How long did it take?

Hey all! I was just wondering how long it took for you to get your surgery date.

I've had my first consult with my surgeon and have made it through all but 3 of the tests on my pre-op checklist. I'm also nearing the end of the 3rd week of a three month medically supervised diet required by insurance before they will pay for my surgery.

Considering all pre-op testing and dieting should be completed by mid August, how soon after that do you think I could get my surgery? I know experiences differ between hospitals, surgeons, insurances, etc... but I just want a guesstimate. I'm already impatient to go under the anesthetic and wake up to my new life :)

I would have had mine already BUT the getting of medical records is proving to take alot longer than I thought. If i had to give you a guessimate it would vary from possibly a month to two months. This is how it works for my insurance, BUT that is barring any complications that may or may not arise.

Here's how mine went:

Feb. 1 consultation
Feb. 15 psych eval and echocardiogram
March 11 Therapy as a result of eval for 5 weeks, she then screwed me and recommended I have an additional 60-90 days therapy ( I have a blog about it)
April sleep study

In between I attended a few support groups and been losing weight (I was required to lose 12 lbs)

End of June I complete my 60 days. They are submitting to my insurance for approval which can take a couple weeks and once I'm approved (cross your fingers) I can get my surgery date. I'm hoping for the first week of July.

With all that said...because of that screwy therapist I took a little longer and I should have had my surgery date already but I'm still pretty close to where I wanted to be so it will be about 4 to 4.5 months from start to finish which is about average I'd say.  But do yourself a favor and stay on top of everything and be sure your file is being processed because the doctors office has a lot on their plates and something might get forgotten incidentally.

GOOD LUCK!!

October 20th - first consult
3 month supervised nutrition program (which stretched to 5 because of a missed appointment and them not telling me I had to lose 10 pounds until the end of the 3 months), then pre-op testing and lots of waiting...
I had my surgery yesterday. So 7 months for me.

There are a lot of factors to play with. I gave my insurance a heads up and kept them up to date with all my testing and letters which I sent them directly so I was sure they had them all. Between that and the excellent insurance people at the clinic I was approved one day after I had met all of the qualifications and had them sent in. So doing that will help speed up the insurance end.

I had six months of a medically supervised diet and exercise program to deal with so had lots of time to do everything, which was good as it took quite a while to get some of the tests and follow-ups scheduled. So do as many of them in advance as you can. And if there is a problem (such as needing more psych visits or adding vitamins to get your bloodwork within the numbers they want, etc.) you have time to work all that stuff out while waiting out the insurance.

The last thing to do is ask your MD office whether or not they will tentatively schedule your surgery without insurance approval (especially if you can talk to your insurance and know in advance how likely they are to approve the surgery). Some people have had luck overlapping time that way if your surgeon will allow it. And also ask how far out your surgeon usually schedules surgery, as it can be months for some surgeons.

For me, the first consult was in November 2010, all my testing was finished on May 11th, insurance approved on May 12th, surgery scheduled on May 12th, and surgery scheduled for June 13th.

Attended surgeons seminar Feb 4, had surgery May 16. From the time I had done all of the requirements until I was scheduled for surgery, less than 3 weeks.

I am definitely staying on top of things. Had my first consult with the surgeon on 5/23. Was ordered to have a Psych eval, nurtition consult, labs, ekg, Pulmonology consut, chest x-ray, ultrasound, egd, complete online computer education program, attend monthly support groups, and read "The Expert's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery" by Garth Davis with Laura Tucker. As of today I have completed all but the psych and nutrition consult and the pulmonology consult. Support groups are ongoing and I'm over halfway through the book!

The psychiatrist's office is still yet to contact me to schedule an appointment. Pulmonology consult is scheduled for 6/29. I called my surgeons office yesterday because I hadn't heard from either of them after a week. Turns out they didn't have my dictation in, so they got that put in and I'll give it till Monday to hear from the psychiatrist and if I don't then I will contact my surgeon's office again.

So I'm pretty on top of things!

Thanks for the input and good luck to all of you on your journies!

Like you said, it depends on a lot of things that differ from surgeon to surgeon.  I think what it really comes down to is how many bypass surgeries your doctor normally schedules within a month.  Some surgeons do only bypasses, but some do bypasses and other abdominal surgeries.  For me, after all my testing and nutrition program requirements were met, I had to meet with my surgeon one final time and when I checked out from that appointment I was able to schedule my surgery.  They wanted to schedule me for 1 month later but I asked to be scheduled 2 months later so I would have time to schedule my time off from work.  I was expecting not to be able to get in until 3 months out, so it was much sooner than I had anticipated!

I was real shaky if I would even get approved! I get free insurance thru my wifes employment so I figured nothings for free. But still gave it a try. Went to a seminar in 2/15/11 required to lose 30 lbs and have a supervised diet for 3 months. during those 3 months I took my physc. test and nutritionist evaluation. My last weigh in was 5/13/11. They submitted to my insurance on 5/16/11 was approved by 5/23/11! Ill be having my consultation tomorrow. will schedule my lab work next monday and start a 2 week pre op diet and scheduled for surgery on 6/20/11 thats 18 days away! Time flies so quick I never thought the day would come! I just do recommend dont miss any appts with your weigh ins cause I do know of someone that did and they were denied and had to go thru the process all over again. even if you dont lose weight just show up to your weigh ins. I actaully gained 6 lbs at my first weigh in and felt so bad but at my last weigh in I lost a total of 26lbs. And approved for surgery! That was the best news I have heard in a long time. Just hang in there I felt just like you and now Im nervous cause that day is near and snuck up on me quick. Good Luck!

Thank you so much! I'm not going to miss any appointments and I have been busy rearranging my school schedule so that I can have my surgery hopefully before Christmas break assuming everything else goes smoothly :)

Try to keep those nerves down, you'll do great! :)