Hi, I am new to the lap band community. I am going to my first appointment with my surgeon tomorrow. I am very excited. I have completed 5 months of my 6 month pre-op diet. I have all my paperwork in order. My question is...what's next? Do the doctors go ahead and get the insurance to pre-approve the surgery or does all of the 6 month diet info have to be on file? I want to be banded in November over Thanksgiving Holidays, do you think this is possible? (I am a teacher) Will I beable to go back to work after one week?

Thanks for answering my questions!

Hi, I am new to the lap band community. I am going to my first appointment with my surgeon tomorrow. I am very excited. I have completed 5 months of my 6 month pre-op diet. I have all my paperwork in order. My question is...what's next? Do the doctors go ahead and get the insurance to pre-approve the surgery or does all of the 6 month diet info have to be on file? I want to be banded in November over Thanksgiving Holidays, do you think this is possible? (I am a teacher) Will I beable to go back to work after one week?

Thanks for answering my questions!

Hello, and welcome! You mentioned completing 5 months of a 6 month pre-op diet, and also that tomorrow is your first appointment with the surgeon. Curiously, who started you on the pre-op diet, and what kind of diet was it? To answer your questions, based on my experience, after the initial consultation with the surgeon, you will need to schedule appt's. with the psychologist, the nutritionist, and possibly to have a sleep study done (if required). There will also be some pre-op bloodwork that your PCP will do (and the surgeon's office will have a list of what must be included), and then there is the final appointment with your surgeon, the filing of the insurance paperwork by the surgeon, and then when you have your surgical date, there is pre-op testing done at the hospital a week or two prior to surgery. If you are able to get all of this coordinated and completed in order to acquire a surgical date over Thanksgiving break, I don't see any reason why you could not return to work after one week. It seems as though many people have returned after that length of time. Some a bit sooner, some a bit later, but a week seems reasonable barring any complications or unexpected issues. Good luck. Hope this helps!

My surgical center waited until all 6mths were up and all other ins requirement reports were in too. They did turn it i to ins. 1 day after the 6mths and got approved 1wk later. But ALL ins co are different.

Good luck on your journey!

_{I went to the seminar and after that I went to my general practioner and asked her to start me on my 6 month diet. I havent been back to the surgeon since the seminar because I was not sure I wanted to do the surgery. in the meantime I have been fulifilling the requirement of the 6 mth diet and have just recently decided to go ahead w/it. Today is my last app w/my regular dr and I also have an app w/the surgeon. My regular dr has had me on a diabetic diet 1600-1800 calories to meet the requiremnet of the 6 mth diet period. I have lost 10 pounds during that time.}

_{I went to the seminar and after that I went to my general practioner and asked her to start me on my 6 month diet. I havent been back to the surgeon since the seminar because I was not sure I wanted to do the surgery. in the meantime I have been fulifilling the requirement of the 6 mth diet and have just recently decided to go ahead w/it. Today is my last app w/my regular dr and I also have an app w/the surgeon. My regular dr has had me on a diabetic diet 1600-1800 calories to meet the requiremnet of the 6 mth diet period. I have lost 10 pounds during that time.}

Good for you! I have heard others refer to the six month diet, but wasn't aware of what they meant by that. Apparently different insurance companies require different pre-op diets or lengths of time dieting. Interesting. Well, thanks for the info, and it sounds like you are ready and know you want to do this now, so good luck! I hope everything goes smoothly and please keep us posted!