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Length of Gastric Sleeve Process



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I'm just wondering how long it took ya'll for the whole process. I'm meaning from the first meeting until the day of surgery. I know with the program that I'm going through (I have health insurance that covers the surgery) that they said it could take 3-18 months :o depending on how fast you can get all of your testing done.

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My first appointment with the surgeon was June 23 and my surgery was September 11.

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My first appt was end of April and my surgery was mid August. I had no supervised diet requirement.

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My first appointment with the surgeon was June 23 and my surgery was September 11.

Oh wow that's fast. I have almost everything done so I'm hoping to have mine by Christmas

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My first appt was end of April and my surgery was mid August. I had no supervised diet requirement.

I have those requirements but they are already done lol I'm hoping to have my surgery by Christmas

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I went to the informational seminar in February. My insurance (Cigna) requires a 90-day supervised diet and my first appointment was March 10. I met all of my program's requirements during those 90 days and I finally met my surgeon on June 19. I'm scheduled for surgery on July 27.

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I was a self-pay patient so my process went fast... 1st appointment with surgeon on June 1 and surgery on June 30. I had lots of tests to do, but everything just worked out and went smoothly.

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So by what everyone is saying, it took 1-4 months ???? that gives me some hope that I can get this process done in a timely manner so I can hopefully be sleeved before Christmas

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My first appt was on june 11 and july 16 is my surgery... they said that it all depends on what kind of insurance bcbs only required the pre op tests so i got all but my blood work done in a week i had to wait at least 15 days before surgery for that hope this helped

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I went to an informational seminar in January and had my first meeting with the surgeon mid February. I am scheduled for surgery this Friday, July 17. I also saw the nutritionist and had the psych eval at the same appointment. What took the longest for me was waiting for the insurance company to verify everything. Originally I was told there was a six month waiting period, even though they didn't require any supervised medical weight loss or educational classes. I still took the classes though, offered through my medical group, and I'm glad I did.

Even though it may not seem like it to you now, there are advantages to not having surgery right away (my opinion). My surgeon wanted me to try to lose at least 20 pounds before surgery to get rid of some of the fat around my liver, making it easier to get to my stomach. I've lost 32 and my BMI went down about 5 "points". Hoping that makes a difference come surgery day!

Good luck everyone! :D

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My first appointment was May 12, 2015 and my surgery is on July 31, 2015 (doctor was on vacation these last two weeks, so had to wait for him to return. Otherwise it would've been scheduled for an earlier date.) Pre-op is Wed, July 22, next week. [ins. BCBS]. Hope this helps.

Edited by Shinnystar

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    • Aunty Mamo

      Iʻm roughly 6 weeks post-op this morning and have begun to feel like a normal human, with a normal human body again. I started introducing solid foods and pill forms of medications/supplements a couple of weeks ago and it's really amazing to eat meals with my family again, despite the fact that my portions are so much smaller than theirs. 
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Oh yeah, something I wanted to rant about, a billing dispute that cropped up 3 months ago.
      Surgery was in August of 2023. A bill shows up for over $7,000 in January. WTF? I asks myself. I know that I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and verified this and triple checked that, as did the surgeon's office. All was set, and I paid all of the known costs before surgery.
      A looong story short, is that an assistant surgeon that was in the process of accepting money from my insurance company touched me while I was under anesthesia. That is what the bill was for. But hey, guess what? Some federal legislation was enacted last year to help patients out when they cannot consent to being touched by someone out of their insurance network. These types of bills fall under something called, "surprise billing," and you don't have to put up with it.
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Still purging all of the larger clothing. This morning, a shirt that I ADORED wearing ended up on top. Hard to let it go, but it was also hard to let go of those habits that also no longer serve my highest good. Onward and upward!
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