This is my first EVER post on a message board so bear with me:)

***Congrats Lisa On your Surgery!!!! Sending Hugs your way*** Well brief about me My name is Karen, I am 5'10 and 330 pounds and suffering from numerous weight related medical problems and my bathroom could be mistaken for a pharmacy. I am dealing with tricare prime as my insurance provider and Military hospitals which has been interesting so far but no major probs.. My PCP put in my consult to see a Bariatric surgeon on Feb 3 2004. I recieved a call from the hospital on March 3rd asking if I could come in the following day at 11 oclock to Keesler Medical center for an evaluation, So went in to find out they are only funded to do one surgery per week and its not a first come first serve its on who they think needs the surgery which is good because they said I am an excellent candidate for the surgery. Another downer was that they only have 3 doctors out there that do the sirgery and 2 might be deployed soon ughhh...I also found out that If you have the surgery done outside of the base Tricare prime does not cover lapriscopic they only cover open surgery...I realized when you first go in there they test you in a way to see how motivated you are, and how dedicated you are to everything that comes along with the surgery, well I made sure they knew I was motivated and that I was not satisfied with thier answer of "well if you get tierd of waiting you can go on the outside and get the surgery done" and thats exactly what they wanted to hear...Has anyone else on here had any experience dealing with tricare or dealing with this surgery on Keesler in biloxi or know anyone that has?? I would be forever greatful I am sorry if I blabbbered on so much, and I look forward to getting to know everyone, and making some awesome friends

Karen Hi my name is Tonya my mom has Tri-Care prime and she had her surgery done in Pensacola, FL. By DR. Nye he is one of the greatest surgeons ever please email her I know she would be more than happy to answer any of your questions. We are in Gulfport, MS so she deals with Keesler also. Her email address is [email protected] her name is Dianne. Good luck to you, Tonya