Hi all, I had my intial consult about 2 weeks ago, and my blood work and edg are this week on the 6th and 9th. They also have on the list for a psych evaluation, and classes! How long has it taken most of you to go from consult to having the actual procedure? Thanks in advance I am super excited to be on this journey just can’t wait to find out when the procedure will be. My edg is Monday the 9th! Anyone else currently at this stage in the process.

It depends, but for most people you will have the surgery within a month of checking off everything else. The biggest variable tends to be how many months of nutrition classes your insurance requires. For me my insurance company required a whopping 7 classes (they didn't even have 7 classes to offer so my last one was just a check in with the nutritionist). Most people have to do 3-6 classes and some insurance companies count the meeting with the surgeon as class 1. Based on that 4-7 months end to end from the first meeting with surgeon to the operating table. Of course there can be variation on scheduling as well, so take that with a grain of salt.

It depends, but for most people you will have the surgery within a month of checking off everything else. The biggest variable tends to be how many months of nutrition classes your insurance requires. For me my insurance company required a whopping 7 classes (they didn't even have 7 classes to offer so my last one was just a check in with the nutritionist). Most people have to do 3-6 classes and some insurance companies count the meeting with the surgeon as class 1. Based on that 4-7 months end to end from the first meeting with surgeon to the operating table. Of course there can be variation on scheduling as well, so take that with a grain of salt.

Thank you, I told them I really wanted to get the ball rolling quickly lol. I’m sure most do. I’m not sure how much insurance is going to work for this but if it doesn’t cover it I will be self pay. I was just looking at the classes it looks like I have the Bariatric seminar 2 days after my egd. The classes I guess I will see the list when I go for that. Super nervous but excited at the same time

I have a bcbs and they required 6 months medically supervised diet before they will approve. My initial surgical consult was November 20. I had my final appointment today and they are submitting it to Insurance tomorrow.

I had a $2000 deductible with my insurance and a $3,000 out of pocket max. I hit the out of pocket max during pre op with the appointments and tests so my surgery will not be costing me anything

Thank you, I told them I really wanted to get the ball rolling quickly lol. I’m sure most do. I’m not sure how much insurance is going to work for this but if it doesn’t cover it I will be self pay. I was just looking at the classes it looks like I have the Bariatric seminar 2 days after my egd. The classes I guess I will see the list when I go for that. Super nervous but excited at the same time

My insurance requires four months of varying visits to nutritionist, psych, etc. I was too pumped up to wait that long, so I did self pay. I had my initial consult in January 2018. Had my surgery almost a month to the day later on 2/14/18. Down 37 pounds. Good luck on your journey!

I have care first and from seminar to surgery it will be approximately 8 months total. But I am ok with that because it gives me time to change what is going on between my ears along with how I interact with food at the same time

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I have Kaiser mid-Atlantic and from beginning to surgery date has taken me 17 months. This is Mainly due to the fact that it is difficult to get specialty appointments such as endoscopy, GI, and sleep study.

Mine was about 4 months

Self pay. First appt was October 12th, surgery was November 28th. Little over a month

My son found out his insurance Caresource requires 9 months. We only know this because he went with me to Bariatric seminar, I have different insurance that required a lot less. Technically he has 37BMI with 1 comorbidty so would qualify but he hasn't had his "come to Jesus" moment about his weight. So I'm not pressuring at this point, remember I wouldn't have taken it too well,back in my younger days. Although I do wish I had been smart enough,to seek it in my 30,40, or even 50s,and avoided the joint replacements from where my weight,"sproing- ed" them beyond easy repair. Oh you know hindsight,is 20/20[emoji12] whereas our every day is slightly flawed[emoji22]But we keep on keeping on until we reach the finish.


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4.5 months (insurance covered) but I was extremely aggressive with getting all the requirements out of the way
Then went on vacation for a month

I feel the same way - let's get this going! I have an endoscopy in a week, then just the nutritional classes to complete. I think it's actually a good thing that there is time needed to accomplish everything because there is so much to know about and absorb - it's a bit overwhelming.

On 4/3/2018 at 11:24 PM, deltagirl93 said:

My insurance requires four months of varying visits to nutritionist, psych, etc. I was too pumped up to wait that long, so I did self pay. I had my initial consult in January 2018. Had my surgery almost a month to the day later on 2/14/18. Down 37 pounds. Good luck on your journey!

Did you have your surgery in the states? As a self pay patient, what pre op tests did your surgeon require?

seminar... a class for info... 12/13/2017
where you set up your surgeon appointment.

surgeon appointment...1/9/2017
brief introduction and what surgery they recommend for you... being told they see me losing 120 pounds after 6 months and into onederland in a year brought me to tears

pre tests taken during nut classes, 2/15
macl blood test
pylori test for ulcer indicators
smokers test

3/3 dietician appointments called NUT on most sites,
1/17/18
2/13/18
3/12/18

no carbs, no sugar, protein 4-6 oz a meal cheese is protein
1/2 cup of approved fruit per day, 2 servings of low fat dairy, lo carb veggies, water and no caffeine

1/6 mobility classes most will be after surgery
1/18/18

psych evaluation 3/10

sleep study not needed already on c-pap

insurance approval... took 1-2 week
sent 3/12 approved 3/19

pre op testing 3/29
upper gi
gallbladder ultrasound
chest x-ray

test results 1 week

call with surgery date 4/9

hospital clearance 4/12

pre op class and instructions for before and after surgery
4/17

surgery scheduled 4/27 (had choice of a date i wanted or what’s available picked what worked best with my husband off on weekends, could have picked 4/23)

i hope this timeline is helpful, i remember the earliest stages wanting all this information but not knowing where to find it.

good luck on your journey as i’m close to starting mine.

My insurance made me do 6 months of a pre op diet with HMR through my doctor and then on top of that I had to do a consult with psych and had to get cleared by my primary. I think in total I was close to a year from starting to talk about it get getting the procedure. The classes are there to help and most of the time the instructors are really nice and helpful! My journey was tough because I got denied twice before finally getting approved. It takes time but it’s worth it

My initial appointment was 2/14 and I was told on 4/2 I could move forward to a surgery date on 4/30 - I really hope there are no road blocks that pop up