Newbie needs Advice from Madigan patients!

Morning ladies! I have been browsing through the message boards here in WA and have some questions I didn't see asked or answered. I am going to Madigan tomorrow to have the group consult/meeting. Is there a waiting list at Madigan? How long did it take for most to get from the group consult to a surgery date?  I started this process wanting to have the WLS because I was having back pain with numbness in my legs. They did Xrays and actually found degenerative disk disease! Needless to say I am anxious... this is moving rather quickly, called yesterday to schedule an appt from my PCM consult and am scheduled for the first step tomorrow so any tips or advice to quell my anxiety would be appreciated! :)

Hi there! Congrats on the start to your new life!  At Madigan, you go through what they call Pathway and it consists of appointments with various places in the hospital, and then once you complete the classes, your case worker will schedule a pysch evaluation for you. I have kept a blog for awhile and on this particular page it shows the classes.  Sometimes it can take longer to get into the classes, depending on how many people are going through the pathway at the same time.  Don't give up hope though, it's well worth the wait! Shelley's Madigan Appointments

Shelley, Thank you so much. I am so glad you had that detailed blog, I can not begin to tell you how helpful it was. Helps to ease a lot of my stress. I am in so much pain with my back I can not wait to get this process started. The funny part is when I went to the doctor I really thought my back pain was just because I am so heavy, finding out it was something organic was shocking so just trying to absorb that information has been difficult. I am looking forward to my first appointment tomorrow even though I am not looking forward to making the drive that many times!!!!! Guess I will get used to our less than great I-5 traffic! Jodi

Depending on proactive you are about calling in for apts, I've seen people get through in 3 months.  Most take about 6 though.  No worries everything is pretty routine.  Good luck and keep coming back here for info and support!!

Hi mine went fairly quick , I had all my classes done in a month. I wanted to get them done and moveon. but i wanted to get stuff done before my husband left for iraq so meg kinda pused he band wagon on for me as well. i too have a long blog from 06 on my journey if you want to read it then feel free and i put up alot of information as well and the pictures of my new tt are up and in a few months i will post up my pics of my bb piercing. Take Care and Be persistent and never never give up, Kimmee

Thanks for the valuable  input. I am coming down there all the way from Whidbey Island so I will start my day at 7 am for an 11:00 check in! Should be good times but I am motivated to do anything that will aleveate some of this pain! :)

Best of luck, it can be a long process but in the end worth it.