Timeline of weight loss surgery

[PCOS_Mama94 13]

Hi all,

Ill be having the sleeve done later this year.

Ive had my first appointment with the surgeon i want to go with, it was just with the nurse that time.

I did tell her my private health insurance reaches that one year mark in the middle of October and with my sons birthday a few days later I'd be wanting the surgery to be around early November just so I'm not on the pre op diet on his birthday(a kid only turns 10 once!).

They gave me my next appointments to be 19th October which is after that one year mark. Its with the dietitian and the surgeon.

So im just wondering what the timeline is like with these appointments??

Im based in Sydney Australia. Would i start the pre op the day after that appointment? Are there other appointments i need to attend? Im really hoping for that first week or 2 of november to be the surgery date and just feel like the appointments that were made would push my surgery to late november or even december!

[vikingbeast 987]

I don't know what happens in Australia, but here in the US most private insurance requires a series of prerequisites. I had a very low number of these, and it was still a round half-dozen steps before they could even request that insurance pre-approve it. Some insurance requires a 3- or 6-month medically supervised diet.

But then after the insurance bit, there's a bunch of other things that need to happen, like medical clearances (cardiovascular, pulmonary, scans, etc.) and the pre-surgical diet. My center also has a timeline for when certain medications and supplements need to be started or stopped, so I'll be on bariatric Vitamins for three weeks before surgery and have to leave off caffeine two weeks before surgery, etc.

It's definitely not a fast process.

I will say this, though, I'll be crossing the holidays soon after surgery and I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn to Celebrate without a giant plateful (or multiple!) of food. It's likely that I'll only be able to take a few bites of food at Thanksgiving (late November here). This is going to be a lifelong thing, re-learning to eat correctly, so I'm not trying to schedule around it (no "food funerals").

[summerseeker 2,316]

Hi PCOS mama94, welcome to this great site.

I am in the Uk and the huge amounts of Covid here mean that for the last 16 months all hospitals have only dealt with that and the most urgent surgery. 15 months on we have a huge back log of people needing medical care. Here we have little to no chance of NHS bariatric surgery. Four months ago I decided to go private and have done psych evaluation, seen the bariatric nurses and signed for the surgery. Every day I hope for the 'date' Then I will have to do a milk and veg diet for three weeks.

[Arabesque 7,524]

Australian health insurance works differently. No prerequisites or approval required from your insurance at all. @PCOS_Mama94’s 12 month wait would likely be because she didn’t have health insurance before. Here, health insurance is not tied to your employment. We choose our own health fund & the level of coverage we want. And we pay for it ourselves. When you first join a health insurance fund in Australian you’re not covered for any pre-existing conditions until you’ve been a member for a year.

Mine all happened in a matter of weeks. Referral from my GP then three weeks for my appointment with the surgeon then about another three weeks till my surgery. He asked if that date suited & it was fine. Yours will likely allow some flexibility of date choices too.

How long you will wait will depend on your surgeon’s requirements & schedule. My surgeon only wanted the two week pre surgery diet (he recommended the dietician). Said he didn’t think I needed to see a therapist but gave me the names of some if I wanted to see one. Then just the presurgery check - blood test & ecg. But friends had to wait longer because one had to have a couple of therapist appointments first & another had a 3 week pre surgery diet.

Hope you’re keeping safe in Sydney at the moment @PCOS_Mama94 & hope the prolonged lockdown you’re experiencing doesn’t delay your surgery. Fingers crossed things go smoothly for you.