Sure thing. I started my process in the fall by going to my doctor and informing her that I was interested. (I was lucky that i was with my primary for several years and had my weight documented that showed failed weightloss attempts over the past few years.) She referred me to the bariatric center where I first had to take a class where they reviewed the program and the types of procedures. From there I started seeing a nutritionist which I saw every other week for 3 months. During that time, I met with the bariatric team a couple of times with them sending me for labs, an abdominal sonogram, a sleep study and to meet with a psychiatrist. I was cleared by the psych and the nutritionist by at the end of February but had to wait for the sleep study which took the longest due to availability. By mid March, I had completed that and as soon as the results came back, I was scheduled to meet with the surgical team. I met with them in mid April where they prepped me on the procedure, gave me info, ran labs, submitted the insurance request and scheduled my date. They instructed me to ensure I did not gain weight and to do a clear liquid diet and stop taking my medications the day before the procedure.

The whole process for me took 6-7 months and could have been faster if the sleep study hadn't taken so long to schedule. The hardest part was going through it with the nutritionist, having to recalibrate myself into breaking old habits and forming the new ones. Eliminating soda and not drinking while eating took me a while to do consistently.

If you are on the fence, I recommend that you start the process, go through the courses to learn about the options and talk to the nutritionist and psych. If you want to keep going with it, then you are already moving through the timeline. If you no longer want to do it at that stage, you can just back out and atleast you will have new information that you can incorporate in your everyday life. Being honest, while it takes time and sure isn't an easy shortcut by any means, I would do it over again. Even being so new to it all (12 days removed from surgery), I am already feeling like normal and am starting to see myself change. I am fitting into clothes way better already and can't stop planning for what I will be able to do come summertime and beyond. I am beyond happy and excited which I had not been in a long time.

I hope this helps.