Confused on which steps come first

[Tammyjo 0]

Hi everyone, this is my first time on here... I have found a surgeon, They told me what my insurance requires, I went to my doctor who gave me a clearance letter for surgery and faxed it to the surgeon, He is making my appointments for the cardiologist and the pulmonologist and I have made an appointement for the psycological evaluation. So after all these clearance letters are faxed to the surgeon, what happens next???? This is all so confusing. Thanks for any help you can give me...

[Donnaamarie 0]

Hi everyone, this is my first time on here... I have found a surgeon, They told me what my insurance requires, I went to my doctor who gave me a clearance letter for surgery and faxed it to the surgeon, He is making my appointments for the cardiologist and the pulmonologist and I have made an appointement for the psycological evaluation. So after all these clearance letters are faxed to the surgeon, what happens next???? This is all so confusing. Thanks for any help you can give me...

Hi Tammy,

Your PCP gets more involved. Your clearance letter has to be within 2 weeks of the surgery. The cardiologist and blood work from your pre-op is sent to them before they can do the clearance letter. It gets confusing, it honestly does. When all the information goes to your surgeon they will tell you next steps. I just kept jumping through their hoops and then they gave me a surgery date!! I started my process on February 5 and then had the surgery on March 29. I also had more cardiologist stuff to go through after my EKG came back.

I know all surgeons are different, above was my experience.

Good luck!!!

Donna

[Tammyjo 0]

Hi Tammy,

Your PCP gets more involved. Your clearance letter has to be within 2 weeks of the surgery. The cardiologist and blood work from your pre-op is sent to them before they can do the clearance letter. It gets confusing, it honestly does. When all the information goes to your surgeon they will tell you next steps. I just kept jumping through their hoops and then they gave me a surgery date!! I started my process on February 5 and then had the surgery on March 29. I also had more cardiologist stuff to go through after my EKG came back.

I know all surgeons are different, above was my experience.

Good luck!!!

Donna

Thank you Donna, they really should have a book on all this..lol

[vickyd 24]

My surgeon's office had an insurance coordinator who met with me to go over what needed to be done in order to get approval from my insurance company. Once all of that info was gathered, they submitted the paperwork and then let me know when my approval came in (I think it took about 2 weeks). At that point, I was given a surgery date and scheduled for an upper GI and bloodwork...the upper GI showed some reflux issues so I also had to have an Endoscopy. Once the testing was all done, I had to meet one more time with the NUT and my surgeon and then I had to get another clearance from my PCP that was dated within 2 weeks of the surgery date. I was given a checklist by my surgeon's office so I was able to keep track of everything that had to be done before surgery...

[Lynster54 0]

Hi Tammy.. it took me about 6 months, from seeing the nut dr,diet dr,stress thyillium,blood work, medical clearence, now Im on a liquid diet since april 2nd until surgery date. (april 12th) Hasnt been to bad,the Protein Shakes pretty much fill me up. Dont give up, youll get there. It just seems like it takes forever.If you would,Add me to your friend list,id like to keep intouch with you.

[pamela3782 17]

Tammy don't be afraid to ask your surgeon for help. Mine has been fantastic so far and his office has helped me every step of the way. I started getting all of my tests and clearances taken care of as of March 2 and my scheduled surgery date is April 15th. You insurance company or doctor may require you to lose some weight before hand but once everything is said and done your surgeon should call you to set up a surgery date. Just make sure you ask questions, that is what they are there for. Good luck hun!