How long did it take....?....

I have my very last pre-requisite appt the morning I see Dr. Pohl for the first time. I will only have the endoscopy appt to go. How long did it take to schedule your endoscopy? How long did it take to get insurance approval? How long after the endoscopy and/or your initial appt with your surgeon did it take to schedule your actual surgery? I guess I'm just so anxious that I wi**** was done already. I am SOOOOOO ready! Thanks! Happy Friday! Jules

I think you may get an appt for the Endo almost right away. I say this because I have seen patients that called one day and go the next. I suppose it all depends on how in demand it is and what they have available. Always ask if there are any cancellation's. Insurance is the tricky part. Depends on what Insurance you have and even with the best, you could  have to wait a bit. Sometimes they do it right away and sometimes you wait a week or 30 days with others.  After approval, then it depends on what the Doctor has available for surgery date. Hope this helped. I know you are excited, but you must be patient grasshopper.

Hi Jules! I must say that you are doing great with your pre-op testing!!! You are way ahead of where I was at this step in the game!!!

The office scheduled the endoscopy for me and it was only a couple of days later...I went to the place right across the street from their Johnston office and let me tell you - the nurses were fantastic!!!!!

For insurance approval, everything was submitted by Dr G's office and I was denied the first time. From there, I took things into my own hands and got all the necessary paperwork together, wrote a personal letter to the insurance company (I'll share if anyone is interested to read it) and I faxed it over myself. I was approved in 48 hours!!!

From my 1st appointment to surgery was quite a while, but like I said, you are way ahead of where I was... I did all the tests between my 1st and 2nd visit. From my 2nd visit it was 2 1/2 weeks until surgery!

LB

Hi Jules, Congrats on being so close to the end of your testing! As for my experience... After my first appointment at the end of January (where I had all the testing done, except the endoscopy), Dr Pohl's office faxed in the referral for the endoscopy and I got a phone call about a day or two later, I think. The endoscopy was done the following week. Due to finding I had a small hiatal hernia and having irritation, they took a biopsy and I had to wait two weeks for the results to come in and the gastroentorologist to send the paperwork on to Dr Pohl. Then about two more weeks to get the next appointment with Dr Pohl.  Luckily, for me, the insurance was the easy part. I found out about a week or so after my appointment with Dr Pohl in January that I was approved. Finally got my second appointment with Dr Pohl in March. Due to the fact that I went to the East Providence office for the appointment, I had to wait until the next day to get my surgery date from a woman named Carol (she called me in the morning). And well, you know the surgery date from my post on Tuesday.  And I can relate to the "sooooo ready" part!  LOL 

Thanks for all your replies. They most certainly DO help. A lot!  I received my letter of medical necessity from my Neurosurgeon today. It's perfect! I really think this letter will be the key to my insurance approving my surgery. Later alligators! Jules

Hi Julie,  I went in with all my tests done except the Endoscopy as well. It took 2 weeks to get that appointment and it was at RW hospital. If you're interested, my profile has a timeline with all my test dates and appts on it so you can see how things went for me.  You  could be looking at surgery in about a month!  Good luck and make sure to keep us posted!

It didnt take long for my scope either. But after they found that I had H-pylori, so I had to be on antibiotics for a while before anythng was scheduled.  Hope all goes smooth

Thanks Angela and Tammy, I am really hoping to have my surgery by mid-May. The spring and summer months are the best time for me. I know I'll be more likely to get up and go while it's warm out. You know? The waiting game....aaaargh! Jule