Hello! I’m brand new here.. been researching WLS surgery nonstop for a while and finally went to see my PCP yesterday and she was amazing and said she’s going to do whatever we need to do for this to happen for me. She said she was going to submit the request to my insurance and will get back to me. I’m just curious how everyone’s process went from start to finish? I have a general idea because I’ve been scouring these forums and other sites but I would love to hear from anyone! Thank you!

Slow moving. Be patient

Attended seminar on a Wednesday late June of 2017 Scheduled appointment with surgeon for the following Monday. Began the process. Did a few prerequisitesthe following 2-3 weeks, Went on vacation for 2 months, completed the rest upon my return. Surgery performed November 2017

I did the online seminar and heard back from the bariatric center the next day...had my surgery consult about a week later and began my insurance hoops...I had already started a dr monitored diet about a month before so I continued with that and will have my final appt Tues....meanwhile, i've had the sleep study and psychological eval...I'd already had the required Endoscopy. Assuming i've lost the requisite 10% of my weight, everything will go back to insurance for final approval next week and then I will finally get my surgery date. It's been about 6 month thus far.

It's a process, but be patient and it will fly by.

Had initial appointment June 4th, immediately went over and had the labs and EKG done. Had the ultrasound the following week and the nutritionist appointment. Next week sat through 3 nutrition courses all day. Two weeks later, went back to nutritionist to present her with my food journal and got clearance. Had a sleep clinic appointment where they said I didn't need a sleep study because I had one in 2016 and it was fine. Two or three weeks after that saw the psychiatrist and took the psychiatric test. Week later came back and got the results and clearance from her. My personal psychiatrist gave clearance the same time. Few days later saw the surgeon to schedule my surgical date! Got approval from insurance in 4 days.

Surgical date currently 11/1/18. So, that all happened in about a 2.5-3 month time span.

I have a nurse telephone consult in two weeks to go over my meds and I have to take a 3 hour online class next week. The following week I have a 1 hour online class and the START clinic for final pre-op diagnostics. And then the day before my surgery (10/31) I meet with the surgeon again to sign the consent forms and ask final questions. Started the pre-op diet yesterday!

Edited October 12, 20187 yr by mousecat88

Thank you guys! I know the process is different for everyone, but I totally appreciate your guys individual stories!! ☺️

My wait time was a little bit longer than most it seems but I had a few bumps along the way. I attended an informational session in August 2017 and between then and the beginning of December 2017 I had and "passed" 3 (required by insurance) nutritionist appointments, required psych eval, required Upper GI, and required cardiologist appointment. Then I had my (required) pulmonology appointment in December 2017 and that is where I was "held up" because I had to get a sleep study which took over a month to set up and then waited another month for the results and then discovered I had sleep apnea so I had to wait for the CPAP machine and be on the machine for 3 months before my pulmonologist would approve me for surgery. I had another "hold up" when my father passed away but I picked up the process again in August and mailed in all of my paperwork and my insurance approved me a week later! I won't be sleeved until November but my surgeon didn't have any openings until then but that's ok because it'll be November soon!

Good luck to you!