lnmlisa

Congratulations!! Thats awesome that tricare approved you that fast... it took them a stinkin week to approve me and that was only after a few phone calls from the surgeons office and from me. I had my surgery today and I am glad to say I am doing great... pain is very minor and Im just really tired... Hope things go smoothly for you!

Everything went well for me...Surgery was at 1:00 and I was discharged at 8:00 (eastern time) I havent had any bad pain or any neasua at all; I was given liquid percocet (sp?) and that is working for the little bit of pain I am having. I am really glad I made this choice. I hope everything went well for the others getting banded today! Congratulations!! WOO HOO

From referral from my pcm (feb 5 09) to approval from insurance (June 5 09) so it was 4 months and my surgery is scheduled for June 19th...not to long if you dont have to do a required diet or anything

I have tricare also and just got my approval this week. But when I went to my pcm for my lap band referral he also put in a referral for a sleep test; which indicated that I have sleep apnea... a co-morbidity. I am 5'2 sometimes they measure me as 5'3 thought, but I weigh 250 lbs and I had no problems getting approved. My surgeons office walked me though everything, told me what appts I needed to have and even suggested who I should see for those appts. So once you have your consult w/your surgeon I think you will have a better idea of what you will need to do to get approved. Good Luck!!

My pre-op instructions said I could have 40g of carbs per day, and I didnt realize how hard that was going to be! But I do agree just give your dr. or his nurse a call and they will steer you in the right direction! Good Luck!!

So I just checked the tricare website and my authorization is pending! OMG AHH I hope it gets approved! Im so nervous right now! Things didnt help though b/c today I was talking to my boss and telling her that the surgery center said my surgery would be around June 19th and she said "well I will put it on my calendar but if I were you I wouldnt get my hopes up b/c tricare isnt going to cover that" Like she knows or something...ugh I was so pissed; well thanks for the encouragement... but Im not going to let her get to me b/c she is just a miserable woman anyway. Well anyway I am just asking for everyone to send their positive thoughts my way! Thanks in advance!:redface:

I am 5 feet 2 inches tall and weigh 250 lbs, I think my BMI is like 44; my co-morbidities are sleep apnea and I have subclinical hypothyroidism, I also found out that I have a hiatal hernia

Well all has gone well; tricare faxed my approval to the surgery center and they called me today to schedule the surgery. I have to do a 2 week pre-op diet, no carbs to shrink my liver. So surgery is scheduled for June 19th! I am so excited! I cannot believe it is finally happening!

AHHHHHH I WAS APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR POSITIVE THOUGHTS! OMG THIS IS GREAT! I WILL ALSO SEND BACK POSITIVE THOUGHTS, YALL ARE SUCH GREAT SUPPORT I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS WEBSITE!!!!!! It was a week total I wait to hear back from Tricare (Im in the north region (North Carolina, Camp Lejeune) HealthNet is who I deal with) Anyway I am SO looking forward to going to work today and letting my boss know, haha in her face! Ok now Im getting to cocky, but I am SUPER excited! Have a good day everyone!

My tricare experience has so far been easy. I got the referral to see a civilian surgeon with no problem. My surgeon has pretty much held my hand through all my pre-op appts; Now I am just waiting for the dr office to submit my paperwork for approval, and the suspence is killing me! I got my referral on Feb 5th of this year from my PCM and the only thing that has taken me so long is my stupid blood test showed my TSH levels were elevated so I had to have that redone. But when I saw my PCM for the lap band referral he also put in a referral for a sleep study and found that I have sleep apnea so these last 4 months have been ALOT of dr appts for me...

See I went through this in 2007, my TSH levels were just a little elevated and my dr. refered me to an endocrinologist (sp?) and the only problem then was that one side of my thyroid was larger than the other, he said just to monitor it every six months, so in Feb of this year when I got the lap band referal my pcm ordered some blood work and everything came back ok, then the bloo work the surgeon ordered in March of this year came back elevated... The dr didnt ask me to fast for the test but I ate breakfast around 8ish that morning and the test was done about 4 that afternoon

I had mine done about a week ago, I was knocked out and dont remember much of the rest of the day. I went in at 10:30 was out by 11:00 and slept from 12:30 till like 4:30. The only pain I had was when they put the IV in my arm...no worries you should do fine

I had my EGD today, I dont remember much...thanks to those wonderful drugs that knocked me out . Everything went good but the Dr. said I had some acid reflux, which is strange to me bc I have never had heart burn, but he perscribed me Nexium and I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem? He showed me some pics but I was to doped up to remember what it looked like. Some biopsys were taken and sent away to be check but he said he didnt think it was anything to be worried about.

See I have never had acid reflux...not that I have ever noticed anyway...thats why this is so strange to me; I didnt have any problems with insurance covering the perscription, I just had a $3 copay...tricare is good for something right; but I am giving it a go bc the dr said so...thats why they get the big bucks right?

hahaha yall are too funny!! I was talking with my hubby about it and he was kinda upset that my boobies could shrink...haha I guess I didnt realize they were that important to him...haha

ehh bummer...thats ok I would rather be skinny... theres always silicone right?

It is an upper endoscopy...where they take a camera tube thingy and go down your throat and look at your esophogus and stomach...one of the crazy procedures my insurance required

I just had my psych eval like 2 weeks ago, it went really well. The lady was really easy to talk to and she basically wanted to know my entire life story in an hour. She asked me all kinds of questions, she wanted to know my ambitions and goals and what I am looking forward in the future. She wanted to know about my childhood and what my home life was like growing up. She asked about my parents, their medical problems, and their marriage. Then she asked about any medical problems I had. She wanted to know if my husband was supportive of my decision and if he was going to be there for me. She even asked about my sex life and how things were going in that department. She briefly went over the diet expected with the band (the nutrition appt covered ALL that though) Then she told me she would definately recommend me for surgery. I was really nevous when I went for my appt but once I got in there and started talking to her I calmed down alot. Then before I knew it we were done!

Hello... I just have a quick question. My surgeon requested I try to get a letter of medical necessity from my PCM, the surgeon said that it if I didnt get it, it was ok, it wouldnt stop me from having surgery, I was just wondering if anyone else had to get one and what exactly did it say? I requested it from my PCM and they said they could do it, but I just wanna know what it is??? Thanks in advance, everyone on here is so helpful!

Ok..so I have been following this website for about a month now...and this is my first post...I started my pre lapband journey Feb 5, 2009 and I am glad to report that today I had my nutrition appt. and psych eval. Both appts went absolutely GREAT! I was really nervous about both...but my nutrition appt was awesome the dietitian was super nice, and she helped me set some pre-op goals and went over everything pre-op and post-op to expect with the band, diet wise; then my psych eval went really smooth, I was expecting to have to go in and cry and pled my case but she just wanted to know pretty much everything about my life, childhood, home life, and family; she was so easy to talk with and said she would definately recomend me for surgery, and thought I was a great canidate! How wonderful! Then I had to go get some blood work and a urine sample done, all that I have left to do now is a chest xray and my upper GI (scheduled for April 15th) and everything will be ready to be submitted to Tricare for approval... So Im just hoping its all smooth sailing from here! and praying for an end of May surgery!!!