Hey everyone feel free to introduce yourselves here, don't forget to add where you are in your journey, and where you are stationed

My name is Sarah, I'm 20 and I was sleeved on the 26th of August. We are currently stationed at Fort Lewis, WA, and I had my surgery on post at Madigan, my surgeon was Dr. Kjorstad. Doing ok so far!!

Hi Sarah!

I'm Elisa and were stationed at Camp Pendleton, Ca and I'm getting Sleeved on 9/19/2011! I'm excited, It will be taking place at Balboa Naval Hospital

Yay!! Good luck Elisa!! I'm so jealous wish we were stationed there!!! But hubby is Army so it's highly unlikely lol. But we are originally from Cali and we miss it soooo much!!

Yea I've been here all my life and I love it out here. I'm getting nervous tomorrow will be 7 days till my surgery and I just hope I pass out fast lol cause I get really nervous with surgeries

My name is Nikki, my hubby is Navy and we are currently stationed in Groton CT on shore duty but should be getting orders soon or something...(hubby is trying to cross rate)! I have gone through all my preliminary testing, nutrition visits, etc and just found out that Tricare doesn't cover the sleeve :-(

After all my research I know the sleeve is the only option for me so I don't know what I am going to do yet....I am still waiting for an appt with the surgeon at Yale Bariatric and we will see what he says but I might have to wait until we go to a duty station where the MTF can do the surgery or hopefully next month when the new fiscal year starts maybe I will get lucky and Tricare will begin covering the sleeve.....

We are hoping to get orders for the west coast, either WA or San Diego....I hate living on the east coast!!! LOL

My name is Cheryl. I'm a Canuck.. is there room for us here!?

My hubby is a member of the Retired (yay!) Canadian Army. 20 years and 4 tours later they released him with a medical pension and a host of fun issues to deal with for the rest of our lives. His last post brought him to Edmonton, Alberta before he went to Afghanistan. We are contemplating a move to Vancouver next year.

Elisa: I'm sure you will do great!! I will keep you in my thoughts

Nikki: That's strange! Maybe it's an east coast tricare thing, bc they covered it completely here in WA. But I had it done at Madigan (our on post hospital) I know that Bremerton Naval Hospital also does the sleeve and its covered by tricare. Are you prime or standard?

Cheryl: Of course you are welcome Congrats on the retirement! I've never been to Canada, but I am super close to the Washington/Canada border lol, we wanted to try to visit there before we move.

Apparently if you can have it done at a Military Treatment Facility then there is something different with the insurance and Tricare doesn't actually have to pay for it but we don't have an MTF that does the surgery that is near me. I am hoping to get good news when I talk to the surgeon......so keep your fingers crossed for me! LOL

Cheryl: Of course you are welcome Congrats on the retirement! I've never been to Canada, but I am super close to the Washington/Canada border lol, we wanted to try to visit there before we move.

Thanks for the welcome! If you visit, don't venture to Saskatchewan or Manitoba. B.o.r.i.n.g.

BC is by far one of the prettiest provinces and then Alberta (western side near the Rockies)

Hi,

My name is Heather and I am at the very beginning of my Journey.. My DH is Navy and we live in Florida he is stationed at NAS JAX.. I have had the General Surgery Consult where the Dr has said I am a candidate for WLS and I am waiting for the Nurse to return my call for the next step in my Journey..

HI Ladies,

My husband is retired Air Force. I was sleeved on April 7th here in San Antonio Texas. I have been delighted with everything leading up to my sleeve and beyond the team here in San Antonio has been fabulous.

I started my journey in August of last year. I kept seeing commercials for the lap band on tv and thought I would look into that when I started lookig into it. I called tricare because I couldn;t figure out why they wouldn't cover the costs, they said becuase they require an overnight stay and then they said why don't you just go to the bariatric clinic here at the hospital, who knew??? SO off I went to start the process, first sitting in on the orientation for all the procedures that are offered I finally decided the sleeve was the best fit for me.

Then came the 6 months of nutrition counseling, now I noticed at our facility they are now doing the counseling for 3 months, what a great change that is!!

After I completed everything I got a call from my surgeon with my date, April 6,2011. wow was I excited and of course scared but after two weeks on the liquid diet, I was ready to be done with that.

Surgery went great no complications and I was released to go home the next day, I was thrilled. Fast forward to where I am now 5 monhts down the road and I have lost 60 pounds and am finally in the overweight catergory, what a thrill. I hope to lose about 25 more pounds to put me at a healthy BMI and no longer overweight.

If anyone is thinking about surgery please start the process, the 6 or 8 months are going to pass either way so you might as well get started learning everything you need to learn and the time will be here before you know it. I could not be happier with my sleeve. I can eat anything I haven't had any trouble with any particular foods. Of course I follow the guidelines set up by the DR.

I feel that with this surgery I am set up to maintain the weight loss, this is the first time in all my dieting years that I have a pile of clothes to give away, I used to just switch places in the closet with the smaller clothes but I can;t see myself ever able to go back to the lifestyle of eating and not exercising. Eating is the best when you can eat anything you want just not a lot, you still get all the flavors and taste just not the quantities, and an even bigger benefit is that I notice people around me eat less to which is better for them as well, my daughter in particular seems to stop when I do which is great.

I felt in such great hands and great care through the entire process we are so lucky to have this available to us through the miltary hospitals and tricare. Feel free to ask any questions you may have I would be more than happy to answer any of them as best I can.

Lyn

Yeah I am moving forward..I have been set up for the 8 week Ship Shape program... I am going to try and make the Meeting tonight, there will be a speaker there.. The 27th I have an appointment with the RN do open my file and talk to me about the process and everything I have to do.. This week I think I am suppose to have blood drawn while fasting, not looking forward to that.. I know it needs to get done though. Another small issue I have is I hate DRIVING on the freeway, 7 years ago I was in a car accident and both cars involved were totaled. Thankfully no one was majorly injured, but since then I have lived in Japan and haven't had to really drive very far or on a freeway..Now though I live in Florida and I need to get use to it. I am scared to death to be doing this on my own as my DH is out of town this week.. I know I need to conquer my fear, when I first got here (NAS Jax) I had a panic attack driving the rental car back to the airport.. LOL..

ok ok..off my little box..

just excited that I am moving forward!

My name is Lilly and my husband is active duty army and I am in the process to get approved for the VSG . We are stationed in San Antonio,TX

My name is Lilly and my husband is active duty army and I am in the process to get approved for the VSG . We are stationed in San Antonio,TX

COngratulations, doesn't it feel great to start the process? Wishing you the best of luck!

Heather

My name is Lilly and my husband is active duty army and I am in the process to get approved for the VSG . We are stationed in San Antonio,TX

Lily,

Congratulations, on taking your first step, if you have any questions about the San Antonio Bariatric Clinic please do not hesitate to ask me. They have been the best. I go for my 6 month followup out at BAMC next month. Have you been to the support meetings yet? They met the first Thursday of the month out at Lackland I would love to meet you if you decide to attend on of the meetings, I hope to go to the one scheduled on the 7th of Oct. Best of luck to you, hope to see you around the clinic.

lyn