Inital consult

Went to my initial consult with my surgeon today... Was told because I had previously had an open cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) that there is a chance that my RNY could be converted to an open.... :(

Also, I'm not sure what I expected but with all the appointments for the nutritionist, physical therapy, pysch, sleep study, support group....I'm not sure when it will even go to the insurance for approval. I guess I was hoping to get it done in May...wishful thinking?? It looks like it!!

On the positive side the surgeon was extremely kind and informative. Her staff was very knowledgeable and also very nice! Fist appointment with my nut is March 8th!

Keep hanging in there. I started my process for surgery in March 2012, and had my surgery on 1/28/13. I got approved within a couple of weeks of submitting to insurance, but it took quite a while to get everything required completed.

Getting to the point of insurance submission is definitely a process and it can take time. I remember sitting down with my Dr, at the beginning of this past September, and learning all I would have to do to before being able to submit and thinking, crap, that is a lot of things to do. Just take it a day at time, and plan ahead. Before you know it, the times gone by and its time to submit. Just make sure you pay attention to your insurance's requirements, for example if they require the 6 months medical weight loss supervision, its consecutive, so if you miss a month, you have to start ALL over again. You seem to have a few extra things you're required to do, like the sleep study. Are these things required by your surgeon? or your insurance? or do you have health issues that require additional testing? I just ask out of curiosity because I only had to do 6 months medical weight management, psych eval, and physical with my PCP whi*****luded bloodwork and her approval I was healthy enough for surgery. Even now that I have been approved, I do not have to have an EKG or X-Ray because I am young and have no medical issues, other than been overweight. Anyway, I just had all my paperwork submitted this past Monday and I got approved the next day, but don't count that as normal. I was told average time insurance takes to approve is 3-6 weeks. Once they approve there is a whole new slew of appointments to get through once your date is chosen, an even those have to be completed in a certain time frame. It is a process, and seems, like a lot, but like I said, one day at a time!

The sleep study was recommended by the surgeon since I do not sleep well, always am tired and have morning headaches daily.

I have tricare and there is no diet requirement for them at this time. 100 pounds over ideal body weight with no comorbities but I do have comorbidities of hypothryoidism and PCOS.

I was informed that insurances have up to 30 days to either approve or deny the surgery but their experience with Tricare has been less then two weeks and she said some have been approved the next day.