Just had my first appointment with the surgeon today, and holy gods the number of appointments I have immediately ahead of me!

I have appointments for:

Fasting labs;

EKG;

Pap smear;

Mammogram;

Ultrasound;

IUD;

Upper GI x-ray;

Lower extremity venous duplex bilateral;

I have to collect and measure my water intake and pee output for 2 days;

Psychological computer test;

3 Nutritional evals;

Psychological evaluation;

Physical therapy evaluation;

7 weigh-ins;

Plus, I just had this funky catheter/ bladder test;

AND I have to make an appointment with my Sleep Dr. to get my CPAP adjusted too! (I have yet to schedule this appointment), and have 2 support group meetings TBD.

Giminy Crickets- I'm kinda reeling at the enormity of it esp. since most of these tests/ appointments are happening in the next 2-3 weeks or so. Is everyone's experience this... exhaustive or am I just lucky that I have very *thorough* doctors? Oof. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited as Hell, but WOW. They gave me a binder to keep track of it all. ?

Suspicious. Seems like for every hurdle the insurance company adds, they end up paying for fewer surgeries. Funny thing is they will be paying for all your procedures.

I had a psych eval, x ray with contrast, endoscopy, and one required meeting with a nutritionist. Got 3 of 4 done in one week. Final procedure done by 3 weeks. Surgery was approved a couple of weeks later.

Since this is the most impactful change on your health you'll make in your lifetime, don't be discouraged. Take it as a challenge and knock it out.

22 minutes ago, Suzi_the_Q said:

Just had my first appointment with the surgeon today, and holy gods the number of appointments I have immediately ahead of me!

I have appointments for:

Fasting labs;

EKG;

Pap smear;

Mammogram;

Ultrasound;

IUD;

Upper GI x-ray;

Lower extremity venous duplex bilateral;

I have to collect and measure my Water intake and pee output for 2 days;

Psychological computer test;

3 Nutritional evals;

Psychological evaluation;

Physical therapy evaluation;

7 weigh-ins;

Plus, I just had this funky catheter/ bladder test;

AND I have to make an appointment with my sleep Dr. to get my CPAP adjusted too! (I have yet to schedule this appointment), and have 2 support group meetings TBD.

Giminy Crickets- I'm kinda reeling at the enormity of it esp. since most of these tests/ appointments are happening in the next 2-3 weeks or so. Is everyone's experience this... exhaustive or am I just lucky that I have very *thorough* doctors? Oof. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited as Hell, but WOW. They gave me a binder to keep track of it all. ?

Jesus lucky you.. I may have had to pay a gap but had very little hoops to jump thru and got my surgery within 3 months

31 minutes ago, Suzi_the_Q said:

Just had my first appointment with the surgeon today, and holy gods the number of appointments I have immediately ahead of me!

I have appointments for:

Fasting labs;

EKG;

Pap smear;

Mammogram;

Ultrasound;

IUD;

Upper GI x-ray;

Lower extremity venous duplex bilateral;

I have to collect and measure my Water intake and pee output for 2 days;

Psychological computer test;

3 Nutritional evals;

Psychological evaluation;

Physical therapy evaluation;

7 weigh-ins;

Plus, I just had this funky catheter/ bladder test;

AND I have to make an appointment with my sleep Dr. to get my CPAP adjusted too! (I have yet to schedule this appointment), and have 2 support group meetings TBD.

Giminy Crickets- I'm kinda reeling at the enormity of it esp. since most of these tests/ appointments are happening in the next 2-3 weeks or so. Is everyone's experience this... exhaustive or am I just lucky that I have very *thorough* doctors? Oof. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited as Hell, but WOW. They gave me a binder to keep track of it all. ?

oh dear!! i know that i felt overwhelmed by my appointments i needed to have -- but i had 6 months to get them all done (8 thanks to covid..) but if most are happening in the next 2-3 weeks, it'll be nice to knock them all out! i wonder if you'll be able to get two things done at 1 appt? (like the nutrition eval & a weigh in during a group?) because a lot of mine were doubled up like that.

Yes, a few of them are doubled up/ back to back. I also have a couple in the same day but across town from each other. My insurance won't pay for me to have my pap and IUD in the same appointment, so that's a nonsensical split.

WOW! That does seem a bit extreme. Are all of these insurance requirements or are some your surgeon's requirements?

wow. Some of those are very common "prep" for this - but some are not (mammogram? PAP? checking your calcium level via urine collection?). Unless you've had other issues related to these that they need to make sure are OK before you have surgery? Not sure. But yea - some of these I've never heard of being requirements for WLS .

My surgeon requires the mammogram and pap, plus birth control, so the IUD. My PCP wants the urine collection and the ultrasound (because I have leak issues and haven't had a regular period in about 8 months, likely due to weight.)

9 minutes ago, Suzi_the_Q said:

My surgeon requires the mammogram and pap, plus birth control, so the IUD.

I'm surprised he didn't require a PET-scan.

8 minutes ago, summerset said:

I'm surprised he didn't require a PET-scan.

Right??

I have an IUD myself because I consider it very convenient (no worrying for 5 years in a row plus the luxury of having no menstrual pain, lol) but I would never have accepted it as a requirement before surgery. Same with a mammogram.

Yes, one should get PAP regularly but again: as a requirement for WLS it's ridiculous and kind of...intrusive?

My pcp said they'll require me to be on birth control so I don't get accidentally pregnant during this process, the surgeon didn't mention it at our 1st meeting yesterday, but maybe she saw I had the IUD appointment on the books? I can't stand hormones so I go with the copper IUD (extra cramps, yay!). The surgeon requires that you're up to date on pap and mammo and I was due anyway. All together it feels a bit over the top though.

my doc wanted me off of BC for 2 moths prior to surgery bc i guess the hormones increase chances of blood clots (along w/my weight).. they gave me 1 pregnancy test and later when they would ask if there was any chance id be +hcg i laughed and laughed and laughed..

Now I wonder if my PCP was BSing me about the IUD requirement....

is your PCP all bariatrics? or do they do other surgeries? i'd almost encourage you to look into a diff program bc thats a lot of requirements.. the other program i looked into also said no BC d/t the clotting chance..

but id say if ur IUD doesnt contain hormones, then theres no clotting increase.. its the hormones my doc wanted down.

Edited June 11, 20206 yr by chunkarella
forgot the point i was trying to make..

My PCP is a women's health clinic, specializing in all women's things plus medi-spa stuff too (vaginal rejuvenation, anyone?) The bariatric clinic is tied to my local hospital. Honestly, I'm ok with all the hoops, at least they are thorough and I have never had surgery in my life aside from oral surgery to get my wisdom teeth out. Otherwise I'd have to drive at least an hour for every appointment vs. 7 minutes and I have anxiety and agoraphobia issues so that's not very likely to succeed. All the hoops might be because I have medicaid too, they're known for being pains in the ass no matter what Dr. you go through.