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Hi everyone,
My name is Sam and I am a 24yo mom of 2 boys. I have yoyo'd with my weight for 8 years now but it was after i had my boys that it got out of control. I was 20-30lbs overweight when I got preggo with my oldest son, gained 50lbs but lost it all plus 10lbs but gained 80 back in 6 months. After my second son I gained 35 and lost it all but now have gained it all back and weigh more then i did when i was pregnant :( I am tired of being large and so that is why i am here :)
I went to the drs on Monday and got a referral and my appt was set up for Oct 24th. It is a 2 hours orientation type appt. They are sending out a packet of info but can you all tell me what to expect and an idea about a timeline of events. I know it is different with all doctors but it would help a lot if I had an idea of how long the process takes. Will it be a year before the actual surgery or a couple months??? Thanks for any insite.

~Sam

Welcome!!!

It really depends...mostly on insurance unless you are paying out of pocket.

Your surgeon will probably require bloodwork/EKG/sugery release from your regular doctor, Upper GI from the radiologist, psych evaluation (2 visits for me), nutritionist (2 visits for me) and perhaps a sleep study. Depending on how much free time you have you could get all of this done comfortably within a month...I work full time and did it all within that timeframe.

Now if you are using insurance you may only need the above to be approved or you may need to provide weight history going back to as much as several years or you may be required to go on a supervised diet for up to six months or show proof of prior weight loss attempts. You may also have to wait for approval and that timing depends on your insurance too...a few days to a few weeks. Once I was approved I was given a surgery date the same day surgery was 2 weeks and 3 days from date of approvel.

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BMI Countdown: start 40.2, down to 29.0
Officially out of the OBESE category and in the OVERWEIGHT category. 25 lbs. to NORMAL WEIGHT category!!!
Banded: May 30, 2008

For the insurance to cover my wife's surgery the timeline is:
6 months of supervised diet counseling
Psych Evaluation
Meeting with dietician
Meet with surgeon
Cardio assessment
Sleep Study

Once all this data is accumulated and verified by the physician a package will be submitted to the insurance company.

After approval the surgery could be scheduled as early as one month later depending on any additional requirements by the doctor.

This process appears to be different with every insurance company and surgery center.

For your info...

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