Nurses and Weight Loss Surgery

I had weight loss surgery (laparscopic Roux-N-Y) last year and have lost 117 pounds. I am interested in what the stats are among the nursing community. Feel free to comment on how your surgery has changed your life! I no longer have diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, joint pain, and stress incontinence.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Had open RNY 3 years ago lost just over 100lb and best thing I ever did, although no co morbidities I have less back pain when I rise in a morning and able to do more with hubby and dogs

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I want a lap band, but am having the usual trouble with my insurance company (even though God knows I pay high enough premiums that I should get it for free!). They need to move into the 21st century, because WLS is becoming a standard of care for those of us who have tried everything else and can't lose enough weight to make a difference in our health.

Vent over.........please keep the information coming!!

[RN1982]

I have my psych exam at the end of this month. This whole process seems to take forever. I don't know how long after the psych exam I have to wait for approval by the psychologist but the wait is making me nervous.

[NurseExec]

My whole process took almost 9 months to the day from when I began. I had to do a six month documented by my physician diet, a psych eval, tons of labwork, a sleep study, EKG, PFTs, and a stress test, BEFORE the insurance company would make a determination. Fortunately for me, I had great insurance at the time (federal BCBS). It took 2 months to get approval from them.

Once I had the approval, the ball got rolling fairly quickly. I remember my initial visit with my surgeon. He told me it would take 6-8 weeks to get insurance approval, and I remember thinking, "you've got to be kidding me, no way!" LOL! More like 6-8 months.

It was wayyyyy worth it though. You can see my progress on my blog (see profile). Good luck to you!

[RN1982]

My whole process took almost 9 months to the day from when I began. I had to do a six month documented by my physician diet, a psych eval, tons of labwork, a sleep study, EKG, PFTs, and a stress test, BEFORE the insurance company would make a determination. Fortunately for me, I had great insurance at the time (federal BCBS). It took 2 months to get approval from them.

Once I had the approval, the ball got rolling fairly quickly. I remember my initial visit with my surgeon. He told me it would take 6-8 weeks to get insurance approval, and I remember thinking, "you've got to be kidding me, no way!" LOL! More like 6-8 months.

It was wayyyyy worth it though. You can see my progress on my blog (see profile). Good luck to you!

When my doc put in the consult for the Bariatric clinic, I got medically approved within a week. Now I have had my sleep study already and have my psych exam soon. I think they approved me though on my BMI alone which was 51.

I'm not a nurse yet but I'm an EMT and STNA... I had the Sleeve done in January 2007 and have lost 110 lbs. I self paid for the procedure. It took six weeks from the initial informational meeting until the day of surgey. Every aspect of my life has improved and I would do it again without a second thought.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm not a nurse yet but I'm an EMT and STNA... I had the Sleeve done in January 2007 and have lost 110 lbs. I self paid for the procedure. It took six weeks from the initial informational meeting until the day of surgey. Every aspect of my life has improved and I would do it again without a second thought.

How much did the procedure cost?

I'm only curious, because I'm thinking of self-paying for a procedure (not weight loss surgery related) if my insurance company doesn't approve it within the next few weeks. Of course, I wouldn't want this to break my bank.

I'm sure it all depends on the procdure that you are going to have. My surgery cost me about $11,000. The surgeon has a deal worked out with the hospital and Anesthesiologist in which they had set fees.

On the survey there is not the choice of:

No, I have not had surgery. .....???What is the purpose of this questionnaire?

I had weight loss surgery (laparscopic Roux-N-Y) last year and have lost 117 pounds. I am interested in what the stats are among the nursing community. Feel free to comment on how your surgery has changed your life! I no longer have diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, joint pain, and stress incontinence.

......Congratulations on the weight loss, not only on the weight loss but on changing all of the chronic disease patterns. Curiosity....what are you thoughts about so many in the nursing profession having obesity?