For the cash pay people what was your average timeline from your first appointment until surgery?

For the cash pay people what was your average timeline from your first appointment until surgery?

That depended on where I was going. I started in my hometown and had a list of prechecks to complete...ekg, blood work, abdominal ultrasound, etc. It depends on how quickly you can get that completed.

I switched to Dr Illan in Tijuana, MX and was there in 2 weeks. Testing (ekg, blood, chest xray) completed same day as surgery.

On 3/10/2017 at 3:18 PM, Ineedhelp2014 said:

For the cash pay people what was your average timeline from your first appointment until surgery?

first appt - June 2

surgery - June 28

amazing what can happen without insurance mucking up the works.

I decided in early June to do this and I'm traveling to Las Vegas to be sleeved on Wednesday. July 19. It has been busy, getting all the prep work, so I think a month out is doable but not two weeks, that would be intense.

Although I am not going selfpay, I would imagine it all depends on your surgical groups requirements. Based on those requirements as stated above, it will depend on how quickly you can accomplish everything.

I was able to complete all my insurance/surgical groups requirements within one and a half months (excluding the 6 monthly weigh-ins). BUT, I already was diagnosed with sleep apnea. If your surgical group requires a sleep study (visit with the pulmonologist) this itself can take a couple months. Back when I was getting diagnosed, it took me 3 weeks to get an appointment with the pulmonologist, 2 weeks to get a sleep study appointment (I did a take home test, as I would have had to wait another week for an overnight study), then another 2 weeks to go back to the pulmonologist to get the order for a cpap machine. After that another week to actually get the machine.

So, IF your surgical group requires a pulmonologist clearance, expect it could be a month and a half or more to actually get that process complete (you can accomplish all the other stuff during this same month). I would start this now, ahead of time. If your insurance will pay for a pulmonologist visit, and a sleep study, it wont hurt to accomplish this even before the surgical consult. since I was already diagnosed, all I had to do was have a quick appointment with my pulmonologist with my surgical order for a consult, he said great, and took the order. The next business day my surgical group had the signed clearance.

Edited July 17, 20179 yr by JT2002TJ

I decided in early June to do this and I'm traveling to Las Vegas to be sleeved on Wednesday. July 19. It has been busy, getting all the prep work, so I think a month out is doable but not two weeks, that would be intense.

My surgery is the 19th too. Good luck!!