How long from first appointment to surgery?

[bklaurid1970 0]

I have an initial appointment on 1/11/16, how many months will it actually take for the procedure date?

[Miss Mac 6,261]

That all depends on your insurance requirements and the doctor's schedule. My first appointment was August 16, 2013 and surgery was on December 23, 2013.

[WL WARRIOR 690]

My first bariatrician visit was January 28, 2014 and my actual surgery wasn't until October 6, 2014. It took so long due to the requirements and hoops I had to jump through. Just the dental requirements took up the summer months.

It really depends on your individual requirements, insurance, and bariatric program. Some people have sleep studies, stress tests, and weight loss requirements to complete before being considered before surgery and others do not.

[Yadie2006 75]

My initial appointment was 11/12/2015 and i am done with the nutricionist appointment and the psychologist appointment waiting approval. ????

[queencity 62]

First appointment june 17 2015 surgery nov 9 2015

[jjmama 184]

My surgery was about 2 months after my first appointment with my surgeon. I had to go see a dietician, an exercise therapist and have a psych eval. I made my appointments and then asked to be contacted if they had cancellations. 2 of my appointments got bumped up. My insurance also called for 6 months of working with my doctor on weight loss but my doctor wrote my insurance company a letter recommending the surgery. I also called and personally spoke with the woman at my insurance company that did the approvals. She called me herself a few days after my paperwork had been submitted to her and told me I had been approved. I did everything I could to move it along faster.

[leighannnn1791 38]

it depends on your insurance. I had my first appointment, then had surgery a month after! That month was crazy though, I had so many doctors appointments and tests that had to be done but it was very quick!

[Dub 9,922]

7-8 months with insurance

6 weeks with self pay

[MsCyrus 90]

6 months due to my insurance requiring 6 months of classes. Sooooo glad I had to wait. The program my surgeon has is amazing.

Surgery is tomorrow at 730 am in Colorado

[2goldengirl 2,076]

It also depends on your surgeon's requirements. I has my initial surgeon appt. on 12/22. I need an EGD, for which I need to see a GI specialist first. It was more than a three-week wait just for that appointment. I also need a sleep study, and I have to see a specialist before that can be scheduled. These are requirements by my surgeon, not my insurance.

[Finally_Lost_It 13]

First appt with surgeon: 10/19

Surgery: 12/22

[Craig Wildi 68]

My first appointment was October 13, 2015, and I am having surgery tomorrow morning (28th). It is not impossible to jump through all the hoops that insurance requires, in a short time frame, but it is not easy either. I had to beg for earlier appointments from the various specialists, was on the cancellation call list for a couple, and I did A LOT of driving to the different appointments and classes, sometimes taking them in other cities, to get earlier appointment dates. My patient navigator was very helpful during the process.

Now, if I can just get through tomorrow morning! I am a basket case of nerves tonight.

[Slim-Shady 79]

As everyone else mentioned, it will depend on your doctor's schedule, and your insurance. My sister and I did it together, and it took us two months from our initial appointment to surgery. We had our EGD at the end of May, which basically guaranteed insurance approval. Our longest wait was finding time on our surgeon's calendar. We didn't have any of the pre-surgery requirements others here have had; no nutritionist, psychological evals, group sessions, etc. All of that will depend on who you go with, and what they require. We were fortunate that we didn't have to endure any of that! We even found out what our out of pocket costs would be at our initial appointment.

Our timeline:

May 13, Initial Appt

May 29, EGD

July 14, Surgery

[3283 8]

I was self pay :

I had my first consultant meeting on 4th December 2015

Pre assesment on the 15th December 2015

Surgery on the 18th December

However I had been going through NHS the U.K. Health system and was referred by my doc September 2014

And still waiting so went self pay.