How soon did you have a surgery date once approved by insurance?

Hi everyone. After a LONG process, the doctors office contacted me today to say I was approved for gastric sleeve surgery. Now there's another roadblock. I have to get a pre admission certification for my hospital stay. The insurance advocate at the office said she called it in today. She claims that should only take a few days, but today is Friday, and then the office has to review my chart, then she will call to finally schedule me for surgery. I've been soooo full of anxiety and worry etc that I'm making myself sick.  I return to nursing school August 26 and I need to have this surgery at least a week before I go back, so I'm freaking out that everything's not going to come through on time.  I know it varies, but how soon did you have your surgery date after you found out you were approved?  I'm hoping I can lay my worries to rest somewhat...here's to hoping.

Your note says it all....it varies.......I had a surgery date the same day I was approved.....and the surgery will be 20 days after the approval was made.

I'm waiting on a date myself, so I can't really answer your question. But I wanted to say congratulations on your approval! Best of luck to you on your journey. :)

It depends on your doctor's schedule.  I could have had my surgery sooner but I put it off to the holidays.

Just let your doctor's office/scheduler know that you are starting back to school so you would like to schedule as soon as possible so that you have time to recoup.  They usually try and work with you as much as they can.

Good luck and can't wait to welcome you to the losers bench!

I had to wait a week once I got approved before I got a date for surgery.  My surgeon scheduled them in the order the insurance approval came in.  I had about a 3 week wait to have my surgery once I got the date.  

I think you need more than a week for recovery.  Your pain may be gone in a week but you are going to be soooooo tired. I would really try for at least two weeks if you can.  I would definitely let them know of your needs and hopefully they will schedule you quick. 

Good luck to you! 

I was approved on 1/26 & had surgery on 2/28.

Worrying & making yourself sick aren't going to help you. You need to go with the flow of the process. You can't force things to conform to your schedule. Do your best & factor in some flexibility!

Good luck!

 

That's the problem. I don't have flexibility. I'm a nursing student. So if it doesn't happen before August 26, that means id have to wait till fall of 2015. You don't get the holidays off or spring break in nursing school and every day you miss counts towards a lower letter grade. Not to mention clinicals. The rule with that is miss one and your done And even if i had the desire to miss school its impossible.Just saying. Not being picky im being logical.

It is going to depend on how busy your surgeon is and how far out they are scheduling.  Some surgeons do surgery more days of the week than others and some have a surgery schedule that is already filled up further out than others. Some surgeons can get you in in just a couple of weeks and with others it can be well over a month.

Call your surgeon's office tomorrow morning and explain your situation and see what, if anything, they can do to get you on the schedule quickly. 

Even if you get the surgery done before your classes start, though, what are you going to do if you have any kind of complication that requires going to the ER, being hospitalized for a day or two again, or just being physically unable to attend class?  Just something to think about because it is pretty common for people to need to take additional days of work/school during the first two months post-op.

Lora