what is the time that it took you to get surgery from your consult date ? I have tricare prime so I wont have the pysch or nurtrion evaluations .

My Doc's office is very conservative when it comes to pre-op preparations. I began the journey in February 2011 - did not have my consultation until September 2.

Pre-op consisted of 6 weeks of informational seminars - Chest XRay - a MONSTROUS blood work up (I had hepititis at age 8 - the blood work they took then was NOTHING compared to the draw they took here!!) - Psych consult - letter from my personal physician - sleep study - EKG - Mammogram - Pap Smear - Colonoscopy - multiple visits with nutritionist and 6 MONTHS of negative testing for nicotine, alcohol and drugs. I was left with the impression that they were going to determine pre-surgery whether you had the stamina to actually stick with it and how determined you are go succeed in the process.

When the consultation appointment arrived, though, then things have moved along quite quickly. Began 2-week mandatory liquid Protein diet on 9/6 and am scheduled for surgery on 9/20. Only FOUR days and my journey truly begins!

Good luck with your surgery!!

I have Tricare Prime also and I was required to do the psych eval and the nutrition appointment. I had my psych eval last week and my nutrition appt is oct 6.. you may want to double check the requirements, I would hate for your surgery to be delayed because you were missing two simple things.. good luck!

what is the time that it took you to get surgery from your consult date ? I have tricare prime so I wont have the pysch or nurtrion evaluations .

Blanchfield @ Ft. Campbell made us have a psych eval. And from start to surgery for me was six months.

My Doc's office is very conservative when it comes to pre-op preparations. I began the journey in February 2011 - did not have my consultation until September 2.

Pre-op consisted of 6 weeks of informational seminars - Chest XRay - a MONSTROUS blood work up (I had hepititis at age 8 - the blood work they took then was NOTHING compared to the draw they took here!!) - Psych consult - letter from my personal physician - sleep study - EKG - Mammogram - Pap Smear - Colonoscopy - multiple visits with nutritionist and 6 MONTHS of negative testing for nicotine, alcohol and drugs. I was left with the impression that they were going to determine pre-surgery whether you had the stamina to actually stick with it and how determined you are go succeed in the process.

When the consultation appointment arrived, though, then things have moved along quite quickly. Began 2-week mandatory liquid Protein diet on 9/6 and am scheduled for surgery on 9/20. Only FOUR days and my journey truly begins!

Good luck with your surgery!!

Good luck with yours also. Mine began 4/21/2010

I have Tricare Prime. My consult was September 29th of last year. In addition to seeing the surgeon, I met with a psych, a physician, and a nutritionist, all four back-to-back on the same day. I was recommended by them to have surgery, then scheduled to do a bunch of lab tests and an Endoscopy, all of which were accomplished by October 15, 2010. They submitted the surgery approval request to Tricare on the same day. On October 20, 2010, I was approved for surgery. That was a wait of only three business days after submission of the request. Due to conflicts between the holidays, the surgeon's schedule and mine, we delayed having surgery for me until December 6, 2010, which was seven weeks later.

So even with the scheduling delays, it was still only about ten weeks from Consult to Surgery Day.

Dave

what is the time that it took you to get surgery from your consult date ? I have tricare prime so I wont have the pysch or nurtrion evaluations .

I have Tricare prime!!!! I just went to the semiar!! They contact my doc for me with one month I had the surgery!!!

what is the time that it took you to get surgery from your consult date ? I have tricare prime so I wont have the pysch or nurtrion evaluations .

I have tricare prime and had to have the nutrition and psych. I started the whole process of about 25 tests, classes, exams, sleep study, etc on May 31. I just had my surgery Monday on the 12th. It was a long process but will be well worth it. Where do you live? Good luck!

I started mine on August 30th, and I'm having surgery, September 23! I was told overseas that I just need to have two qualifying conditions (mine are, depression and High Blood Pressure) to be able to do it without Nutrition training and Psych Evaluation. I did however go to the HAWC overseas before we moved back to the U.S. two months ago and they used that as doing the nutrition/work out portion. It is a long process to finally GET the referral but once you have it, it's like gold and it will get you in as soon as you're ready for it!

Evey doctors office is different. First talk to your base doctor. They will let you know if you even would qualify. Some information I found out through the process is you must have documented 3 year history of weight problems. Tricare and your doctor may have other problems they are looking to see if you have them before you could even be considered. My only suggestion is to talk to your base doctor first and then go from there.

I live in Alabama and I started my journey with my referral from base in May 2011. I got my first doctors appointment to go through the information/seminar 2 weeks later and attended my first of three mandatory support group meeting in May. I had to go to heart doctor, sleep doctor, nutrionist, and psych doctor. Plus my surgeon did a test to check esophigus The others you are at the mercy of the doctors office. Then its the staying on top of the doctors offices to get paperwork turned in. Tricare will give you a decision almost immediately. Mine took 1 day. Tricare just needs surgery date to give you okay. I have my surgery scheduled for Oct. 13th. Good Luck and hope this information helps.