Since my insurance company will not cover my surgery, I'm a self pay patient. I have only gone to the seminar but have my first Dr.'s appt. this Thursday morning.

At the seminar, the Dr. hinted that self-pay patience went thru the process from seminar to surgery much quicker. Does anyone have experience with the time frame for self-pay patients.

How long did it take from seminar to surgery, what pre-op tests were required, did you still do a pre-op diet (how long). How was you overall self-pay experience?

Thanks you so much

I'm anxious to see answers to this question. I am also self pay. I attended the seminar and have my appointment with the surgeon on Thursday afternoon. I heard the same thing at the seminar that self pay can get through the process more quickly. I should get a surgery date on thursday so I will let you know. Please update also

Since my insurance company will not cover my surgery, I'm a self pay patient. I have only gone to the seminar but have my first Dr.'s appt. this Thursday morning.

At the seminar, the Dr. hinted that self-pay patience went thru the process from seminar to surgery much quicker. Does anyone have experience with the time frame for self-pay patients.

How long did it take from seminar to surgery, what pre-op tests were required, did you still do a pre-op diet (how long). How was you overall self-pay experience?

Thanks you so much

Well I pretty much was scheduled ASAP once I came up with the money. I didn't have surgery in the US though. I wasn't required to have any Psychological evals or anything like that and they did all my pre-op testing the day before surgery.

So it went VERY fast. Good luck!!!

I did not attend a seminar but booked over the internet for surgery in Tijuana MX. I submitted a questionnaire and received the "approval" the next day or so, I was asked to select a surgery date which could of been almost anytime within the next couple of weeks, I choose a date about a month distant.

Self pay in MX is not for everyone but it worked for me.

Had surgery 12/6/10 and have lost nearly 75 lbs.

Since my insurance company will not cover my surgery, I'm a self pay patient. I have only gone to the seminar but have my first Dr.'s appt. this Thursday morning.

At the seminar, the Dr. hinted that self-pay patience went thru the process from seminar to surgery much quicker. Does anyone have experience with the time frame for self-pay patients.

How long did it take from seminar to surgery, what pre-op tests were required, did you still do a pre-op diet (how long). How was you overall self-pay experience?

Thanks you so much

yup sure do! in my case it went like this, end of october seminar, november all the doctor/nutritionist/psych evals and december surgery. . . goes really fast! Actually you get to pick when you want it and as long as the medical stuff is done and you pass the psych crap your good to go! I was not required to do a preop diet, even though my BMI was 45 and my overall experience was Totally Excellent ! I even got an excellent loan rate of 3 % . . . couldn't be better!

Seminar Sept 29th ish 2010. VSG Nov 10th, 2010. Liver shrink diet prior to surgery. Only had to drop 14#. psych eval. nutrition consults/classes, and exercise consults. Done in Oklahoma. Mexico would have been cheaper, but feel like I have more education because of the mandatory classes and follow up visits. New start on life= priceless

I'm anxious to see answers to this question. I am also self pay. I attended the seminar and have my appointment with the surgeon on Thursday afternoon. I heard the same thing at the seminar that self pay can get through the process more quickly. I should get a surgery date on thursday so I will let you know. Please update also

Will do.... I'm ready to get this moving. I love to swim and i've read that you much be out of the Water for 4 weeks (however with my Gall Bladder is was only 2 weeks). But it would be nice to spend the summer wearing smaller clothes. Nothing like a swim suit to get one motivated to lose weight.

My appt is at 9am. I will try to update when i get back to my office.

Good Luck!

When I made my appointment they had just had their seminar but I had gone to the orientation at Kaiser before I was rejected. I had my first consult around July 28 and had surgery Aug 24. I was on a clear liquid diet for three days pre op. I had to have a psych eval and meet with their nut.. I had had an endoscope in 07 so I did not need to do another. EKG, chest x ray and blood tests I did through Kaiser and had them send the labs to my surgeon . I had my surgery in the states I'm in Ca.

I talked to my doctor on the phone (our son's play soccer together) on Dec. 5. He told me it was visible to get it done by the end of the month if I needed to do it by the end of the year for insurance purposes...when he found out I was self pay he said he could still do it be over Christmas break. I had a vacation planned so didn't do it that quickly. He had his office set my consult for the Dec. 14 knowing I was going to the mandatory seminar on Jan. 10. I got the paper work at the seminar and took it to my consult. Normally, I would have had to mail in the paper work and wait a few weeks. I got in for a sleep study quickly (Dec. 7) and had to wait for only a week for my psych eval (Dec. 12). I chose the my surgery date of Jan. 13 because that allowed me to come back from vacation and do the 10 day pre-op diet.

Hope it goes quickly for you!

My doctor was taking a break from the seminars in early January so I scheduled an appt for the 21st. Did a 2 day pre-op liquid diet and had surgery on 1/26/11! Got my drain out this morning and I'm going back to work tomorrow!

When I made my appointment they had just had their seminar but I had gone to the orientation at Kaiser before I was rejected. I had my first consult around July 28 and had surgery Aug 24. I was on a clear liquid diet for three days pre op. I had to have a psych eval and meet with their nut.. I had had an endoscope in 07 so I did not need to do another. EKG, chest x ray and blood tests I did through Kaiser and had them send the labs to my surgeon . I had my surgery in the states I'm in Ca.

Thank you..... i'm in Texas. I'm a little nervous about going across the border so I think i'll stick with the Dr's in the states.

Sounds like you got it all taken care of in about a month.

I was a revsion from lapband, but also self-pay. All I had to have was a cardiac clearance from a cardiologist, but my surgeon had already scheduled my surgery beforehand. It was basically as soon as I wanted. Only pre-op diet was a few days of liquids and nothing night before surgery.

Where in Texas are you? I had my self-pay surgery 8 days ago in San Antonio with Dr. Patel. It took less than 2 months for me, and I had to have a bunch of tests beforehand.

Thank you..... i'm in Texas. I'm a little nervous about going across the border so I think i'll stick with the Dr's in the states.

Sounds like you got it all taken care of in about a month.

Where in Texas are you? I had my self-pay surgery 8 days ago in San Antonio with Dr. Patel.

I'm in the Frozen tundra of Fort Worth.... Dr. Gregory Barnes is my Dr. and most like I will have my surgery at Forrest Park Medical across from Medical Plaza Hosp. in Dallas

Most self-pay is pretty quick. As soon as you have the money and get all your testing completed, it's ready to be done. Mine could've been done in about 2 months (it all depends on how fast you can get into the various docs for tests). I took about 6 months for a few reasons: To save up a little extra money, to allow my brain to comprehend what I was doing, and because it was the slow season at work when I chose to have my surgery done. It's a quick ride regardless of your time frame....enjoy the ride...the before is MUCH worse than the after!!

Where in Texas are you? I had my self-pay surgery 8 days ago in San Antonio with Dr. Patel. It took less than 2 months for me, and I had to have a bunch of tests beforehand.

Hi there seniorsleever and fellow san antonian! I had my surgery with Dr. Cavazos at NE Baptist (however my hospital was Foundations since I was self pay)