SF WLS- NEWBIE

My name is Monique and I'm in the beginning stages of the journey that many, if not most of you have been through. I have been considering having weight loss surgery for about 2 yrs and am finally going through with it. We had to switch insure because what we had before did not cover WLS. Now that we have finally switched at the beginning of the year my doctor has finally sent my referral. I had to take a class before I got referred and had a sleep test done, the sleep test showed I had mild sleep apnea. The bariatric surgery center is in San Francisco, I live about 30-45 min away, I was curious to know if any of you had gotten your surgery done there? Or can anybody explain to me how the process goes from here? All my doctor said was that the bariatric surgery center would call. But I heard it could be awhile before they do. Could anybody give me insight. Anything would be helpful. thank you so much.

I'm not from your area, and I'm in the pre-op stage too.  

Usually the process goes something like this:  Orientation Meeting; Meet with surgeon or doctor from Bariatric Center; appointments with Psych and Nutritionist.  Some Centers also have Surgical Information Meetings (I had four:  surgeon/psych/nutritionist/exercise).  Some Centers require Cardio clearance.  You've already had the Sleep Apnea test so you're set on that.  Some require a certain amount of weight loss.  (Note:  some insurance companies require "medically supervised diet" for 3 mos. or 6 mos.)  After that, you generally see the surgeon and then your papers get sent in to insurer for approval.  Once approved, surgery is scheduled.

You may want to post general question in the "General Discussion Forum" -- this forum isn't very active.

Good luck in your journey.  

HI SF local - I'm in the East Bay. 

My insurance requires a 6-month medically supervised program of charted weight loss and must use a Center of Excellence Weight Loss Center. I'll be at ValleyCare in Pleasanton.  Another is Stanford; I'm sure there are others.

Program Requirements: Registered Dietitian Psych Eval, meet w/surgeon, labs as needed and any other diagnostic/assessments as may be needed. A sleep study is now on the calendar also.

Once approved by Surgeon, Psych and RD (that's an if) then more pre-op classes on nutrition, what to expect, etc.  After surgery, more classes and support groups also offered.

For me, this is making a big difference in how I approach things - I took me 2 years to make this decision and I want to ensure the highest level of success.  Taking advantage of all these resources makes sense to me.

Hey Monique

I'm in the East bay as well. Just starting out on the road to having WLS.

Ive also been considering WLS for a few years and have just now came to the decision to procede.

MY advice would be find out what the contact information for the clinic is and start calling. As good as all the centers are about reaching out and helping, I've found that no is a better advocate for me than me. As a healthcare professional myself I understand that individuals can easily get lost in the system, I am the only one that won't lose track of me.

Also I would say get a notebook and start writing down all the phone interactions you have and with whom, what the converstaion entailed.  just so all the information is kept track of.

Good luck on your journey,

Shawn