A little long - sorry!

I posted in another thread how my coordinator failed to give me packets explaining the pre-op testing and PCP medical clearance (and ignored 3 weeks of emails asking for information). I was finally given the information on Friday and I'm scrambling to get everything done, because surgery is set for Thursday the 29th. I have a PCP appointment and pre-op testing set for Monday afternoon/evening.

In comes a blizzard set to hit starting Monday night and lingering until perhaps Wednesday morning.

I think my chances of getting medical clearance before Thursday morning are dwindling. My PCP won't officially clear me until she has the results of my testing, which won't be faxed to her until Tuesday morning (which is predicted to be the worst portion of the storm). I'm not sure anyone will be in the offices to fax or receive them.

So herein lies my (long-winded) question: Aetna approved my surgery and hospital stay for the 29th, and my approval papers explicitly say the 29th. If my surgery gets pushed back, do I have to resubmit and do the waiting game all over? Has anyone rescheduled surgery by a few days before? What was the process like?

I'm still holding out hope for a Sleevie Miracle, but I want to be mentally prepared for a worst-case scenario. Right now the "conservative estimates" have nyc getting 10-14 inches of snow, which for here is a big deal.

Call Aetna to be sure, but I'm pretty sure you have a window of at least 30 days before that approval is no longer valid.

@@BLERDgirl thank you. I've been running around so crazy and stressed that I didn't think of the most logical thing to do: call them and ask! Ha! Thank you for the virtual smack-on-the-head "duh" moment. I'm sitting here laughing that I honestly and truly didn't even consider that. Sometimes it takes a sane person outside of the situation to point to the most logical plan! Thank you!

We've all had those moments!

When my surgery was sent to the insurance company for approval my approval letter came with a date of January 27th. The doctors office assured me this date was inconsequential and the insurance company knew it would change. Like you, I am headed in for surgery on the 29th....I will be checking the weather forecast.

Jennifer

Good luck to you Jennifer! Here's hoping the storm moves fast enough to be cleared out in time!

I have Aetna . On the 31st of December I went in for my sleeve and had to reschedule because I could feel a cold starting. There were no problems with the reschedule, I called and was given another date of January 20th. I showed up on the 20 th and had my sleeve with no issues. Good luck!

@BloomingLotus I have Aetna also. I was originally approved and scheduled for surgery on November 3rd. Had everything set, my hubby had the week off, mom had her flight to be here with me for two weeks.

Then my coordinator called and said they had to reschedule me because the doc was going to be out of town. WHAT??? I was pissed at first. But I calmed down, I knew it wasn't her fault she was just making the phone calls and had to reschedule 22 of us.

She rescheduled me for October 27th a week sooner, hubby changed his time off, Mom rescheduled her flight, and I ended up with an extra week off of work. Bonus!! Oh and I only had to do one week pre op diet!!

But I never had to contact Aetna or anything, docs office took care of everything I did have to contact my HR dept to change my LOA and my short term disability.

Good Luck with your surgery and here's to a speedy recovery!!

Hi there - you should be just fine. I changed my date before surgery and all was just fine. I have Aetna too, and I think I had a 6-month window to get the surgery completed by once approved. Hope you can do it on time or soon after!

Check with the insurance company. The doc may just have to update the auth

Thanks everyone! I actually managed to get my PCP appointment and my pre-op testing in on Monday before the snow got messy around here! Big relief. Both offices are closed today, but assured me that everything will be sent back and forth asap on Wednesday morning.

So - assuming everyone does what they are supposed to - I am still on pace for Thursday morning! This last week has been a major emotional roller coaster!!