[Racheler]

The surgeon received my info the day after I mailed it back so his office called me and said I did meet the initial criteria so now I can attend the seminar which is scheduled for Nov 12th. I have to attend 2 of these before I can have surgery and you have to attend one before you can see the surgeon at all. Anyways on to my question. I am finding contradictory info about when some of the things like having the letter from the dietician and psychologist need to be done. Seems like some of it is telling me to get it before I see the surgeon and then others tell me that the surgeon will tell me who I can see and what exactly is required. So which one is it?

What tests do I need to have my PCP do before I see the surgeon? TSH? Cholesterol? Sleep study for possible apnea? Man this is so confusing! Are there any MUST HAVE books out there? If so anywhere I can get them used?

Thanks

[chrisg9149]

I know with my surgeon he has a very big program that you must go through before he'll do the surgery. As far as the testing, I waited for him to tell me what was needed and then I just got the referrals from my PCP.

[dtravler1]

I had to see my surgeon and he gave me a packet that had what I needed to complete before he could start submitting info to the insurance company. I had to see the dietician, psychologist, upper gi, lab work. I still havn't had the surgery, the hospital put these surgeries on hold. good luck with your surgeon. I'm just getting bigger by the day.


Debbie

[BevMel]

Racheler

slow down

with my program there was an orientation just to learn about procedure from there i schedule appt with weight management clinic they set up a day to see dietian, pchys, social worker, exercise person and nurse pract, on that day the recp scheduled all of my diagnotic testing including sleep ap it was all in my network. ( if yours is a different kind of ins go where you will get most coverage but they should send you with the orders of what needs to be done.)

we had to had 4 group sessions very helpful before surgury
from there i had to have an appt with their interist.
the next step was all these people meet once a week if any concerns about my situation was they were concerned about anemia wanted to make sure i wasn't bleeding also i had to have consult with gyno about her take on if i was high risk for blood clots i later learn that there is a screen they can put in to lower the risk

anyway after all that cleared they sent letter to ins and it did have to be reviewed twice i rec clearance after two weeks with ins. surgery was done 3 weeks later

what i am trying to say is it is a long process but worth it you need this time to realize this is not reversal and will be a life time committment after 4 weeks post op so far i have never had to eat b/c i was hungry just b/c i had to amen!!

i sarted march 17 and did not get surgury until sept 18

the big thing if you are confused call their office someone can answer these questions about there program they will b/c your best friends whether they want to or not lol

i hope this helps
later
bevmel

[Ditzy Blonde]

Racheler
I hope I did not confuse you, I had letters from my back surgeon and my family practice doctor already written to include in the packet the doctor sends to the insurance company. This hopefully will get approval faster, is what my family doctor suggested. We'll see if he is right

[Racheler]

Originally posted by BevMel
Racheler

slow down

with my program there was an orientation just to learn about procedure from there i schedule appt with weight management clinic they set up a day to see dietian, pchys, social worker, exercise person and nurse pract, on that day the recp scheduled all of my diagnotic testing including sleep ap it was all in my network. ( if yours is a different kind of ins go where you will get most coverage but they should send you with the orders of what needs to be done.)

we had to had 4 group sessions very helpful before surgury
from there i had to have an appt with their interist.
the next step was all these people meet once a week if any concerns about my situation was they were concerned about anemia wanted to make sure i wasn't bleeding also i had to have consult with gyno about her take on if i was high risk for blood clots i later learn that there is a screen they can put in to lower the risk

anyway after all that cleared they sent letter to ins and it did have to be reviewed twice i rec clearance after two weeks with ins. surgery was done 3 weeks later

what i am trying to say is it is a long process but worth it you need this time to realize this is not reversal and will be a life time committment after 4 weeks post op so far i have never had to eat b/c i was hungry just b/c i had to amen!!

i sarted march 17 and did not get surgury until sept 18

the big thing if you are confused call their office someone can answer these questions about there program they will b/c your best friends whether they want to or not lol

i hope this helps
later
bevmel

Maybe I came across wrong but I am not trying to rush things I don't have any plans to have surgery before March 04 I still have a nursing baby so no rushing I just want to be doing everything I am supposed to be doing. I got several info papers from the surgeons office and one had a list of things to do and it said to do this stuff before the consult with the surgeon and on another piece of info they sent me it said that the surgeons office had specific places they want to send people.

Just because I just recently came to this board doesn't mean I am new to the idea of WLS and I haven't taken anything lightly. Deciding to do this has been a 3 year process for me. After my daughter was born we decided that our family was complete and that once the baby had weaned there was no reason not to go ahead.