Was wondering from the group, what is the average time from initial consultation to surgery? Please don't count insurance delays, just curious on a timeline.

Thanks

Thanks

Alls I can say, and hear me loud and clear...begin this process NOW because if you wait until August or September, others that start NOW will go before you for the year. The doctors push through those that must get their claim into insurance by the end of the year. They won't tell you this and will delay processing paperwork, or processes and make you go through mental hoops to hold you off for the next year. At least this was my journey at my clinic. I feel it really depends on the insurance you carry. Total time through my process was: 8 months. Either way, extremely happy

Its taken me about 2 months from when I started to pursue this direction. I have surgery this coming Wednesday. Had it not been for a cancellation a month would be added to the time line.

My surgery will be three months from initial consult. Im self paying. If I hadnt had some vacations already planned it couldve been maybe 4-6 weeks or less.

My timeline:

Dec 2013: attended info session

Jan 2014: initial consult

Feb 2014: bloodwork, chest xray, abdominal ultrasound, approval from primary care doc

March 2014: first appmt with surgeon and nutritionist; psych eval

April 2014: endoscopy, follow up chest CT scan, pulmonary consult

May 2014: sleep study, follow up pulmonary appmt, follow up bloodwork, insurance approval, support group meeting

June 2014: second appmt with surgeon, nutrition class, 1-week pre-op diet, pre-op appointment at hospital, then surgery!

BTW, this was slower than necessary due to my work schedule and preference for a summer surgery. If I had accepted the first available appointments for everything, the process would have taken 4 months tops.

Edited May 25, 201412 yr by tiredmama

Wow, it seems that it can happen as quick as 4 weeks or as long as 8 months?????? Very interesting.

I will post my timeline as it happens, step by step.

My seminar and Dr consult was May 22, 2014. Because of some cancelations I was able to squeeze in for a psych evaluation and nutrition consult right away. They will be submitting to my insurance next week. What I thought was to be a long drawn out process went very fast, so far. Figures crossed!

I had my meeting with my surgeon the end of April, saw the psych on May 20th. Now I am waiting for my surgeons office to submit to insurance. If all goes well I could have surgery beginning of July. Keep on reading everything you can get your hands on. I even went on YouTube to watch videos that people have made to show their journeys. I just put VSG surgery in the YouTube search bar and started watching. Good luck and hope you don't have to wait too long.