help on getting a refferal!! please!!

Is there any reasons why drs won't approve me for surgery? i know that i'm morbidly obese 5'8 and around 250-260 have high bp ,short of breath, back painand joint pain. is there anything i should not complain about? i have an appt may 26 with my pcm to try to get a refferal to the surgon. I'm paranoid that i won't make the cut, i really need this to work, it's seems to be my last resort!! did any of ya'll see oprah yesterday, how depressing, all those people who were as big as me or bigger lost the wt on there on, makes me feel horriable that i can't lose 1oz by myself anymore!! boo-hoo poor me!!-dawn -

Dawn, I did see the program. Everybody is different. Don't beat yourself up. I believe our genetic are the problem, so just keep working at the process of getting the surgery. Don't give up! Smiles, Jan

Dawn, I did not get a referral to a surgeon, I just called the surgeon direct. Who is your insurance company? I am still working with mine for an approval now but hopefully it will be finalized soon. Talk to some of the people who used the doctors on the coast and just call them direct and talk with their office staff. Sue

hi sue, i've been reading about all your trouble, i sure do feel for you ,i'll keep praying for you. my husband is military, so we have tricare, we have to get a refferal from a pcm to do everything. rhonda and arlis are guiding me through this, there great. i just worry things won't go my way, i'm afraid i'll say the wrong thing to the dr and he won't belive that i've tried hard enough, yes, i'm paranoid!! thanks, - dawn-

Dawn, Going through Keesler, you should not have a problem. Just do things like Arlies and I have told you and you should be fine. You don't have to do anything to get approved like some of these other insurance companies make you do. You go to your appt with your pcm and tell him about all of your failed attempts at weight loss and ask him to please refer you to the surgery clinic. Have you called Lisa, the bariatric nurse yet? The surgery clinic number is 6516 and ask for her, she will tell you all that you need to do to get the surgery done. Everything will work out. Don't stress about it. Rhonda

hi.rhonda, yes, i called lisa in the surgery clinic she told me i had to go through my pcm. she wasn't much help, she was probably just busy. I'm a worrier by nature i can't help it, i'll probably drive all ya'll before i get through this. maybe once i get my refferal i'll be better, then i'll find something else to stress over. thanks, dawn

Whew girl, hang on and quit worrying! You will make it! Lisa is a jewel so she will help you all she can, I promise!!! As long as you fit the requirements BMI >40 or BMI >35 with comorbs, then you will be accepted. You don't have to worry so about insurance approval since it is the military hospital because if they say they will do it, you are approved. So relax, breathe deep, and hang on!! Smoochies ARlies

hiya Dawn referral referral referral. Welcome to the world of TRICARE. At least you're at Keesler and you get it done all under one roof. Try dealing with an appointment line who can't tell you what the services at your "remote clinic" even include. I took a day off for some other things (non WLS related) because I really need to stop slacking with my yearly checkups and they force me to get referrals from the Primary Care Provider, which would be the doc at the base clinic, however, the referral I need is probably to Keesler ( and they won't let me schedule an appt with Keesler without the referral ! ) and that means it will take more time till I can get into them and yet another day off I have to try to schedule. Problem with that is, referrals are only good for so long, if you haven't gone to see the doc by then, the referral expires ( geez !! ) and you have to start all over. What a bunch of red tape. My honest opinion, next time we move, I am going to go on the private sector for health care management, won't even bother with the base clinic any more. I'll pay the 15.00 bucks to go when it's convenient for me, not when the clinic staff happens to have a day available where they don't have to attend a barbeque or a bar mitzvah or a staff meeting. Ok, I'm a bit critical. By the way, have you guys heard about Keesler in the future not accepting any further cases that require surgery and a stay of more than 23 hours? So let me get this right, you HAVE to go to Keesler's Emergency room if you're dying for them to say SORRY but you have to go somewhere else? Yeah okay. That would also pretty much mean when this gets implicated, no more WLS? Arlies? you reading this? Kind of sad, isn't it? They offer this great program FINALLY and then yank it out from under everyone's toes a year later? Now I don't know when the tentative date is for this , surely not till later this year or even 2006, but it upsets me to no end. Anyways, guys. Just venting. Keesler staff is great, be glad you're THERE! Like anywhere else in the military, the best staff and doctors have no control over what happens because someone somewhere behind a desk decides something without knowing what the personal impact on many of the people in the area is. Back on topic now, though. DAWN? Just tell your PCP you need a referral for bariatric surgery. That's what I did. Had no problems getting the referral other than the Tricare Brainiacs sending it to my wrong address ( even though I had changed over the phone with them six months earlier and then filled out that long form and turned it in at the tricare thingie on the base clinic!! The referral got sent to CA where I had not lived since June , this was in December ) and of course it didnt get forwarded so I waited and waited and finally called them and OMG! YEAH WE GOT A WRONG ADDRESS, MA'AM... had the referral within a few days and got the ball rolling. Good Luck Girl and stop stressing. You'll be fine. ~Andie~

hey andie, now you really have me stressed!!! Do you mean you can't even go to keesler for primary care with out a refferal? Iguess it's different for me i have tricare prime thats about the only place i can go unless i'm out of the area and its an emergancy! I heard that keesaler medical center was on the list for "realingment" it's been on the list before and nothing happened, who knows it maybe a good thing if it does. If it does happen it will take forever-and -a-day, i should be long post-op by then!! i'm going to try to stop stressing and turn it all over to the lord he knows what is best for me more than i do!! thanks- dawn-

Hey Dawn Yeah, YOU dont need to stress. I'm just frustrated at the whole Pascagoula situation. I went there a few months ago and asked if I could get a mammogram, they said I have to call the appt line to get that done. So I called them, and the appt line lady said she didnt know if they do that there (NO THEY DONT!) I wanted her to find out and she said I have to go to my scheduled yearly checkup and then get a referral probably to Keesler. To me, this is unacceptable to have to go through this much red tape just for a flippin' mammogram. I mean, I was already there for the appt a few weeks back, why on earth could they NOT have just given me a referral so I could call Keesler? Its NOT like they have to do anything other than to give me a piece of paper. There's NO reason to make me go jump through a few more hoops of their BS to get this done, with my familiy history, I should have them done yearly and every time I attempt this, I get more headache than it's worth. I've seriously slacked on my yearly checkups due to the problems getting appointments at that clinic and they are flat out refusing to let me to out on the private sector. ANYWAYS.. do NOT stress over the whole realignment. You're not going to be affected by it, it was mentioned on TV the other day, it's not like we all don't already know about the situation but it kind of irks me, when I tried to get surgery at Keesler in Dec2003, they said OH KEESLER DOESNT DO THIS and I had to find me a doctor all the way in New Orleans. You're familiar with the area. That's a two hour drive versus 45 min to Keesler. Had they told me in January that Keesler does it, I would have chosen a shorter distance. Gas ain't cheap. I 'm very happy with my surgeon. Don't get me wrong. I 'm eternally grateful to him and would chose him again in a second. Just the thought I was lied to is what irks me. By the way I HAVE Tricare Prime. The only way I can go to Keesler if I go to the Emergency Room. I can not call the schedule appointments line. They refer me to the Pascagoula line. Yeah, when I move, I'm going private sector. All the way. Girl, sorry I was venting, please don't stress, ok? YOU will be just fine, it's just me being , didnt mean to upset you on a Sunday ~Andie~