Hi! Another newbie here. Kinda long.

My name is Jessica, 32 and I'm hoping to have GBS soon. My husband is in the Army and we're at Ft. Polk, so we have TriCare. I have my first appointment with Dr. Chung in Lake Charles this coming Thursday. I've been overweight/obese (I HATE that word!) since I was in my early 20's. Right now I'm 283 lbs and wear a 22/24. This is my highest weight ever. I was just diagnosed with high blood pressure and put on medication for it. My cholesterol and blood sugar are fine though. Over the past year or so my knees have been bothering me. I was also diagnosed with Psuedo Tumor Cerebri last summer. It's an eye disease seen mostly in overweight women, so losing weight can "cure" it. Basically my brain makes too much spinal fluid and it doesn't drain properly, so the fluid puts pressure on the optic nerves and causes them to swell. I'm on medication for it and I would love for the condition to go away. I finally got my approval this past Thursday. I had my referral appointment on August 4th and waited a week to call the Referall/Approval line at Baynes-Jones to see if I had been approved. I called and it showed the referral as being reviewed, but there wasn't an approval yet. I was told to give it a couple of days. During this time I was also checking the computer to see if I had been approved as well. I called back on Tuesday and there was still no approval and the lady said that was odd because we should have known something by then. She gave me Humana's number and I called them. Turns out my referall was never submitted! I wanted to cry! I called the lady back at Baynes-Jones and told her what had happened. She was very nice and understanding and told be she would give my referral to a nurse to be resubmitted. Something told me to check online on Thursday morning and there it was!!! I was so happy that I laughed and cried. I called the lady at Baynes-Jones just to make sure I was really approved and I sure was. I called Dr. Chung's office and scheduled my appointment. I'm finally on my way to getting my surgery done. I have two friends who just had GBS in the past couple of months and I have another friend who is almost 2 years post-op and at her goal weight. I'd been thinking seriously about having GBS since January and I am ready now to do it. I know it won't be easy, but I feel this is the only thing that will help to lose weight and hopefully keep it off for the rest of my life. Thanks for getting this far. As you can imagine I am pretty talkative. Jess

Jess, Congrats on the approval. This has been the best thing I could have ever done. Daily I am thankful that I had the surgery. Wishing you the best, Jodi

Congrats, and welcome to the board! I have Tricare also, my DH is retired Navy. Anyway, my approval was in 2 days. It went fast! Tricare is wonderful about it. I assume that GBS stands for gastric bypass surgery? Good luck to you with everything! Cindee

Yep, GBS stands for gastric bypass surgery. My friend, the one who is 2 years post-op, and I email each other a lot and we just started abbreviating it because it's easier than typing it out everytime. Thanks for the welcomes and well wishes.

Jess: My daughter-in-law's mother was sent from BJACH to Dr. Chung. It didn't seem like it took very long at all to schedule her surgery. I think she only got serious about getting the surgery this summer and now she's scheduled to have her surgery on September 5. Here's hoping things go as quickly for you too. I had my surgery done at BJACH 18 months ago and just had my tummy tuck done on Friday at LSU in Shreveport. Mine was an open RNY and so far the tummy tuck is a lot easier recovery. It took about 3 weeks for the approval to come through for the TT. I have never regretted having this surgery and am only sorry that I waited so long. Good luck and I hope your appointment goes well. Cathy

Hi Jessica, I'm 32 also and my husband just retired from the Army at Fort Polk.............lol, we were SOOOOOOOOOOO lucky and moved all the way to DeRidder (read sarcasm here). Anyway, I had my surgery, open RNY, at Fort Polk with a surgeon that left not too long ago. I hear great things about Dr. Chung though. I'm currently 6 months post op and it has been an interesting journey. I've found that most of the Doc's at BJACH work with you if you have any issues. I only found one that sort of rolled his/her eyes (don't want to upset anyway with any specific reference to which doc). I've found great nurses at BJACH and had excellent care there during two stays. One from the surgery and one from a tiny complication 2 weeks later. I hope you have a good experience, and let us know if you have any questions or just want to chat. Kendra

Hello Jess Hi there my name is Tracy and I am also located at fort polk. I will be having my surgery on the 1st Sept in Lake Charles with Dr Chung . I will tell you that it is a easy process to go thru to get the approval and all. The staff there are out of this world. I had my appt on the 2nd August and on the 3rd I had my approval. So if you need anything at all please email me and I will assist as much as possible.

Welcome to the board and congratulations on your approval. Good luck, Tina336/182/155

Hi, Jessica! Congratulations on your approval! Before you know it, you'll have a date, and then before you know it, you'll have your surgery and be on the losing side!

I just want to tell you congratulations!! I just had my surgery 3 weeks ago---by Dr. Chung!! He is a fabulous doctor with an awesome nurse (Marcie). You will not be dissapointed!!