well i got a call from someone who works at willford hall and said i was a prime canidate and they looked over my stuff and offered me to start their program. this will be at a military hospital which is 200 miles away one way. but i am happy that i finally got things started. also idont have to worry about bills, and what tricare decides not to pay and so forht. i go on oct 4. she said they only have 1 a month, so if i couldnt make it i would have to wait till nov 5. so i took it. she said i could get my phys. dr and have them fax the info to them to shorten the wait, and since it can take months to get to see a dr, i am going to start the hunt. however i am not sure what dr, is it a physcologist or phychistrast? aloso she said when i go to the seminar thing i will get an appt for a consult with the dr, and then he will give me a date. the nurse also told me that it could take 3-6 months to get the surgery, however she said that she has never seen it take that long and its more like a month.

I was initally denied, but I found out that when I first sent in my packet for approval, tricare had changed their requirements and I missed the weight requirement by 6 pounds. I have now met the weight requirements and have sent in my appeal packet. Tricare received the packet on August 4th and all they can tell me is that they have recieved it and someone is working on it. From what I hear, if you meet the 100 pounds overweight and the co-morbities you should have no problems. Just make sure that you have all of the requirements met before you send in your paperwork so it will save you some stress and heartache. Layla

Well, I had no luck in finding a dr. in NE IL that will take Tricare. I can not believe it! So, I am now bitting the bullet and will drive the 53 miles to Milwaukee. I called the dr. office today, to set up a consultation and I am now waiting for a call back. I am trying to schedule their mandatory informational meeting and consultation for the same day so I can reduce some of the driving. The first lady that I explained the situation to said that "You can not do that, and I don't think Dr. Wallace is the dr. for you." My response was I did not want to come to Milwaukee in the first place, but unfortunately I do not have a choice, as there are no drs. in IL that will take Tricare. She then transferred me to another lady, and once again I explained the situation, and she was very understanding, but since she was new she needed someone else to call me back for further discussion. Well, they did not call back today so I will call first thing in the morning to work on getting my consultation. I also saw in my letter that my consultation has to happen within a 28 day window to comply with access standards.

i'm so excited for you!

This calls for a big whooooo rayyyyyy. Your almost there. Diana