Newbie! So glad to be here...

Good for you!! My husband and I are both laid off -- so I figured now is the best time to do it, before we have to go about taking time off from work. 

You are very fortunate that you were able to self-pay! 

PS -- I have seen you over on the VSG forum and think  you have done an amazing job! I hope to be as successful with the sleeve!

Yup, that's a good time to do it. Sorry you're dealing with it. Hubby is a teacher and was laid off a year and a half ago. Luckily he was hired right back, but it was scary!

Yes, I was lucky, but I reached a point where I decided that it was less than a new car and I was worth it so we make it work each month :)

The Blue Cross/Blue Shield-Minnesota insurance plan required a six-month waiting period for which I am very thankful for.  That gave me time to mentally and physically prepare.  I started the vitamin supplements four months pre-op, practiced eating small, protein-rich foods in small bites--chewing 20 times before swallowing and setting the utensil down between bites.  I started drinking 8 large glasses of water per day six months pre-op. I attended support group meetings and nutrition meetings six months pre-op, as well.  Once, Blue Cross/Blue Shield gave their approval, the surgery date was set within three weeks. 

Now, how long did it take to get all the testing done... did you do the testing AFTER the 6 month waiting period, or during? 

 Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota had requirements before surgery would be approved:

Over age 18, Body Mass Index greater than 40, documentation of obesity-related conditions (high blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes, etc.), been overweight for more than two years, failure to lose weight in a weight loss program, pass a psych evaluation, and to be seen by a clinical dietician monthly for six months prior to surgery.  The only tests I had was an EKG and a pre-op physical both of which had to be performed within one month of the surgery date.  Hope this helps.

Congrats to you for taking the first step. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet, blood work, and psych eval. I didn't have any other testing. It took me over a year from my first seminar, but my last month of supervised diet I missed the appointment and had to start all over. The insurance approved it within a week of finishing my 6 month diet and surgery was a few weeks later.

My insurance, BCBS-DE, required 6 months nutrition classes. Pulmonology visit which i didnt even have a sleep study, cardiology visit, and psych evaluation. I had my seminar at end of April and my surgery was Nov 5th. Was out of work one month because my job had lifting.

I went to the seminar July of 2011 had my surgery January of 2012.  I had to do 3 visits with my nut over 3 months. Got the approval in October 2011 all my test were done by November 22,2011.  Only reason I had to wait till January was I had sleep apnea and had to be on the machine 1 month before they would schedule surger.y. 

For my surgeon, I needed to attend the info session, attend one support group before surgery and one after surgery, if I had GERD, I would need an endoscopy, get a psych eval done and then blood work needed to be done 2 weeks before my surgery date. Overall, the process took about 2 months. I postponed for about a month because I wanted to get my degree first and my job would only let me take a certain amount of time off per situation. So it took me about 3 and a half months from the moment I started researching to my surgery date.