I just got the phone call from my surgeon's office. Tricare has now

APPROVED ME!!!

Surgery is Sept 30th

:biggrin:

Hi everybody, I am home also. Keep walking Tomatogirl. I just got home about an hour ago. I got out of the hospital about 6pm and went to my sons to spend the nite and then we drove home today. All went well, looks like I have 4 incisions. I'm not going to weigh myself untill next Wednesday. I need to get rid of the bags of Fluid and gas/air they used.

Karina, Travis doesnt require a medical problem. At least they never said it to me. And I know for a fact that they had a lot of people that was in my group go have it somewhere else because one of the surgeons was out on maternity leave and they had to be poseponed. And I'm about 95% sure they dont go thru Tricare. So keep trying.

Maggies:shades_smile:

Thank you Meggie. I'm so glad you and Tomatoegirl got the surgery over with and you guys are home and feeling OK. Keep us posted with the progress. :thumbup:

Karina, I feel so bad for you, its just not fair. Have you talked to Mrs. Frazier at Travis? She should be able to get you in their next class and since you have most of the testing done it should be pretty quick.

I seem to have diarrea now which isn't much fun. So far I don't have the hurting shoulder, just my stomach is very swollen with gas. And of course my throat feels a little sore from the tubes they put down it during surgery. But all in all, I feel good and do not regret having it done. I tried to eat some sugar free Jello, but I got a very full feeling from it. I will be lucky if I get 36 oz. of Water in me. Let me know if you have talked to Mrs. Frazier. Maggie:shades_smile:

I am currently in the process of starting to try to be approved

what are the requirements for approval with tricare cause noone seems to know anything at my doctors???

100 lbs plus a co-morbidity.

or

200% of your ideal body weight.

If you are either one of those you will get approved in less than 48 hours usually.

Humana Military Healthcare Services TRICARE Health Matters Issue 2:2008 ADSM PCM Changes

so we have to do the nutritionist and all that junk............tricare doesn't even cover nutritionists! i'm not sure I'm 100 over hmmm maybe but my hsbands coming home from iraq on leave in a couple months so i'm currently on a starvation diet to get back to my weight before he left (-50) so I guess i'll have to wait : (

My Doctor didn't require me to go to the Nutritionist but they did write me a prescription for it. I just talked to the Nutritionist on staff at the hospital and their Bariatric Coordinator.

Tricare didn't require it.

I did have to go to a psychologist and have a chest x-ray and upper GI.

If you are either one of those two things (which sounds like you might not be) they will approve you, no problem.

I was in the 200% category and got an approval in less than 48 hours. I was shocked.

Navywife, I was required to go, but I just got a referral from my PCM to see the military nutritionist on-base. It didn't cost me a dime.

Hey Karina, How are you doing, keep us updated on your progress towards surgery. I'm doing Ok, I am having a little bit of pain in the port area, which I don't like, but am feeling better everyday. Maggie:shades_smile:

Ugh, me too, Maggie. I'm having such issues finding comfortable clothes to wear in public.

What did they do to your openings? Mine have this weird plastic bandage stuff over them, which I'm supposed to remove tmw.

Tomatogirl, Yes, I have the same thing on my incisions, but I wasn't told to take them off at any time. They are starting to come loose on the ends of them. I finally went to my bed for the first time around 2am this morning because I was sick of my recliner. And it was great, I actually made it to my right side to sleep. How is everybodys else's sleeping going? Maggies:shades_smile:

My tummy rumbles a lot! I can't decide if that is hunger pangs, gas, or spasms. I have an appointment for a fill this week. One fortunate thing is my surgeon's office said that they would give you a fill when ever you need it. I am still loosing weight, but I am only taking in about 600 calories. One of the hard thing is getting all of your water in. I can manage the protein in, though. So far I have lost 32 lbs since the day of surgery. Personally, I cannot tell it except for my boobs. It seems like my tummy is still big and it has been a month now. I am going to be posting pics sometime today, so keep an eye out for them. I took pics of my port site while I was in the hospital.

I hope Karina ends up getting surgery. We kinda were going through the whole Tricare thing together and fighting the system. Keep us updated on your progress, even if you are not going for the band.

I've actually been sleeping on my side since I came home. We don't have a recliner, but I had 3 bed options- our big king-sized bed, my son's twin bed, or the queen sized matress that lives on the floor in our guest room (it had a box spring, but it wouldn't fit up the stairs when we moved in). I ended up using the steps that we have in S' room and sleeping in our king-sized bed. I'm a die-hard side sleeper, so I just finagled myself onto my side and stayed there. It hasn't been so bad. A little painful getting up an down, but once I'm there, I'm good.

I was told to remove the bandages Sunday, but I'm waiting an extra day, that way I can call the doctor's office in case there's a problem instead of trekking to the emergency room. They're starting to itch like crazy, though, and the one on the top left is starting to leak. Yuck.

I plan on weighing myself for the first time today. Wish me luck!

JWRN, Looking forward to seeing the pictures. How are you feeling a month out. Does it still hurt around the port area, and how long did it take you to get rid of the gassy feeling. What kinds of foods are you eating? Congratulation on the great loss.

Tomatogirl, my incisions are itching also. OK, how much weight have you lost. I want to weigh myself so bad, but I promised myself I wouldn't do it until Wednesday. Hope I can wait.

Maggie:shades_smile:

I feel great and my energy level is high. I am on mushies for another week. My port site doesn't hurt, but you can tell it is there. It is like it moves with my body, and the fat around it jiggles. It is hard to explain. I still have some gas pains occassionally, depending on what I eat. Something that helped with the itching was benadryl cream, if the site is not open. You can even put it on the skin around the area. Benadryl also comes in a dissolving strip that you put under your tongue (I am not allowed to swallow pills).

I am going for a walk/jog and will try to put my pics on here later. My site looks so much better!

Well, so far I've lost 7 lbs since Weds which is pretty darn good if you ask me. I'm thrilled!:cool2: I'm going to go walking with my husband after "dinner" (sorry, but a mug of nothing soup will never constitute dinner, no matter how hard it tries).