How long does the pre surgery process take? I am meeting with a new PCP on Monday Oct 6(my old one basically told me he wouldnt write me a letter of referral and said I should diet...and since I have been dieting for 14 yrs and obese for almost 16 I wasn't too happy to deal with him especially since he has been by PCP for over 10 yrs) and for my insurance United Heathcare Choice all i need is a letter from my PCP showing 5 years of a BMI 40+ which i know I have...my only real concern is that my former PCP was such a slouch that I was rearly but on the scale and would ask me what I weighed and since I was in denial so much I always gave a weight that was significantly lower than I was....I brought a small notebook and plan on including a brief summary of my issues with my weight and also pictures to show the new PCP what I have been stuggling with...I guess if worse comes to worse i will have to do a piece meal effort to gather my weights for the past 5 years from my orthopedic doctor and gyn but i hope not! Do you have any suggestions...Sorry for the long winded reply but I am a lil scared I wont be able to get approved:sad:.

Daisky,

Depending on your insurance and the surgeon you choose. My insurance Aetna requires me to wait 6 months. In that time frame I had to go through tests and get clearance from each Dr. who ran the tests. Your insurance age/health situations may require you to do more or less.

Most insurance companies make you do the following:

You need to see your primary Dr. every month, once a month until you get your surgery date.

He/she must write notes on your "progress" such as patient is exorcising 2 or 3 times a week and is on a 15,000 calorie diet ect.ect. (this must be done for each primary Dr. visit)

You have to have a stress test done... this was a pain in the BUTT!!! they hook you up to an IV and shoot some liquid in there to high light your insides. Put you on a treadmill and make you walk.... FAST for as long as you can while they monitor your heart. This is to make sure your heart can take under going such stress. After completing this you will have a paper for that Dr. to sign... this is your clearance paper.

Then you need to have a Endoscope A.K.A EGD - they stick a long camera tube down your throat.. Yes you are semi awake for this... it only takes about 15 - 20 minutes.... suck it up HAHA!!!

They make you see a Physiologist for a evaluation.... that was fun haha! You only need to see him/her once

You also meet with a nutritionist. She gave me a hard time but I'm not very friendly when people get nasty with me.

You only have to see her once. She will give you a guide line for a pre-op diet and post-op diet... YOU MUST FOLLOW BOTH!

I only followed the pre-op 2 weeks prior to surgery... as long as they see you loose some weight they are happy with that.

My insurance made me go to 2 support group meetings... They are only 1 hour long and you get a lot of questions answered.

Next is a Dulle Doppler Leg test... this is nothing more than a sonogram of your legs to check for clot's. 10 minutes later your done.

Then you need another sonogram. This one they check your gallbladder for stones and your Liver.

You also need to see a pulminologist. PFT Test it is called... to see if you have sleep apnea... Apnea is when you stop breathing in the middle of the night while you are sleeping. In other words your weight restricks your air intake while laying down. They make you breath into a tube and check how much air intake you have... if you fail this test you have to go to what they call sleep study. you sleep in a facility over night 1 night connected to monitors.... I did not have to do this because I told the Pulminologist what they wanted to hear... like I don't wake up gasping for air ever! I don't fall sleep while watching TV or reading or driving...

After you are cleared by all these Dr.'s you get your clearance from your primary and your insurance and then that's it... I know it seems like a lot and it is... but you have to stay focused on the bigger picture.... and if you need support or help that's what the meetings are for, and the web site...

Sorry if I'm overwhelming you right now but I do try to encourage people to do this now that I know how helpful it can be

Each insurance has their own hoops you have to jump and each surgeon seems to have different procedures. Hopefully when you get referred to the surgeons office that will do the procedure they can get you the game plan. I am with Kaiser I have been told to expect it to take up to a year...I need to work on my patience anyway

I really think it depends on you, your surgeon and your insurance. I started my process start to finish July 20? and got a date on Sep3. I had to do the following

1.letter from my primary outlining my wt loss/gain and what I did, any important medical history. I included my strong family background both sets of grandparents and parents are diabetics ect..

2.pulmonary clearance this included a chest xray

3.cardiac clearance this included ekg and echocardiogram which are standard, but I had to have a stress test with die (which is nothing you walk on a treadmill while they monitor you and then you lie on a table while the monitor you with a machine)

4.Nutrition consult : this is to ensure you are in the right place and understand what food is good/bad ect..

5. Psychiatric consult: again to ensure you are in the right frame of mind. Do you know and acknowledge what put you where you are today ect. I had a packet I had to fill out ahead of time. I was as honest as one could be. I didn't want anything to hold me back.

6. Some insurance require you to attend a support meeting. Mine did not, but I went to 1 on a sunday and I have been going ever since. I enjoy it, They are informative, its people who like you and me who have had our battles, and everyone there has felt/thought or experienced what you have. its just a great place to go.

7.A final letter of clearance from your primary.

Like I said I had my appts set up by my surgeon and I went. It was fast for me. I have no comorbities I do have the bmi over 40. Hope this helps.

Maranda

I think most of it depends on how well you qualify and what kind of hoops your insurance requires. Look at my stats below and you will see just how quickly it went for me. I called the surgeons office after filling out online forms (2 hours worth)and two days later had approval. Preop tests were all done in one day at a hospital and surgery was 11 days later. I had insurance that paid as long as you qualified. I was 100 lbs + overweight had GERD and family history of heart disease.