Hey,

My name is YaYa. I am 21. I am from Little Rock, AR. I am schedule for a seminar in July.

At this moment I just want to know the journey to surgery date.

What did you all go through that you wished you had known?

Insurance?

Pay out of Pocket? Monthly billing?

How you went about selecting your surgeon?

Tips for preparing for the surgery

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Hi YaYa! I'm in Raleigh, NC. I started my process in Feb. and I will have my surgery June 22.

At my first doctor's visit, the office looked up my insurance and told me exactly how much my part would be. Unfortunately I have a large deductible. Some insurance plans will have you go through a 3 or 6 month diet before surgery, however, I did not!

My hospital has everyone go to 3 nutrition classes before surgery and you have a lot of medical appointments to go to. I had a psychological exam, an endoscopy, a sleep study, an ultrasound of my gallbladder and monthly surgeon visits. I also had to go to 2 support group meetings, provide a 5 year weight history and get a letter from my primary care physician. It took me about 3 months to get all that done and another month waiting for paperwork and approval for surgery.

Waiting for all the appointments seemed to take forever, but here I am, next week I'm going to start my 2 week liquid diet (to shrink my liver to make it easier for surgery, not everyone has to do this). So excited that I decided to do this for myself.

About selecting my surgeon. We have a couple of top notch programs where I live, but only one took my insurance. I had three surgeons to choose from, and ther were videos on their website where each surgeon spoke about himself. I liked that my surgeon had been doing these surgeries for a few years, but he was a bit younger, I think they're more likely to be up to date on the newest techniques. When I met with him, I asked him how many bariatric surgeries he does and he said about 6 a week - which I liked, it sounded like he knows what he is doing.

Thanks. Helped alot. I know what to look forward too.

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Had my first appointment January 27th. Found out my insurance did not cover it. Got different insurance waited until March 7th when it became active and then found out it requires 3 month supervised diet. Surgery is June 30th if approved this week!

@@cb11 thats awesome. Congrats. Is the 3 month supervised diet, a diet that they give you on paper? You follow it M-F, and maybe weekends off. Or you have to figure out a healthy diet on your own

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Hey,

My name is YaYa. I am 21. I am from Little Rock, AR. I am schedule for a seminar in July.

At this moment I just want to know the journey to surgery date.

What did you all go through that you wished you had known?

Insurance?

Pay out of Pocket? Monthly billing?

How you went about selecting your surgeon?

Tips for preparing for the surgery

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Welcome.

I was fortunate in that my PCP referred me to an outstanding surgeon at a Bariatric Center of Excellence.

I highly recommend that you put together a notebook (if your surgeon's office doesn't give you one), to keep up with all of the paperwork, educational information, and appointments. Write everything down!

I paid for my surgery out of pocket, my insurance has a wls exclusion in it. I financed it through my credit union. Just paid it off last month. I was lucky and had a good bariatric surgeon locally and used him. I thought about going to Mexico as the price is significantly cheaper, I opted to stay Local for the higher price tag. I intensively researched which surgery I wanted, and decided the sleeve was my best option. I had my first appointment with my surgeon at the end of April 2012, and had my surgery June 12, 2012. Best decision I ever made.

Also I had a three day liquid diet prior to surgery

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Edited May 31, 201610 yr by Wolfgirl78

I had to meet with a Nutritionist 3 times and they basically tell you what foods

have high Protein and to practice eating like i will after surgery (bigger portions now of course)

I lost 23 lbs now since April 1st. I do treat myself some times on weekends, but primarily have stuck with it and the treats are nothing like I used to have in the past. I am sticking to 20 to 30 g protein a meal, no caffeine, no soda, no fried food, less than 10 carbs a meal fruit excluded, and less than 5 sugars. No sugar drinks at all and 64 oz or more h2o a day. I work insane hours so still trying to work on exercise.

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Edited May 31, 201610 yr by cb11

I suggest you do research to find a bariatric center of excellence.... Research research research, be sure to make an informed decision when you select a surgeon... I'm pre-op my process is moving a bit faster because I had done the medically supervised diet prior to taking the next step of having surgery... Good luck and you have found a great resource for info.

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@Inner Surfer Girl I will go out and buy a notebook tomorrow. Thank You.

Edited May 31, 201610 yr by YaYaJae

@cb11 thats good. & thanks

Edited May 31, 201610 yr by YaYaJae

yesss... I have started on my research and i will continue. And thank you so much.

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@Wolfgirl78 whew. You still came out with a blessing. Thats the part im afraid of. Im college student i dont think i can finance anything else. Hopefully my insurance will pay for it. & yes i noticed a lot of people were mentioning Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc. I dont know about going over seas.

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I'm from Louisiana and medicare and medicaid paid for mine. My friend had hers thru medicaid as well. I went thru a six month dietitian class and six months of testing clearances. I'm scheduled for June 7th

Research as much as you can. Go to reputable websites for bariatric centers of excellence, major research WLS hospitals and respected medical journals.

Attend some free weight loss support groups and a weight loss seminar at a local hospital.

Keep great notes. Narrow down your options and discuss your concerns with the surgeon you choose.

Congratulations.