July 19th Military??

I'm a 7/19 baby and wondering who else is having their surgery at or through a military hospital.... I'll be at West Point NY....Keller Army Hospital (even though we're Air Force), and READY TO GET THIS OVER WITH!!!!!! Teri S

Hi Teri! We too are Air Force and on July 19th I'll be having my surgery at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, TX at Ft. Bliss. We are currently stations at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM. I tried going civilian here but was getting too much of a run around. Some one made the suggestion about William Beaumont and it has been a blessing. The Air Force has paid for us to go there for my pre-op visit and will pay for our trip for the surgery. They also were able to get my husband a little over 2 weeks permissive TDY orders so that he wouldn't have to burn any leave. We haven't seen his orders yet but he'll be off at the minimum from July 16th through Aug 2nd. Right now I'm trying to figure out what else I can get them to pay for (i.e. vitamins, calcium, not sure about protein). Heather (7/19/04)

Hey Heather!!! Are you having open or lap?? My DH is now Reserve again after being active for a year, so I'm taking advantage of the extended medical, but it runs out 8/20!! Just getting in under the wire! Should've done this years ago, but my final motivation was when DH was in Baghdad for Christmas and I had to do so much myself and found so many things were either harder or impossible because of my weight!!!! Santa has a tough job running presents from the attic to under the tree, let me tell you, and I don't know how HE does it with his bowl of jelly!!!! Anyway, hubby is home safely and I'm ready to change my life!!! Are you active duty??? Teri S.

As it stands right now mine will be open. They stopped them from doing it lap some time back but the Dr. said he heard rumors that they were going to let them start offering lap again. If the Dr. has the go ahead by the Army to do it Lap then he will offer it to me. I'm hoping for Lap but at this point and time beggers can't be choosers and I'm a beggin'. lol I think in order to get it done Lap with the military you have to have a BMI between 40 - 45, and no previous abdominal surgeries (i.e. cesaran sections, gall baldder). Glad to hear your hubby is home safe. How scary for you and over Christmas. My hubby has lucked out with the war so far. We have had some very close calls. We are active duty and lifers. I've been trying for the surgery for a while now but due to pcs's and dealing with civilian doctors have not had much luc****il now. When we moved here I got a wonderful PCM who has helped me so much. We're trying to get this over with so that I will be 100% in case we get orders again. That and we would like to try and have one more child before we get to old. LOL Well, better get back to work for now. Heather (7/19/04)

Hi There, I'll be having an open RNY at Scott AFB in Illinois on July 20th. I've been pleased with the process so far. They've been very good about getting pre-op stuff done quickly and checking everything. I'm with you though, READY TO GET THIS OVER WITH !!!