ATTENTION TRI CARE PATIENTS

I JUST FOUND OUT THAT TRI CARE WILL NOT APPROVE ANYONE FOR SURGERY UNLESS THE PCM/PCP (PRIMARY CARE MANAGER/PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN) SENT IN A "EVAL & TREAT" REFERRAL FOR YOUR PHYSICIAN. IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOUR PCM/PCP JUST REFERRED YOU FOR AN "EVAL" THEN HE MUST SEND IN ANOTHER REFERRAL TO TRI CARE FOR YOUR SURGEON TO "EVAL & TREAT" YOU. IT IS AN AUTOMATIC DENIAL IF YOU SIMPLY WENT TO YOUR SURGEON UNDER A REFERRAL TO BE EVALUATED ONLY. SO, I'M CHECKING ON MY ORIGINAL REFERRAL JUST TO BE SURE. GOD BLESS ... DAWN & NICK

Hey Dawn, thats what took so long for me to get my approval. My PCM didn't put on the referral eval and treat. Dr Morgans office has to fax your inital evalutation to the PCM for them to change it and then send the Eval and treatment plan to Tricare. Just keep in touch with Joyce, she is wonderful. See ya soon!! Britt

OK ... THANKS, BRITT. JOYCE WAS THE 1 WHO TOLD ME ABOUT THIS IN THE 1ST PLACE, SO I'LL KEEP ON IT. DR MORGAN WAS JUST DICTATING NOTES FROM 9/1 THIS WEEK SO IT MAY BE A COUPLE DAYS. WHAT TIME ARE YOU DUE TO CHECK IN TO MUSC MONDAY? SURGERY TIME? YOUR MOMMA IS GOING TO HAVE YOUR CELL PHONE, CORRECT? WE'LL GIVE A CALL & CHECK UP ON YOU! WE'RE SO HAPPY FOR YOU THAT WE CAN BARELY STAND IT! YOU HAVE OUR PRAYERS ... DAWN & NICK

The same thing happened to me but all I had to do was call my PCM at the Air Base and tell them that the referral needed to state evaulate and treat and they were right on it. I think within a week I am guessing I went online to tricare and it was approved. Then to make sure I called Joyce at Musc and she confirmed that she had gotten approval. Good Luck.

THANKS, MS TAMMIE, FOR THE TRI CARE INFO. SOUNDS LIKE IT WILL BE A SNAP TO FIX. HOW YA DOIN' 11 DAYS OUT? HOPEFULLY FEELING A-OK! GOD BLESS ... DAWN & NICK

I am feeling pretty good. I have lost 17 lbs so far. The last few days have been real good. I actually went for two walks today. I probably walked around 2-3 miles total. I still think I will wait unitl next week to go back to work to enable me to get organized and use to this new way of eating. Plus,I definitly don't want to over do it and mess something up.

WOWOWOW MS TAMMIE ... 17 #s IS TREMENDOUS! CONGRATULATIONS! I CAN'T WALK 2-3 MILES NOW ... I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I'M ABLE TO BE MORE ACTIVE. WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT ... &, RIGHT AFTER MAJOR SURGERY! I'VE NOTICED A LOT OF WLS PATIENTS START WITH HALF DAYS AT WORK. &, ABSOLUTELY NOOOOO LIFTING OF ANY KIND. WHAT KIND OF FOODS ARE YOU ABLE TO EAT? GOD BLESS DAWN & NICK

I called Joyce today to ask her when I could return to work and she said what about Sept 26 I was shocked but also relieved. I thought I would be going back on the 19th. I know there will be so much to do when I get back and I will be trying my best to get caught up and I am afraid I will overdo. So maybe this extra week will prepare me for the mess I will go back to. As far as what I am eating is a lot of soup , yogurt, oatmeal, grits, Carnation instance breakfast, I had some mac and cheese the other day but instead of blending it I just chewed and chewed and I did the same with green beans. So far very few problems. My husband cooked pork chops for him and the boys and they smelled so good. So what I did was just chew and get the juice out and spit it out. It was so good. They were real tender but I was afraid to swallow them. I had some tuna salad the other day too that was good.

I THINK IT'S GREAT THAT YOU ARE NOT GOING BAC****IL THE 26TH ... TAKE THIS TIME FOR YOU, MS TAMMIE. THERE'LL BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME TO CATCH UP AT WORK & YOU'LL BE BETTER SUITED TO DO IT BY GIVING YOURSELF TIME TO REGAIN YOUR STRENGTH. ENJOY THE TIME OFF WHILE IT LASTS! SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE EATING WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT EATING AFTER WLS. ARE YOU USING ANY PROTEIN DRINKS? VITAMINS? HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT ... http://store.bariatriceating.com/ GOD BLESS ... DAWN & NICK

SPITTIN' THE PORK CHOP OUT IS JUST TOOOOOOOOOO FUNNY! WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY! GOD BLESS ... DAWN & NICK