OMG! A military site on OH??

I didnt even know about this page until I sneaked a peak at someone's profile and then she mentioned this page! Cool! I could feel right at home here! My husband is a Sgt in the Marines, and I am a SAHM with a year old son and 4 year old daughter..a long story short, gained wieght from getting married and having 2 babies and cannot go down from exercise and dieting. Sure I go down a bit but I go right back up and maybe plus more. I got approved from Tricare since I am consider obese with pre-diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia..and possible sleep apnea! I think they didnt even think twice about me! LOL Get that fluff off to surgery so no more meds! Save more money in the long run! My first appt was 2 weeks ago, I had my mind set on a Lap Band and Tricare WILL NOT COVER THIS under any cir****tances...oh I am sure others got by but will not budge with me. Then I reconsidered laparoscopic gastric bypass (RNY) .... at first I was FREAKED out about the idea of being cut, rearranged and possible losing hair, etc... So this Thursday I have my first appt with the Weight Loss Institute of AZ (we are here waiting for orders, we re-enlisted after the police academy didnt work out) and I am hoping to have all my appts, surgery and time to recover before I move. HOW FAST DOES THE PROCESS GO WITH TRICARE???? I hope pretty quickly... Plus I just quit smoking..like this morning...I just found out that most surgeons will not operate until you are smoke free for 3 months! 3 MONTHS??? Gawd I hope not! Wish me luck

Hi, My husband is in the Marine Corps also I am just starting this whole process, too. So, i can tell you the answers that I know. First of all, Tricare will not cover the LapBand if done by civilian docs. If you can find one that is a military surgeon, and who does them...it will be covered. There is a doctor at Walter Reed who does this currently. Supposedly, Tricare goes really fast compared with civilian insurance companies. If the military facility that you are near is available to do the surgeries, that will tell you your wait time. If they have no availability, then you will be referred out to a civi-doc to do your surgery. I have my initial consulation tommorrow and I CANT WAIT! HTH, Adrienne

Hi Julie, my name is Jaye Jaye. Welcome to the board!!! I am currently at Fort Rucker , Alabama. My husband is an SFC air traffic controller here!! I am starting the WLS track for a second time. My husband got orders while we were is SC and I had to start over when we got here. From what most people have said it takes anywhere from two months to four months depending on your surgeon!! If you have any questions feel free to ask!! welcom again, Jaye Jaye

Welcome to the board. I had a RNY 4 weeks ago and am very happy with it. I would sabatoge a lab band so fast it wouldn't be funny. I ruled it out right in the beginning. My SIL had one put in and has gained weight. The success rate with lapband is too low. I think that is why Tricare won't pay for it. Tricare was really fast for me. It is true that most Drs won't operate on you unless you are not smoking. It really delays the healing process. Good luck with your process and come back to this board often. It is a great resource. We can make it better if we will all participate. Diana

Hi and Welcome to the Miltary Board!! How long does it usually take the MC to give orders and how long do they usually give inbetween the order date and PCS date? I ask because most surgeons would like you to be around for at least 6-12 months after surgery before you move out of the area. Just incase there are post-op complications. I know it would suck to have to wait even longer, (believe me I know, once I decided on WLS I knew I wanted it and I wanted it now.) but you will be thankful in the long run to have the peace of mind of having your surgeon there for you for those first 6 months or so, if needed. About Tricare; they are quick. It took them less than 48hrs to approve me once my surgeon submitted the paperwork. The longest wait is your surgeon and how long until they'll submit to Tricare. Each surgeon is different in their requirements before surgery. Mine required I lose 5% of my weight before he'd submit to Tricare. Of course he also required all the other testing, psych eval, sleep study, NUT consult, consult with him, etc. It took just over 2 months from asking my PCM for a referal to see the surgeon until my paperwork was submitted to Tricare and then another month until I had my surgery. I completely understand your concerns about cutting the stomach and rearranging the plumbing. All I can say is research, research, research. This really helped me be less stressed about it. And now that I'm almost two months out. I am absolutely in LOVE with my RNY!! Oh, and just an FYI about hair loss. Not everyone has it and if you do experience it, it isn't specifically because of the RNY. Hair can temporarily fall out in any kind of surgery (Lap-Band too), after child birth, rapid weight loss, etc. So it is having surgery (or the rapid weight loss) that will cause the hair loss not the RYN. Remember, this hair loss is temporary too. Usually starts about 3 months post-op up until 9 months. (I had this pattern after each of my pregnanies as well). And when it grows back it is often healthier than before. (((HUGS))) for quitting smoking. I know it will be hard, but it will be so worth it! Because you are WORTH it!!

Well we are not stationed anywhere right now. My husband is in fact trying to get a hold of his monitor at this moment but he is on leave. His monitor wants to talk to him about where he wants to be stationed at and when he tells him Camp Pendleton, then I assume he will look for openings for him there. Then it probably take a month or so to get his orders then he will leave to check in. Then he will apply for base housing and it depends on the availability on the housing there. That can take months..but I am going to try to stay here in AZ as long as I can to get the surgery done and get through the recovery stage. If I can get a referral from my surgeon to the new one in Camp Pendleton, then I will be free to go. I assume this can be done!! I mean...why not?? I called the Institute about the smoking..and the doctor's policy on smoking is to cut down significantly from 20 cigs to 4 cigs a day or quit completely. Right now I am chewing the gum like crazy..and trying to stay strong. My husband is sitting there like its not a big deal. YOu see, I crave cigs in the morning and he craves at night. Weird huh? Thankyou all for replying to me..and its nice to know there are "family" on this board! (((hugs)))

Hey it's great to have you on the board! Tricare I believe is one of te quickest insurance companies there are. I had the lap RNY and I love it. For me, I needed somthing that was more permenant, so even if Tricare did offer the lap band I still would have chosen the RNY. Plus, I didn't feel to great about the idea of having a foreign object in my body. As far as the not smoking.....I used suckers. For me, my addiction was more of a "hand to mouth" fixation, so i just ate suckers like they were going out of style until eventually I quit all together. After about a month or so of not having one, if you try another, more that likely it will taste awful and make you not want to have any more. At least that was the case with me. Good luck with everything and welcome to the board.

Welcome to the board, Julie!! I am I Marine SSgt's wife. If you are having trouble with quiting. The military covers that pill to help you quit, I don't know the name, but it is covered. Good Luck! Hope to talk to you soon!! ~~Mindy~~

If you can, will you get the name so I can call my doctor for a prescription? Anyone else knows the name of it??