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Elissa55

Gastric Sleeve Patients
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Posts posted by Elissa55

  2. Posted

    I added myself to the list...May 14th!

    Here's a list! If you're not on the list, just copy/paste it in your reply and add yourself! I'm scheduled for May 14th! Maybe we can each check in after our surgery.

    1st: mswanda9577, cejiogu

    6th: BethAnn77, tigerbelle, JoannLz, mustangsally193

    7th: ChristenOnAmission

    10th: JillianMarie73

    13th: natedinsmoor2, shellsheck

    14th: glitter8er, lucieloo79, cinward2001, A&AMom

    15th: boomarienewme, AmyinMI, Emoser55

    16th: Chivon32, elliscoastie, victoria77

    17th: Lawrence Washington

    20th: misslady, randee, Mon22

    21st: musiclover, Bellanthin

    28th: csmiles, tiffs3, kc82, Aline728

  3. Posted

    I am from G'town & sleeved April 1st by Southwest Bariatric . . Dr. Sherrod. This is my 6th wk post-op. Surgery was more involved than this site leads you to believe. Was No walk in the park for me. I'm doing well but it is a big adjustment. Still very weak.

    Hi,

    I had my lapband done at southwest bariatrics by Dr. Oliver-she has since re-upped with the Air Force. I am revising from lapband to sleeve. I had an adrenal gland and gallbladder removed in feb 12, that was not a walk in the park either-the first night the pain was so bad they had to adjust the morphine drip and it still didn't touch me-I was up all night pushing the button...the nurse said you know it only dispenses every 15 min and I said I know but I didn't want to miss any of them-the pain was that bad but the next day the pain was more than tolerable but it took 2-3 days before I could sleep on my side and about 3 weeks before I felt like myself again. It was the worst of all my surgeries......3 c-sections (lost an ovary with the first and had tubal ligation with the last), appendectomy, lapband, broke my wrist and had to have surgery to repair.....

    What do you mean when you say it is "more involved"???

  9. Posted

    My date is May 15. I'm in the pre-op stage' date=' and starving, but nothing taste as good as skinny is going to feel!

    1st: mswanda9577, cejiogu

    6th: BethAnn77, tigerbelle, JoannLz, mustangsally193

    7th: ChristenOnAmission

    10th: JillianMarie73

    13th: natedinsmoor2, shellsheck

    14th: glitter8er, lucieloo79, cinward2001, A&AMom

    15th: boomarienewme, AmyinMI, mssoutherngal, Elissa55

    16th: Chivon32, elliscoastie, victoria77

    17th: Lawrence Washington

    20th: misslady, randee

    22nd: stefaniwg

    21st: musiclover, Bellanthin

    28th: csmiles, tiffs3, kc82, Aline728[/quote']

    may 15th-I am also on 2 wk preop-struggling with liquids-10days preop left and two weeks postoperative to go-looking forward to mushy food:)

  10. Posted

    I use Zija Moringa Supermix instead of taking vitamins' date=' Calcium, and B12. It's all natural and as far as calcium goes it's has 4 times (gram for gram) the amount of calcium that's in milk. It's also has many other benefits, like I stopped losing my hair just 2 wks after starting it and I'm only on 1 out of 15 medications (most were for anti-flammatory reasons, ie, asthma, fibromyalgia, planar fasiitis, and more) since starting it. It's awesome. I highly recommend it.

    ninetynutrients.myzija.com FB page is ninetynutrients

    Good luck all![/quote']

    Hi, do you have to buy these online or are they in stores? Does it come in liquid form?

    Thanks

  11. Posted

    So' date=' I have finally decided to have the sleeve done, only wish I knew about this years ago. I have tricare who do not cover sleeve kinda dumb, so I have to pay myself and it will be in Mexico. Can I get some input regarding how to keep cost down? what to avoid ? and any info you would like to share. thank you all[/quote']

    Hi,

    Just wondering why your not going to the nearest post/base that do this surgery for free? Your primary sends a consult with your request for sleeve, revision, etc., and if your previously banded you send your OR report from the band. Also, whatever else their Bariatric Clinic requests? You have to call the Bariatric Clinic at the post/bases to find out what their protocol is-Tricare usually has nothing to do with a self referral clinic on base/post.

    I'm doing this at Fort Sam in San Antonio-I live 2 hrs away and I'm an Air Force wife retired 24 yrs.

    Best Wishes however you do it:):)

  12. Posted

    I have not had my sleeve yet but I didn't trip on anything Iggy said. Did it make me think again about the sleeve......Heck yeah! But isn't that what this forum is about-to help us be fully informed? Of course i hope and pray it doesnt happen to me, but we all take a chance when we decide to do this surgery. I appreciate knowing I can seek advice or help from some one who has stalls, depression from not losing, and most of all if I have a leak. I enjoy knowing people love their sleeve, but if I'm in a bad place I need to know someone can talk me though it..... So thanks to all for giving your success stories and for those who have had a hard time and helping others through their experience. God Bless You All......

  13. Posted

    Jane' date='

    That is exactly my dilemma and I thank you for your honest and candid response. My doctor recognizes how little I eat but repeatedly cites that the sleeve will reduce appetite and cravings, but that is not my problem. He also states that recent research shows that metabolism slows with the band and metabolism will rise a bit with the sleeve. However, I already have an autoimmune thyroid disease and minimal metabolism as it is, so I can't bank on the sleeve increasing my metabolism all that much.

    I am having more and more discomfort with the band and feel that eventually I will have to have it removed either way, just not sure if I should go for the conversion. I feel very comfortable with my doctor, but I have to admit a part of me thinks he is just looking as the profit he will make from an addition procedure.[/quote']

    Hello,

    Just saw something on your post about having a thyroid problem. I know there are two kids and one makes you gain weight-could that be counteracting your routine keeping you dormant on your weight loss? Just a thought?

  16. Posted

    Hi Char' date='

    I am trying to get a revision surgery at Ft Sam in San Antonio-so far unless the bariatric surgery dept doesn't know what they are talking about (and this has happened before:) I only have to have my information sent from my lap band surgeon and have an upper GI and bloodwork and then when that is done call them to schedule an appt which is always Friday morning. I am a retired spouse who lived in sa five years ago but my lap band surgery was done in Austin. I hope this is going to hold up as far as what they have told me???? I have a call into the case mgmt dept to check that side after I saw your post. If this pans out the way I was told then I would guess each post/base has different criteria???

    It has been frustrating because I bet I called tricare 7 to 8 times with them telling me I needed a referral before finally one of their reps told me how it worked which made sense. Then I called the bariatric office at Ft Sam and they kept telling me I needed a referral and try to get me off the phone but I hung on for the ride. I stopped her and said when you say referral you are talking insurance terminology and insurance doesn't have anything to do with this. I then said are you saying you need something like a letter with all my stats from my primary and yes that is what she meant but then when she finally understood it was a revision that all changed. I had already requested the info from my lap band surgeon and they already had that so she said I only needed the UPI and bloodwork????? Took about 3 weeks to get to this point....hahaha. Hopefully in the next 3 weeks I will get the email that says what bloodwork needs to be ordered and I can walk to my primary.(suppose to get it in the morning:):). After 24 1/2 years as an Air Force wife And mother to 3 I had to learn patience and diligence because of rules and regulations that are numerous.

    That's for your post!!![/quote']

    That was suppose to say Thanks for your post:)

  17. Posted

    I just went round and round with TriCare over this same problem. I finally had to have the band removed because it continued slipping so far that it cut off my food supply. When they went in' date=' they discovered not only had it slipped, but had eroded into my liver! Yikes!!

    I finally got my first appointment at Eisenhower Hospital on Ft. Gordon Army base. It took what seemed like 1000 hours on the phone with TriCare, Eisenhower and the base Managed Care office. Here's what I found out about the approval process that should help a lot of you get the care you are seeking.

    1.) First and foremost, you will need to locate an MTF with a bariatric program on your own by calling the base hospitals near you and ask to speak directly to the surgery department, ask that person if they have a bariatric weight-loss surgical program, then asking to speak with the head nurse for that specific surgical team. No one will help you find out what facilities perform bariatric surgery. I'm not sure anyone at any MTF (and certainly not anyone at TriCare!) knows who else is out there from the conversations I've had, especially between service branches. BTW, just because you are AF or Navy, you are not restricted to medical service from that specific branch. If you don't have an AF base near you, look for an Army Post, or nearest military establishment.

    2.) Once you've located a facility, contact the office that processes I.D. cards and have them register you into the base/post personnel system. You will need to be registered on base so the people who can help you have access to your TriCare/DEERS information. I was able to find someone to help me over the phone once I explained I was a 3.5 to 4 hour drive away from the post. Some bases may require you to come in to the office, so be prepared to make the drive. I had a minor glitch that you may need to know about. There are two segments to the registration database system. There is a main registrar and one that the hospital system works from. When entered into the main system, it is supposed to automatically update your information into the second segment of the base registrar. If you know you've been entered into the main system and the people at the Managed Care office or hospital can't access your DEERS/TriCare info, call the I.D. office back and let them know to manually update your registration information into the other half of their system so the hospital has access to your info.

    3.) If you are retired military and are trying to go through TriCare to get your VSG, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH TRICARE!! (HALLELUIAH!!) You can go directly to the base or post! First, call the base information desk or get on the internet and find the phone number to the base Benefits/Managed Care office. Explain to the advocate at that office what you are trying to do and that you will need a contact name in the Specialty Care/Medical Management department, the office within the Managed Care office that processes requests for specialty services at the base hospital. The office names may slightly vary from service branch to service branch, so don't quit trying if they tell you they don't have that specific office. Just find out the name of the office that has patient advocates who processe medical services through the active duty TriCare system. Remember, these people can't help you unless they can pull your DEERS/TriCare info from the base registration database. This office has access to some of your civilian TriCare info, but not your medical records. Get contact names from the Managed Care advocate and most importantly, the Specialty Care processor. You'll need a name and fax number so your Primary Care Manager and bariatric surgeon can send a referral to the people who can actually help you.

    4.) You may need the Specialty Care advocate to ROFR (Right of First Refusal, pronounced "row-fer") you into the base hospital's insurance system. They had to do that for me because I was outside of the 99 mile service limit. Once you're into the base's DEERS/TriCare system, it's time to get your PCM to send in a referal. You will also want your bariatric surgeon's office to fax in the same referal information. Have them put as much information about your condition on the referal (current weight, BMI, previous surgeries and condition of that surgery if revision surgery is needed, name, address, phone, sponsor ID, your social security number, date of birth, etc., anything they feel may be helpful to obtain on-base approval). Also, make sure the fax has contact information to those doctor offices. The Specialty Care manager will probably need to call back and forth between the offices to get all of the information they need to process your VSG request. I gave all my doctors' contact info to the Specialty Care Manager when I spoke to her in case the contact info wasn't on the fax. Having this info on hand will expedite your paperwork.

    5.) FYI, your civilian physicians will not be able to enter a request for services into the TriCare online referal system. So if for some reason you do have to go through TriCare for approval to seek treatment on an MTF, the request will have to be done manually. The Managed Care office will tell you if you need to go through the civilian TriCare system first. If you want to try and go through TriCare first, please note there is a 99 mile service limit. I'll explain more about this later. Explain to your PCM's and surgeon's referal specialist that there is no data entry field for what you are asking to have done on the online TriCare system. Tell them they will need to go onto the TriCare website and download the referal request, fill it out and fax it to the Specialty Care advocate and the bariatric nurse you end up speaking with once you find the MTF (Ask the nurse if he or she wants this faxed to her and get a fax # if he or she wants a copy). Should you go through TriCare Prime or be required to go through them first, in that request, your PCM will need to put detailed information as to what surgery you are requesting (the VSG), that you are not eligible to have this procedure done at a military treatment facility and you are seeking approval to go to that facility. Again, make sure you get names, phone numbers and fax numbers once you find these people. The speed at which you can get through the system will depend on you.

    6.) Important Note: There is a 99 mile point-of-service limit. If the MTF is farther than 99 miles from your location, TriCare will AUTOMATICALLY decline your request for service. The reason they will give for the denial is "MTF is not accepting patients at this time" which is not the real reason they've denied it." The base will tell you they are accepting patients and TriCare will tell you they aren't. Why? Because your TriCare office's computer system is not set up to handle requests outside of your treatment zone. Their solution is to just tell their patients the MTF is not accepting patients when they should be telling you to go directly to the facility and work through the base Managed Care office. (Insert appropriate obscene or derogatory noun here !!!!) You have the right to obtain treatment through an MTF. Just keep trying and don't accept the word NO!

    The TriCare system for retired personnel works from an entirely different pool of government medical funds than the active duty personnel and MTFs work through. The retired TriCare system does not pay for services obtained at an MTF, the funds are paid out of a separate DOD medical funding account. This is why you are able to entirely bypass the TriCare system. The retired TriCare system actually has NOTHING to do with services obtained on base other than a temporary obstruction to getting your VSG. The post Managed Care advocate explained all of this, not TriCare, so don't expect anyone at TriCare to know what is going on or even why their own system is denying you service due to the MTF not accepting patients.

    7.) Once the Specialty Care manager has all of your information, he or she sends your information to the hospital for the first step in obtaining the VSG. If you want to stay on top of things, ask him or her to call you when the office visits are approved by the base Managed Care office, or call that person back to check the referal process to see if there's any missing information you can help them obtain. The hospital should contact you get further information and/or set up your first appointment. My first appointment is February 8th! YAY!!!

    8.) While you are working on gaining access to an MTF, have your bariatric surgeon print out all of your medical records regarding your surgery and post-op progress. If you've had any complications, make sure the records contain detailed information about what and how it happened. I happen to have an allergy to the most commonly used anethesia. My anethesiologist had to use an older, less synthetic anethesia to knock me out or I'd have woke up puking like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist." I also had post-operative breathing problems and required breathing treatments. It wasn't fun waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by nurses and screaming monitor equipment and looking somewhat like a Smurf. My body also has the uncanny ability to form massive adhesions which will make my surgery long and complicated. The MTF will definitely want to know these things! Ask your doctor if he can obtain any hospital records (anethesia, hospital records regarding anything the nurses had to help you with, problems with pain management, etc.). If he can't (or won't) go to the hospital and get them yourself.

    Note: When my first lapband failed, I had to have it replaced 3 months after my first surgery. My doctor told me he'd never seen anyone form adhesions around the band site as heavily and as quickly as I did. He said it took him way longer than expected to remove and replace. When the second band came out, I asked my surgeon to take pictures inside the abdominal cavity so the surgeon at the MTF can get a good look at what to expect once the cutting started. I would recommend asking for photos. Bariatric surgeons tend not to like doing revision surgery on another bariatric surgeon's patients since they are unfamiliar with the patient's history and what may have been done during previous surgeries.

    9.) The MTF may or may not ask you to go through all the presurgical appointments with the psychologist and nutritionist. It will likely depend on how far out you are from your previous surgery. When you speak to the head bariatric nurse, ask her about the hospital's pre- and post-surgical procedures and how many appointments to expect. Take all your medical records to this nurse and hand them to her personally. If your psych eval and nutritional counseling are over one year old they're most likely to have you retake the eval and training. Ask about post-op support group requirements, too. I will be required to attend one per month until either 1 year post-op or I meet goal weight (not sure which because I didn't ask...). Since I have to drive so far, I will be allowed to attend a local support group at my previous surgeon's office as long as my current surgeon is willing to provide proof I attended the meetings. If you have nutritional training instructions, paperwork, handouts, etc., it may be helpful in slimming down the number of nutritional counseling appointments. Ask if you can speak with the nutritionist, show her your notebook and see if you can skip some of the nutritional counseling. This will vary from facility to facility. And no...you won't be able to get out of the pre-op endoscopy.

    10.) If you currently have a lapband that has slipped, eroded or malfunctioned in some way and require removal surgery, I highly recommend trying to find a surgeon willing to remove the band and do the VSG at the same time. Depending on what they see when they go in, they may or may not be able to do this. If there are too many adhesions, they may need to make you wait until the stomach has time to do a little reformation and stretch out the adhesions at the band site. Because the surgeons consider a slipped or otherwise defective band a hazard to your health, you can probably get onto the surgical schedule faster than someone who's already had to have their band removed.

    I know this was a lot to read, but hopefully it will help you and others get their VSGs sooner rather than later with fewer headaches than I've had during my battle with the TriCare system.[/quote']

    Hi Char,

    I am trying to get a revision surgery at Ft Sam in San Antonio-so far unless the bariatric surgery dept doesn't know what they are talking about (and this has happened before:) I only have to have my information sent from my lap band surgeon and have an upper GI and bloodwork and then when that is done call them to schedule an appt which is always Friday morning. I am a retired spouse who lived in sa five years ago but my lap band surgery was done in Austin. I hope this is going to hold up as far as what they have told me???? I have a call into the case mgmt dept to check that side after I saw your post. If this pans out the way I was told then I would guess each post/base has different criteria???

    It has been frustrating because I bet I called tricare 7 to 8 times with them telling me I needed a referral before finally one of their reps told me how it worked which made sense. Then I called the bariatric office at Ft Sam and they kept telling me I needed a referral and try to get me off the phone but I hung on for the ride. I stopped her and said when you say referral you are talking insurance terminology and insurance doesn't have anything to do with this. I then said are you saying you need something like a letter with all my stats from my primary and yes that is what she meant but then when she finally understood it was a revision that all changed. I had already requested the info from my lap band surgeon and they already had that so she said I only needed the UPI and bloodwork????? Took about 3 weeks to get to this point....hahaha. Hopefully in the next 3 weeks I will get the email that says what bloodwork needs to be ordered and I can walk to my primary.(suppose to get it in the morning:):). After 24 1/2 years as an Air Force wife And mother to 3 I had to learn patience and diligence because of rules and regulations that are numerous.

    That's for your post!!!

  18. Posted

    I am planning to use Southwest Bariatric Surgeons' Dr. Mark Sherrod in Austin' date=' TX. Any information on this group or others in Austin, TX?[/quote']

    Hello, I used this group for my lapband-not this doctor but I was out only one day and back to work on Monday. The band did not work for me and am looking into a revision to the sleeve but because I have tricare I will need to use a military facility. Anyway, I had no problems with southwest bariatrics....

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