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I have UH, timeline question!



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Hi all, I just found this board while conducting an exhaustive search online. There is so much information here, and I want to thank you for it. I have a question, and I am hoping that you all can help me.

Has anyone been able to travel from approval to surgery in less than 2 months? My doc is in the process of completing the letter to request the surgery. Considering that I have Type II Diabetes, PCOS, depression, and sleep Apnea, my insurance company insists that I have a 99% chance of being approved. My issue is, that I am over my out of pocket maximum for the year (surprise, considering that I have a thousand things wrong with me), and if I can get the procedure performed before the end of the year, I won't have to pay a cent. But if I wait, I will have to pay a ton of money. Has anyone had any success in getting the procedure in two months or less? Any doc recommendations? I already have my primary docs approval, and a therapist documentation. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!!!! faint.gif:help:

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Make sure your medical plan runs on a calendar year. I just found out that mine runs on a plan year, which is July 1 through June 30.

Also, if your primary care physician can show you have had many attempts at weight loss, and he/she has documented it over time, that should help.

I had my psychological and dietician visit in Sept., my surgical consult early October, and they wanted me to schedule the surgery in November. My work schedule is preventing that, so I scheduled for January. Any money I spent so far out of pocket is carrying over too.

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It is possible- Do you mean United Healthcare??- I have UHC and I did all my pre-op stuff before I got approved (they paid for everything!) so once approved you have final pre-op appt then surgery so yes it is possible-once I got approval I had surgery within one month-just depends on the dr and availability of sched appts.

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It is possible- Do you mean United Healthcare??- I have UHC and I did all my pre-op stuff before I got approved (they paid for everything!) so once approved you have final pre-op appt then surgery so yes it is possible-once I got approval I had surgery within one month-just depends on the dr and availability of sched appts.

Question, what preop stuff would be good to take care of now? I have had my sleep study, I am seeing a therapist who is on board, and I have an upper g/i scheduled, just in case. Is there anything else that you would suggest taking care of now? Any ideas you have will help, because I will schedule them all tomorrow! lol

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I had my lab work done, ekg, chest x ray, upper gi, and psych consult in april-then when I finally was approved in august-I had to see interneal specialist to clear me for surgery and they just did a preop lab day of surgery-so anything you can get done before will help-plus if they find anything that may need to be looked at by a specialist it is better to know a month before than right before you want to have surgery- i have some Vitamin defieciencies that i never knew about-so i had to see a specialist before my surgery-so i was glad I started everything before-the insurance really can't deny any of these tests-so they should be covered. Good luck!!

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Okay, thanks for the heads up, I have my upper GI scheduled already, and I am gonna call my PCP tomorrow to schedule the EKG and the blood work. Is there anything else that I can do early? Can I see a nutritionist early, or will they make me do that anyway when I select a surgeon? Sorry for all the questions, but I am racing against the clock here. Thanks for all of the input ladies!:help:

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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. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • 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.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        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.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

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

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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