Hello I'm a beginner with the gastric sleeve meaning on my way to getting the surgery. I've already gotten my blood drawn, abdominal scan, bilateral scan, echocardiogram and ekg. Next week I have to see a psychiatrist I'm wondering if how much more appointments..does anyone know? How many doctors do u have to see and for what? Please give any feed back

I live in a suburb of Dallas so I went to Baylor Hospital. Dr. Kuhn and his staff were awesome.

I live in a suburb of Dallas so I went to Baylor Hospital. Dr. Kuhn and his staff were awesome.

Dr. Kuhn is my surgeon too! I hope to have my surgery in the next couple months. Do you know how long it takes from the time that the insurance approves to the scheduled surgery date? Thanks!

That's great, Jen! I really like him a lot. Are you going to Baylor or Medical City? All my appointments were at Medical City but the surgery itself was at Baylor. They have a great bariatric nurse coordinator there.

In my case, I think it was about a week before I got insurance approval. The insurance coordinator is really on the ball and she makes sure that all the necessary paperwork, filled out properly, gets to your insurance company. The only hitch I had in the entire process was the woman who does the actual surgery scheduling. I could never get her to call me back. I finally had to talk to the woman in the front office and asked to talk to the office manager about the problem before I got her to take my call. I was approved at the end of July but Dr. Kuhn was going on vacation the second week in August so my date was 8/20. At first, we thought there would be a change in my insurance effective 8/1, so they were willing to try and bump another patient to make sure I got a date in July. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

Overall (except for the person who actually schedules the surgery), I have been extremely happy with the staff. The PA George seems on top of things and the sonogram tech is very friendly. All the nurses seem caring as well. And I really love Dr. Kuhn. He has such a gentle manner.

Good luck and I hope you get a date very soon. If you don't have family in the area and have any questions or need some support, let me know. And you may want to start checking out the support group that meets once a month. It's the second Monday at Medical City.

My first appt on 10/31 was at Medical City, but my surgery will be at Baylor. You've definitely made my day! I was worried that he schedules surgeries a couple months after insurance approval, but it sounds like yours went pretty quickly (except for his vacation time, but that's understandable). I do have family near and I have a few co-workers that have had the surgery. I do appreciate your support! He never told me that I have to lose weight prior to surgery so I haven't really been trying (especially with the holidays). Do you suggest that I start any preop diets? Any suggestions on protein shakes or powders? Thanks so much! I really appreciate it! Oh, and I think I'll check into the support groups to help get prepared! I can't thank you enough for responding.

If the office has a nutritionist now, I would recommend making at least one appointment with him/her. My insurance didn't cover it, but it was $45. If they haven't replaced the nutritionist yet, I would say check into doing an Atkins or South Beach plan. They're low fat, high Protein and are good prep for your post-op diet. It's a good idea to start cutting out soft drinks, fried foods and high fat now. Because it was the toughest part for me, I started early not drinking during and immediately after meals. If you haven't already, I would get some samples of protein powders to find out what you like. Protein Drinks are going to be a big part of your life for at least the first few months. There is a pinned thread in the diet section of this board that have links to a lot of sites that offer samples.

Keep me posted on your progress!