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I am new to this and just starting to read up on everything. I have an appointment on July 21st to meet the surgeon, I have to attend his seminar and speak to the insurance people in his office. How long does this process usually take? I have Cigna (Open access) and I have already met my deductible for the year, so I'm hoping I can get this surgery by the end of the year.... Any comments about how long it usually takes would be great!

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My surgery took 45 minutes with one night stay. Insurance approval is different for everyone. The education seminars, nutrition apps, and psychiatrist clearance usually takes 6 months. Hope this helps.

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Thank You! I am just hoping that I can get the surgery done before December 31st. My deductible is $5000 and I've already met this for the year, I just hate to pay another $5000 next year. Thanks again! :)

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Every timeline is different. Some require 6 months of supervised diets, some have othee requirements. It all depends on your insurance and surgeon. For me my consult was in June and my sleeve was in September

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My insurance (Tufts) required 6 months of diet, 6 nutrition, 6 nurse practitioner visits. 10% of your body weight lost. Once sent in was approved in 5 days surgery date was 3 weeks later!!

Good luck!!

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It truly all depends on your insurance requirements. Like other's have said, some have a 6 month supervised diet, some 3 months requirement....some like mine, none at all. From the time I attended my informational seminar my surgery was done 2.5 months later.

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I started the process in January and had my surgery one week ago today! Lots of prerequisites from my insurance like psych evaluation, 4x nutrition appt. 2x physical therapy, endoscopy. Chest xray, EKG, bloodwork and 2 meetings with my surgeon. Plus, dietary and nursing seminars mandated by the hospital. Lots and lots but totally worth it.

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BTW, my insurance approved everything within a day which was awesome! I had no weight loss prerequisite, I just couldn't gain weight. Plus, I didn't have to do any special diet leading up to it.

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Sorry, slip of the finger. I have Cigna, but through Medicare. My process took about 3 months(classes, appts with surgeon, cardiologist, a psychiatrist, lung specialist and sleep test). Of course it depends on individual, surgeon and how fast claims are processed. I did a lot of research on my own also. I'm sure you will be able to get it all done before the end of year.

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You mentioned that you had already met deductible. Have you been seeing doc for obesity related issues? I had been working with my family physician on weight loss for months before I started the process with the bariatric surgeon's office. In fact she had encouraged me to look into it. I mentioned to her that I was considering it. Because I had been seeing her for consecutive months, they let her fill out the paperwork for the five previous month's and that counted. That helped speed up the process. Good luck and hang in there.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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