Military Spouse

[sherrinita 12]

I was wondering are there any military spouse who has gotten the VSG at Bethesda/Walter Reed. I would love to know your experience and the process. Thank you

[JackieV 246]

My am a military spouse but I will be having the sleeve at Keesler AFB.

[anniew1973 2]

I am a military spouse, but am just starting. Was tricare pretty quick with approvals? Good luck to you

[sherrinita 12]

I started in Oct.....when you go to your first meeting (if it is at Bethesda/Walter Reed) they will tell you everything and go through all the surgeries and all of those goodies. Our head guy told us to give him a week and he started putting referrals in for us.....so it was pretty easy with all of the medical stuff needed. the problem i run into is having the support group meetings (2)...its hard to get to. you can actually call yourself and set up your appts on your own ( of course that is what i did...lol) so now I am at the end of doing everything.....so three months to be exact on Jan. 23.......hoping for surgery in Feb....

[anniew1973 2]

Was tricare hard to work with? No one I know has ever used Tricare. What kind of paperwork do I need to take to the first seminar? I am taking a friend and a list of questions. Thank you

[JackieV 246]

Tricare does not cover the sleeve. Certain MTF will do them so that's the only way to be covered for the sleeve. If you go to a MTF it doesn't go through tricare.

[anniew1973 2]

Mtf? I'm lost. Lol

[JackieV 246]

Mtf? I'm lost. Lol

Military treatment facility

[anniew1973 2]

Lol. Thanks. I'm not all up on the abbreviations.

[sherrinita 12]

Yes, if you go to www.tricare.com it will tell you what is covered. But like she said it is only covered my certain training facilities......

[anniew1973 2]

Well that's just poopy

[cozy21 0]

Well that's just poopy

Hey! I am also dealing with Tricare and was disappointed to find out they do not cover the sleeve except at certain facilities. The MTF near me has a "surgeon" who will do the sleeve; however, after meeting with him and doing a little research to his qualifications /experience compared to civilian providers, I chose to go to a civilian and do a surgery which is covered by Tricare. I know how bad you probably want this done, but use caution with the surgeons on military facilities. Also, use caution when signing over rights to sue for malpractice. I have heard many stories of people who had great success with MTFs, but have heard even more horror stories.

[clk 3,519]

There's a military spouse group on here that has a post about MTFs that do the procedure.

I chose not to use a MTF because I wanted the sleeve and it wasn't offered where I lived. I self-paid and don't regret at all, even though the loan is only going to be paid off this July (3 years post op) and I had to travel pretty far to use the surgeon of my choice.

I don't wish to fear monger, either, but I do think a huge part of avoiding complications is to have a skilled and experienced surgeon. So before trusting a surgeon at the MTF to do the procedure I would want to talk to others that had experience with that surgeon, first, the same way I did because I self-paid. There are plenty of ladies here that had surgery on base and had a great experience. My concern would be the same if I wanted plastics - I'm not going to the doctor that does them once in a while to practice, between other procedures. I'd rather have a skilled surgeon that does my procedure regularly and has great results with the absolute minimum of complications.

Good luck. And if you do manage to get the procedures done, please post how it went and what MTF was used, along with the surgeon's info so that there's more experience out there for those researching. Any little bit can help the next person, too.

~Cheri

[anniew1973 2]

Thanks Cheri. I was planning to go to a civilian doc. I found out our tricare contract is changing. So it makes it more difficult. And now my husband is saying 'its a cop-out'. I'm all turned around and getting discouraged.

[JackieV 246]

Cozy- do you know which MTF you researched?

I have chose to have the sleeve at Keesler AFB. They are a great hospital and the surgeon is awesome. He is a general surgeon/ bariatic and performs the sleeve quite a bit. I had a friend sleeved by the same surgeon in December.

In my first few appointments I asked about success rates and their stats. He was very honest that they have no plan to become a center of excellence at this time. They wanted to insure they were performing a good surgery to qualified candidates. The quality vs quantity thought process.

As my date gets closer I am wondering if I made the right choice. I know their can be complications at any center. Everyone I know who has had it at my MTF loved the doctors and have had a great experience. I also live less than a mile from the hospital, and in the same neighborhood as my surgeon. ( incase their is a problem, he assured me he could be there just as fast as I can be).

I guess my concerns at this point is that they don't do a leak test, I'm sure I could ask for one. He said they have a few different ways they check during surgery. They said if they think there is a problem they can have it. My understanding is that they don't want to put their patients through unneeded steps.

They also did a stack of lab work but won't require an EKG. They said I am young and healthy. Nothing in my blood work and other labs suggest an issue.

At this point I don't know if I have valid concerns or if its cold feet. My surgery is Monday.