Started my new journey..

Joan1903

Very excited. Had my dietician group appointment for a a sleeve gastrectomy, been told to lose 7 kilos for my next appointment. Saw the psychologist, and he said he is happy for me to go forward..
Now the dieticain apt is on the 20 may. Ive started excercising, drinking plenty of water and cutting out of fatty food... Im terrified not to lose that weight by then...
Just wondering how long it takes after that for a surgery date..
Any advises would be greatly appreciated..xx

Mangopickle

As soon as I met all surgery requirements my surgeon filed with my insurance the next day, was approved in 2 days, scheduled in 3 wks. Good luck!

pattycakes726

Not sure how it works in the UK. I had my first consult on May 20 and surgery was scheduled for July 8. In the meantime I had to get several tests - GI series, some cardio tests, blood work, etc. I got insurance approval right away, so that was not an issue. My surgeon didn't require a specific # of pounds lost. He realizes that obese people have dieted many, many times! I did lose about 20 lbs between my consult and surgery date. Good luck to you!

csmccord

Here in the US with my surgical group, I had to do a 6 month supervised nutrition course before they would even submit to insurance. During that time I also had a sleep study done (discovered I had apnea), I got my blood pressure under control, I had many blood tests to ensure correct levels, I had a session with a psychologist to ensure I would be a good candidate for the surgery, and had a few learning/question answering sessions with the surgeon's assistants.

I was able to complete the majority of the testing while on the nutrition program. Once all the requirements were completed, they submitted to insurance and I scheduled my surgery. Overall it too me about 9 months from the start of the program to the actual surgery. It could have been done faster, but I had to wait on my wife to recovery from her surgery first. My wife was able to schedule her date within a month of completing the requirements for it.

I think this may really depend on your surgeon's schedule and the hospital that they are working with. When you do get it scheduled, I suggest you take the earliest time in the morning. Yes, you have to be there early, but the surgeon will be on time, and he will get to work with no delays. If you schedule for later in the day, you run the risk of him getting delayed with another patient.

bikrchk

I didn't meet the doc until I'd fulfilled all the insurance requirements, 6 months diet, psych, nut, etc. so when I went for my consult, I was submitted for insurance approval immediately. Started all the pre-op testing, egd etc as soon as insurance came back, (about 2 weeks) and was sleeved a month later.