In Norfolk looking for

Some answers please

I'm trying to figure out if anyone knows if there is a surgeon that can take tricare and do the sleeve I've read that only military care facilities do it but I would rather not go to PortsmouthNaval. Any help or advice is very much appreciated!

I live in Chesapeake, and wanted to have my surgery (gastric bypass) at the Weight Loss Surgery Center of Hampton Roads in Newport News. A good friend of mine had the sleeve done there withe Dr. Terracina, and she has had great results. I was told because I have Tricare Prime, the referral would get picked up by Portsmouth Naval and if I wanted to have it done anywhere else, I would have to pay for it out of pocket. I don't know how true this is, but I didn't want to take the chance. I am scheduled to have my surgery at Portsmouth Naval with Dr. Mann on May 11th. My experience with him and all of the staff has been wonderful - not what I expected!! lol
I hope everything works out for you, good luck!

Crystal, you are correct.  Portsmouth will pick up the referral but if you want to go to a civilian provider you have to pay a certain amount out of pocket.  I wish I could find my letter so that I could give you teh exact wording they used.   I had my RNY 9gastric bypass)done by Dr. Barker at Portsmouth Naval on the 13th of April and even though I am sore since it has only been a week I believe that he did a great job.  The Nurses and the Corpsman were also extremely helpful.  It is a more lengthly process than in the civilian world but I think with all of teh testing and pysch evals it was worth it.  The made sure that I was mentally and physically prepared to have surgery.  I forgot to mention going to see the Nutrition department, they were also quite informative.   I was a little skeptical about going to Naval Hospital too but everything worked out for me and all my questions were answered and all my concerns addressed.  I wish you luck and hope that you find the doctor that is right for you!

I was very pleasantly surprise about how pleasant my experience has been with Dr.Mann and EVERYONE at Portsmouth Naval. My orientation was in January and I get my surgery on May 11th, so the whole proces has been less than four months for me. That isn't very long when you consider it can take some people over a year with other civilian surgery centers. I don't have one single complaint about Portsmouth Naval and I have complete confidence in the whole WLS team. From the very beginning I knew I was in good hands!
Shuniro, how was your hospital stay? How many people did you share a room with? Twenty pounds down?!?! You are doing great so far!!! Congrats...I can't wait to be post op, like you!!!

I had the WLS orientation on November 4th, day after my birthday and the surgery on the 13th of April.  Once I got out of the ICU and into my room I only had one roomate.  I went in on a Wendsday adn checked out of the hospital on the 15th in the afternoon.  The nurses and Corpsman were very attentive.  The only problem like with any hospital stay was being woken up all the time for the vitals check.  The blood thinner shots in my stomach werent even that bad!  It was also a plus that they took out my foley before I left the ICU so that the corpsman didn't have to do it.  Not ready for him to get that personal with me!  The pain pump they gave me I think it was morphine made me a little queasy but once they took that off and I was on liquide pain medication I was alright.  Be sure to walk, drink, walk, drink as much as possible, the more you do it the faster you will be out of the hospital!

Dr. Mann will be my surgeon as well at the Naval Hospital. I Initially met with him 4/11 and was cleared by Psychiatry on 4/25. I will see the nutritionist 5/11 so this process sems to be going pretty fast for me. Thank you for posting your post op experiences and please continue because it is very helpful.

Thanks everyone I am asking for my referral to dr Mann on may 5th

Need to remember that they do not offer the sleeve at this point. I am almost 9 mo out from RNY, Done at Portsmouth Naval, Barker is my Dr. I am also TRI, Prime. I wish I had more of an option but I am please with my success.

Stacey they do offer the vsg actually, I don't know who misinformed you.