stress tests, etc. ... they said could be 8 weeks from first session.

They did also mention that if you are a man who is 300+ overweight with lots of other stuff going on, you could be 12 months from surgery and a required 100 lb weight loss pre-surgery.

I am soooo calling tomorrow.