How lond did it take for you to get the surgery?

[Cheryl 1]

Hi. I originally inquired to the bariatric clinic and had all day appt for psych eval/nutritionist/MD for physical 11/10/11. I was required to do counseling as the psych assessment indicated. I don't regret this since it helped me examine when I overeat and how to minimize that. I already had a sleep study done in April 2010 and have been using a CPAP since that time. Completed 3 months of diet counseling (as required by Aetna) on 2/9/11. Had written my diet intake everyday and kept track of exercise. Started Vit D in Nov since my level was 21 (No surprise since I live in Ohio.) Had an EKG in there somewhere just for cardiam clearance. Didn't need any upper GI done since I have no problems. I took a little while for the dr to sign off on things and for the office to fax things but once Aetna had all the info (Feb 22?) they approved it within a couple of days. I have a BMI of approx 43 with sleep apnea. Aetna said they called the office with my approval on Feb 25th but noone there knew anything about it. I found out March 1st via phone call to Aetna and now I have my preop appt tomorrow March 3rd, will be on a one week liquid high-protein diet to shrink my liver, and have surgery 3/16. It all moved fairly fast to me. So...from start to finish....it has been four months..... Like other people said, check with your insurance company with what their requirements are. If you are self pay it will go quicker. Good luck.

[Dawn 16]

Mine is a little different since I'm at a small Army post so everything was done very quickly! The first appt. with the surgeon to the surgery date was 1 month and two weeks!

[gotamakeachange 7]

I went to the seminar mid September 2010 and I was sleeved December 20, 2010. As others have said it does depend on your insurance, I have BCBS PPO of Michigan. I did not have to go on a supervised diet nor did I have a waiting period. I was very lucky and I am so happy with my decision to go with the sleeve.

[MRSKOUBiK 27]

I was really lucky because I had done a 6 month weight management program thingy with work within the timeline my insurance wanted. At the time I did that program I wasnt even considering WLS I was simply doing it to lose weight...

That being said I decided in July I wanted surgery. Researched.... and all that fun stuff... and had my surgery in December!

[disp4so 3]

I had surgery at Kaiser Richmond. I started the first week of May and had my surgery on June 22nd. I was very luck in how fast it proceeded. I only had to loose 10lbs to get my surgery, I ended up loosing 36 lbs by the morning of my surgery.

Hope all goes quick for you :-)

good luck

[jenniferkentucky 1]

I am self pay. My total from start to surgery date was 3 months, 2 weeks.

[sychadelic 10]

I attended my first seminar in late August, 1st surgeon meeting early Dec. and having surgery March 17 I will say the biggest slow down I had was finding a psychologist that does the evals for weight loss surgery. If the surgeon you pick does not work with a specific psychologist I say go ahead and find one as soon as you can, I found they are few and far between, but that may just be central Alabama. Good luck!

[Caliblonde 25]

My wait time with Kaiser in Southern California has been 16 months start to finish. I started the process in January 2010 and my surgery is scheduled for May 2011. I'm kind of glad that they didn't tell me how long the process would be start to finish last January because I would have cried. Now I'm just thrilled that my surgery date is almost here!

[M2G 1,836]

6 months from start to finish, using UHC insurance. I called in Apr 2010 and had to complete 6 months of documented weight monitoring with either a dr., nurse, or reg. dietician. I went through my surgeon's office for all my visits with his in-house nutritionists and had surgery in Oct. 2010.