Surgeon Consultation Scheduled
madmags
Posts: 1,340 Member
So I finally got my consult scheduled and of course the surgeon I want has the longest wait time. So I will see him on 10/27, then it will probably be 3 to 4 weeks after that for my surgery. I was really hoping to have had it done by end of September early October, but those plans are out. How long did everyone else have to wait after they completed their presurgery requirements?
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My consult was in April, 2012 and my surgery Sept 4, 2012. But my insurance required no supervised weight loss so that is just how booked my surgeon was. Because he's AWESOME...lol We all think our surgeon is the best. I had to do pre op testing and then we have a 4 hour binder boot camp that wallks us thru the surgery as well as the pre op and post op plans. But that is all the pre op requirements I had.0
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pre-surgery requirements done in March 2013. surgery scheduled for august 2013. half of that was doc review of file and insurance approval. half was pure scheduling (doc was booked, then I was traveling).0
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So I finally got my consult scheduled and of course the surgeon I want has the longest wait time. So I will see him on 10/27, then it will probably be 3 to 4 weeks after that for my surgery. I was really hoping to have had it done by end of September early October, but those plans are out. How long did everyone else have to wait after they completed their presurgery requirements?
I've been on the slow boat to surgery, but found it has really helped me make the changes and I feel more ready for the surgery because of it.
I got my insurance approval prior to my first meeting with the Bariatric folks. I learned that the program i am in is timed to help get the approval. Had I known that, the six months in the program could have been concurrent with the six months I took to get the approval myself.
April 15th: all day informational class with the Nurse program coordinator. Walked out of there starting the pre-surgery diet (1500 calories, 100g protein, 64 oz water, start exercising). Got the 3" binder with all of the program information and pre-surgery requirements.
April 30th: Required Exercise/Nutrition class. Two hour intro to exercise and deeper discussion of nutrition. Then 1 hour in gym with Physiologist setting up exercise plan. I was familiar with exercising and essentially got a workout in while they worked more with people who were new to gym exercising. Still a lot of good information.
May 14th: Psych consult, which was the last of the pre-surgery requirements (Blood work, Psych Consult, Exercise/Nutrition Class, lots of questionnaires to fill out, and probably a couple of other things I can't recall right now)
June 11: First Meeting with the Surgeon. Discussed my progress so far, selected surgery type and had opportunity to ask any questions of the surgeon I wanted. Got a really good feeling from the surgeon. I was doing so well, i got "fast tracked" to the Medical clearance appointment, and could have had the second consultation with the surgeon the next week, but I had a conflict so I added about a month to my process as the surgeon went on vacation and I was happy to wait for his next opening in July.
June 11th: Medical Clearance: This is a meeting with a non-WLS doctor to go over the hospital requirements for admission and Surgery. Discussed prescription medicines I am taking and had a general physical with the goal of clearing me for surgery. Cleared.
July 18th: Second Consultation with Surgeon. Another meeting with surgeon and his resident minions. More details about the surgery, very in your face discussion of surgical risks and requirements and the importance of all of the pre-surgical requirements (liver shrinkage liquid diet, etc.). Got surgery Date.
September 30th: SURGERY DATE!!!
Coming in to the last month and I am starting the home stretch!
Rob0 -
My program requires the following, which I have completed:
Initial consult with non surgeon weight loss physician
Psych consult
dietician consult
physiologist consult
Sleep apnea test
Full blood work up
2, 4 hour classes to go over types of surgery and pre and post op requirements
Then I waited for 4 weeks to find out I have to wait until October 27th for my surgeon consult
I think the people at UMass are great and have a great program. (I know people who have had great sucess through them) But it seems like it would make more sense to have classes a bit closer to my surgery date, for all the post op stuff. I am compltely confident in what i need to do, it just seems like they could book the surgery consult before everything else is completed, due to the back log. But then again, I am sure there are people that dont follow through and we dont want to waste the surgeons time.
I am just excited to make this change and have been put on a cancelation list, so hopefully that happens, no matter how unlikely they say it is.0
