Pre op consultation July 7th...Will self pay expedite the process??

I have my pre op consultation on Monday / July 7th.  I am wondering if the self pay issue will expedite the process and possibly have me scheduled for surgery in a month? I'm shooting for Sept but I have no clear idea of how booked or behind the surgeons may be , due to the extreme popularity of this surgery. I will be using Dr. William Richards of University of South AL Hospital. I have an appt out of state in November. I wonder how much time I will need to recoup and be able to do a lot of stuff like take a long ride, go to a theme park, walk a lot, function normally?

depends on the surgeon , if you have done all the pre-op  requirements it could be a few weeks you will have to do what ever pre op diet your surgeon uses , 1-4 weeks liquid diet ,, most surgeons want you to not go back to work for 2 weeks ,unless you need to lift for you job then it is 6 weeks , you may not want to travel for the first month , because you will probably be on mostly liquids for the first few weeks then soft food , and it is best to be home when you try to eat new foods

I was self-pay.  My consult appt. was May 24 and my surgery was June 27th.  It might have been sooner, but I went on vacation.  And, there is some required testing.  Recovery time is different for everyone.  It took me a good 6-8 weeks before I felt like myself again.  I was able to function, but was tired.

Good Luck!

I felt great from the time I woke up after surgery.   Was certainly up to my normal speed by the 5th post op day when I went back to work.  Only thing I couldn't do was swim for six weeks and that was simply due to the abdominal incisions. 

I was self pay.  I scheduled surgery and it was done six days later.

I was self pay.  Had my first consult on May 9th 2012 and was able to have surgery as soon as May 24th but choose to have it a week later.  The only delay I had was that my surgeon wanted a two week pre op diet.  Most do want this.  So it can be very quickly done once all the pre op stuff is completed.

As for your time to recoup it is a very individual experience and there are no guarantees as to how quickly things will go for you.  Take a long ride you asked but what do you consider to be a long ride?  A few hours drive I think could happen as quickly as one week post op.  The sooner post op you try this the more likely you may feel drained of energy.  Early on you are getting very limited calories and since calories equates to energy you may be low on energy.  This leads to the same thing with the theme park, the walking ... low energy levels.  

The only thing left to mention is a word of caution.  You could feel great just days post op as was my case.  But even if you feel great it is very easy to over do it.  You will feel normal and then do something like pick up something off the floor or turn around too quickly while preparing something to eat and it will hit you.  Light headedness and nausea.  This can likely happen within the first two weeks post op.  I have also heard it happening even within the first month post op but as the days go by the less likely it gets.  So the thing to take away from this is that even when you start to feel normal again allow extra time for activities.  Do things slowly and you will be fine.

Can I ask how much you paid? If insurance dont ok me Im thinking about paying myself.

It took me less than 2 months from seminar to surgery. Would have been sooner if I didn't need to travel for work.

the main issue about travel after surgery for me was water intake. 

My very first appointment was May 22 and I had surgery on July 3. 

Honestly, I think it would have been sooner if they would have had a seminar sooner. But, really, it would have been TOO fast if it had been any shorter. A good month and a couple of days was the perfect amount of time for me to get everything together.

Hope its worth all the money I shelled out! 

Wow, it sounds like it may go very quickly! Thanks for the insight. As to the question about cost, my surgeon is charging $11,900 with all pre op,3 months post op, the surgery, 2 day hospital stay and $50,000 of insurance in case of complications for the first 60 days. That is in Mobile, Al. Right up the road from there, in the same city, another place is charging $17,000 . So, it varies.             In Mexico, I think you can get it as low as $5000. But I am not too keen on that idea!