How long a wait to surgery

Hello,

I'm going to the Gastric Bypass Information Session at the Weight Management Clinic at the Civic Hospital on September 12th and I was wondering how long does someone waits before they have the surgery?

A lot will depend on your insurance requirements (or if you are self pay, then it is quicker).

My insurance company had a 90 day minimum period.  You had to go through a 90 day program with the surgeon and the dietitian to get approved.  You also had to get certain clearances completed as well.

My wife had already had most of the testing required for clearances due to some health scares earlier in the year.  So for her, we went on August 10th to the info session and and she had surgery on 11/22 (just over 90 days later).  They wanted me to wait at least 6 weeks after her just to make sure she was mostly recovered before I had it done.  But that put us at Christmas, and they were already booked.  So I was going to wait and do it in mid January, but my wife is a teacher so she would have had to miss school, so I waited till they had a break at President's day and was 3 months after her surgery.

So for me, due to those things, I had 6 months after the first meeting, but I was cleared and ready in about 3.5 months or so.

I have heard that a self pay that has the time to get their clearances done, can get it done even sooner. 

Hi, I see you're in Canada. Are you getting your surgery in Canada? Are you private pay/insurance or are you using the provincial health care plan? Private pay is faster, of course, but I used the provincial coverage in Saskatchewan and was on the waiting list for a couple of years (including the six month pre-op program). When the six month program ended, it was 3 more months before getting the surgery, and the follow-up has been excellent. I think wait times vary from province to province, but the Weight Management Clinic should be able to give you more accurate local time estimates. Good luck!