How long does it take?

Hello All!

I am a newbie and reading many of the posts and experiences of the community here.  I'd like to say thank you to everyone for being so forthcoming and open and honest with their feedback.  It's good to read the successes and also as equally good to read the bumps along the way.  

I am full force into starting this process and have identified a bariatric team locally.  My question is a general question.  How long did it take from the time one starts the process to surgery?  I know this is a difficult question as there are so many factors such as how busy the Dr is, how quickly the insurance process is, etc.  Can anyone ballpark that time frame?

Personally, it took at year and 4 months from the time I first saw that doctor until I was on the table getting my surgery done.  I dragged out the process, so it could have been done in 6 months, but I chickened out and changed my mind a few times on which surgery I wanted.

I would say you are going to be waiting about a year.  It may be less, it could be more, but settle in.  It is going to be a while.  This is not a procedure that any doctor or insurance company takes lightly and there are many things you have to do and learn before they can operate.  It seems like forever but eventually it will happen. 

Your avatar says you had surgery yesterday. You might want to change that so it's not misleading everyone.

The process all depends on your doctor's requirements and your insurance company. Some require lengthy pre-op diets, support group meetings, seminars, psychological evaluation, and meeting with a nutritionist. Some insurance companies require that you have a certain minimum BMI and co-morbitities.


I have Tricare.  My entire process took 2 weeks from the time I went to my first seminar to surgery.

Make sure you are ready and prepared for anything.
Best of luck to you.

Thanks Donna.  I just looked at the settings and I'm not sure how to change that date.  I wondered if it would show up like that when I registered.  Do you know how I can change that date?

Also- your process was SO fast, are you glad that it went that quickly or do you feel that you should have had more time to prepare?

I dont know how to get the date put on my avatar, so no, I dont know how to change yours, sorry.

I research and prepared myself mentally for almost 3 years so yes, I was glad it went as fast as it did. I was mentally prepared.

To change your surgery date:

Go to "MY OH" = blue bar where the home button is.

Then go to MY JOURNEY - on the left of the screen after you get to MY OH

Go to Surgery and edit the surgery date.

My process took 9 months from the first call to set up an initial appointment until surgery. Had to do 6 months of medically supervised weightloss for insurance. After that was all done it only took about 2 weeks to get it approved.

I started my process on April 12th and had surgery on July 5th.  I had already had the 6 month weight loss/eating program already done that my insurance required, so that definately sped the process up for me.  Also my insurance was wonderful.  After everything was submitted to them, I had my approval in less than 24 hrs. 

Graceful,

Who is your provider?  I have BCBS and from what I'm seeing on here it tends to make me think they are easy to work with.

Babs

 BCBS is one of the easiest according to my doc.  I was approved w/in 24 hours of submission.