I went to the seminar, afterwards they gave me a packet of forms to fill out and mail back so that's done. I have finished some of the requirements for the insurance company and the rest will be finished by August 21st... I was told they ( the wls clinic) )they will call within a couple weeks of receiving my info. So what can I expect to happen next?

They should call with an initial consult appointment with the surgeon, who will check out your history, order blood work, and check your general health, and insurance conditions to see if you're a good candidate for surgery.

Then you'll do all your exams which could include, EKG, Blood work, psych, Stress test, upper GI, endoscope. Then they will send it all back to your insurance and then you wait for your approval. Once you hear back you will either be approved or denied. If you are approved they will schedule your surgery, if you're denied then you will have to appeal, or fulfill some more tests, or time allotment, supervised dieting or whatever.

Everyone's experience is different, but this is the general timeline that I've seen.

Thank you sparklette, that puts things in more perspective.

Once approved is it usually a couple months out for the surgery???

My surgery was actually scheduled before I got the approval so I could prepare and get leave from work. We scheduled it at my 5th month appointment. I was approved just a week before the actual surgery. Talk about cutting it close!

It varies greatly! I had my first seminar with my surgeon in February & had my surgery in April! When I received approval the surgeon was ready to do surgery sooner than I was ready to have it done. Everyone's experience is different.

I see that everyone is different, I'm just so excited to do this I just can't wait.., lol

So, when I had my lap band, I went to the seminar, turned in my paperwork and was called 2 weeks later with my appointment to meet the surgeon AND given my surgery date....before I'd even met the man! It was crazy! Of course if anything had come up i would have been rescheduled but all went well! (Well, as good as possible with a band).

Keep your chin up, once the appointments start coming it really flies by

HW 312, pre-op (RNY) 255, current weight 204.2

I was set on doing the band but then really dug into some research and decided from what I've read I'd prefer to go through this process only once and I'm convinced I will have a better life with the rny...

Does everyone have to take a long written eval with the psych? I've heard some say it was just a few questions and others took a 2 hour written eval... Is it up to the individual psych or do most surgeons want it?

I was set on doing the band but then really dug into some research and decided from what I've read I'd prefer to go through this process only once and I'm convinced I will have a better life with the rny...

Yup! Doing it twice was not fun. Also,I had no synch veal, it's very variable.

HW 312, pre-op (RNY) 255, current weight 204.2

My surgery was scheduled 3 weeks from when I got my approval. It will depend on the physciatrist. Some require the long testing (mine did) and others just general questions. But the testing wasn't bad, just a bunch of true/false questions.