Duane

MaryD, It must be very exciting to finally get your date. Keep us posted on the proceedure. Let me know how the liquid diet thing goes...I've been more worried about that than anything. Good Luck!!!!

Mary, I've had 3 appointments so far and have two scheduled for next month. I don't know who my doctor is yet, but it will be one of the three in the program. I went to the seminar in March also, but couldn't get an appointment until late May. The process seems slow, but the insurance companies apparently require at least a 4 month cycle of appointments before they will approve the procedure. I wish I could get banded in August but expect September. I go to all the Virginia Tech Football games and may have to miss one because of the surgery. Let me know how it goes with the banding....I guess I have some nervousness about it.

Regards, Duane:smile2:

I'm going through Mission St. Jo in Asheville. After the seminar (Mar 11, 2008) It took over 2 months to get an appointment for the 1st screening (May 27th). Then it has taken over a month to get my second appointment (psych eval and RD visit, scheduled July 8th. Then it's supposed to take an additional 3 months to get to the surgery. It seems like a long time to me. It may be because the program is new at mission St. Jo. It will be interesting to see how much longer it takes. I've chatted with someone who has the same insurance that I do and she said the hospital took care of all the paperwork and qualification stuff. Good luck to you.....The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll be a new you.

I have Tri-care also. Did you have to interface with tricare yourself, or did your doctor's office take care of the approval?

What do you folks do about follow-ups and required fills when going out of state to get banded?