I'm waiting and waiting and waiting...for july 15th, and it's taking FOREVER to get here. I've been dieting and exercising for 19 months, and will have to go on another month diet and exercise program ( Which Is fine). But I'm getting emotional lol. I just want to be PAST this already, I want to be at the point where I look at my husband and say ... ok.. it's over, now lets try this whole starting a family thing again!

I don't know why I"m feeling this way I assume it's pretty normal to just want to get it all over with.

if anyone else has recently gone through the whole process is reading this, what can I expect on my first dr's visit? ( The surgeon's consult), and when you went to your PCP for a letter of medical necessity, did you just ask for it? did they just immediatly say Ok, sure no problem? I mean what am I really looking at here?

Hope to get some replies Thanks all <3 <3 <3

Your encouragement is so helpful!

Ah sweetie I feel you. This is a long process and its easy to get anxious. I sure feel anxious right now. It took four weeks for my blood tests to come back and now I am waiting for my pre op apointment and have no idea when my surgury is going to be. I didn't have to get a letter of medical necessity, but I am sure you can call your doc's office and ask them how this all works. I had to be blunt with the secetary and say can you tell me just how all this works because waiting for a call takes forever. Hope it gets better for you and you hear something real soon.

Yup, you're normal. We all go through the gambit of emotions for this.

When I met the surgeon the first time I didn't know what to expect either. We just talked about my medical history and the reasons why I wanted to have surgery and which surgery I wanted to have. He then told me the next steps that I would have to complete (what tests, the fact that he wanted a letter of medical necessity from my PCP, etc). He then asked if I had any questions, and I pulled out my small list of questions that I had written down based on my research from these forums and he very patiently answered every single one of them. (By the way, he did it again when I saw him for the 2nd meeting where I signed consents an had an even longer list of questions.)

I also met with the nutritionist for the first time that day. That was something I wasn't expecting, but he has nutritionists on staff in his office and they just automatically come in to speak with you the first day. I thought that was pretty nice.

When I went back to my PCP, I told him this is what I am doing and the surgeon requested the letter of medical necessity (and a series of lab tests that my PCP could order). It took several phone calls and a couple of weeks to actually get the letter from my PCP - mainly because they were taking a very long time in actually producing it, but the PCP had no problem doing it - just took forever to do.

I went to my PCP for my 6 month physician supervised weight loss. He was the one who referred me to the bariatric surgeon and knew what I was going through.

So I typed up my own letter of medical necessity. I had it in printed form and on a jump drive. I even had the receptionist print it on my PCP's letterhead. He could change it if he wanted or just sign the thing. He signed it. It was quicker, less work for him, and it said the things I needed it to say.

At my PCP appointment last November we discussed the weight loss surgery option. She was supportive and I told her I was going to think about it and if I decided to pursue it I would contact the bariatric center in January. I attended my first weight loss seminar in January and had my initial appointment with the surgeon for February. We discussed the different surgical options and I asked him to recommend what he thought was best for me. He recommended the sleeve and told me why. He then ordered several more tests including a EKG, bone density test, endoscopy, psychologist appraisal, and a bunch of lab work. I actually had the bone density test done at my PCP office. The bariatric center sent copies of all of my test results to my PCP and they were the ones to request the "letter" from her. After surgery I asked when I should schedule my next followup visit with my PCP and they said three months post-op. I had my PCP appointment last week and I had lost 48 lbs from my November visit. She said she had been receiving regular updates of my progress each time I was seen at the bariatric center. My surgeon had already taken me off all but one of my diabetic medications but they wanted my PCP to evaluate all my medications at three months post-op which she did.

I had to wait about six weeks after my last surgeon appointment and my surgery date due to vacations (first mine, then his) and work-related travel. Those six weeks were the longest of my life. I was so ANXIOUS to get the surgery behind me and start on the journey. I didn't do a ton of research or talk to many people about surgery since I was afraid i was going to get scared and talk myself out of it. I will say that the time went very slowly.

I'm waiting and waiting and waiting...for july 15th, and it's taking FOREVER to get here. I've been dieting and exercising for 19 months, and will have to go on another month diet and exercise program ( Which Is fine). But I'm getting emotional lol. I just want to be PAST this already, I want to be at the point where I look at my husband and say ... ok.. it's over, now lets try this whole starting a family thing again!

I don't know why I"m feeling this way I assume it's pretty normal to just want to get it all over with.

if anyone else has recently gone through the whole process is reading this, what can I expect on my first dr's visit? ( The surgeon's consult), and when you went to your PCP for a letter of medical necessity, did you just ask for it? did they just immediatly say Ok, sure no problem? I mean what am I really looking at here?

Hope to get some replies Thanks all <3 <3 <3

Your encouragement is so helpful!

Hi there. . . well at my first dr consult we just talked about the surgery itself and what questions I had. . I had made very sure to write everything i wanted to ask down so that i wouldn't miss anything. . . i even started on this forum about 4 - 5 months before my surgery. . . i wanted to know everything. . . so at the inital consult, doc and i chatted and then he just asked when i wanted the surgery done. . .i told him in December and he took it from there. . . but remember I didn't have to jump through hoops and such with insurance, i was completely self pay. . . he would have done the surgery the next day if i wanted him to. . . thats the pleasure of self pay. . . good luck, and remember this waiting game is only temporary, pretty soon you will be able to look at DH and say "finally it's over" . . . . cheer up it's only hormones. . . lol

Wow Thank you all so much! Reading about your experiences really does help!

@ NancyRivers I've anxiously awaiting another video from you! <3

You all are so helpful, thank you again for putting my mind at ease After reading all of your comments I went through and looked at exactly what the insurance paperwork said a few more times, and finally got past all the junk to the meat of the matter, and I"m pleased that it doesn't seem to be as tough as I once thought. I think that all the medical jargon scares some people off lol! I Vlogged aobut what everything in the list ( That applies to me) Really means.

<3 <3 <3