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

APPROVED ME!!!

Surgery is Sept 30th

Congrats! Take your pain meds if you need them!

JWRN - It does get better, I promise! Those first few days are really hard, I was so uncomfortable, but each day gets a little better and now, I'm 2 weeks out and I feel back to 100%. I still get kinda tired pretty easy, but ALL of the pain is gone, I agree with Restless, take your pain meds, get as much rest as you can,and walk, walk, walk! I have 6 incisions also, most of which are now healed and I've been putting neosporin and bio-oil on them, in the hopes that they fade quickly! lol

Congratulations JWRN, good to hear you are banded. I would love a day by day report to know what to expect if I ever get on that side of the fence. Hope you get to feeling better quickly.:w00t:

Restless, Talked to my doctors office and they had called Tricare Tuesday and asked them for a call back Thursday or Friday. But of course Tricare called him yesterday when he was in surgery. So they are now set up for a 4:15 call today. Wish me luck. Maggie:shades_smile:

Maggie...keep calling TRICARE. For gosh sake YOU are the insured. MAKE them talk to you. DEMAND a supervisor! AND call the doc's office. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. You are being passive and they are ignoring you. Go get 'em!

Meggie, I agree. How can you wait until the next day??? YOu have to drive them crazy. Keep calling. I call at least twice a day. I'm sure doesn't make much difference in my case, but I'm on top of whats going on. You know they don't care about us. Call your doctor, call Tricare.Did you get your letter yet? Who will be doing your appeal, the doctor's office or yourself???Ask the Dr's office what's the procedure and we go from there.

JWRN, What number at Tricare do you call? I'm going to call them tomorrow. Good luck on your banding and let us know how it goes. Maggie:shades_smile:

Meggie, I think you have Triwest. 1888-triwest

Well, I am home. Surgery went well. I have 6 incisions and the port site is bruised and swollen. I am hurting...gonna sleep in the lazyboy tonight. I am forcing myself to eat Popsicles and sipping on Water.

I still cant believe I am here!!

YOU GOT IT!!!! I'm so happy for you. Hope you feel better soon. Just remember it's worth the pain. hehehehe:thumbs_up:

Maggies...keep me posted! I have my fingers crossed! :w00t:

Well, I didn't get the call from the doctors office this afternoon. She did tell me she gets off at 5, so I will call her at 9 tomorrow morning. Wow, childbirth was easier than this.:tongue: If I don't get any satisfaction (approval) I will appeal. I wonder what the chance is that they would approve it after talking to the surgeon???? I am going to check the Tricare website to see if it has changed. BRB It still says not approved, so now I feel like CRAP. I'll let you all know what the decision was tomorrow. Maggie:confused_smile:

Well, I didn't get the call from the doctors office this afternoon. She did tell me she gets off at 5, so I will call her at 9 tomorrow morning. Wow, childbirth was easier than this. If I don't get any satisfaction (approval) I will appeal. I wonder what the chance is that they would approve it after talking to the surgeon???? I am going to check the Tricare website to see if it has changed. BRB It still says not approved, so now I feel like CRAP. I'll let you all know what the decision was tomorrow. Maggie:confused_smile:

GL, Maggies!

Well, no news for me yet. Just waiting.

JWRN, how are you doing with your band? Do you have much gas pain?

Karina, have you heard anything on your appeal?

Hope everybody is hanging in there and getting there approval.

Maggie:shades_smile:

I got out of the hospital lady night...spent a week in there with complications. I wish it was only gas pain! Right now I am feeling ok. Lost 20 lbs since day of surgery. FYI I have a latex allergy and I am also sensitive to many things so it could be my body reacting to a foreign body. It also be mrsa since I am exposed to it as a nurse. I am on a very strong and very expensive antibiotic. It cost about 700dollars a dose and I am getting 10 doses..

JWRN, I'm so sorry to hear about your hospital stay. Will you be able to keep your band with the allergy? Congrats. on losing the 20lbs, but such a hard way to do it. Keep taking the antibiotic so you will get to feeling better everyday. Good thoughts coming your way. Maggie:girl_hug:

I got out of the hospital lady night...spent a week in there with complications. I wish it was only gas pain! Right now I am feeling ok. Lost 20 lbs since day of surgery. FYI I have a latex allergy and I am also sensitive to many things so it could be my body reacting to a foreign body. It also be mrsa since I am exposed to it as a nurse. I am on a very strong and very expensive antibiotic. It cost about 700dollars a dose and I am getting 10 doses..

OMG. I'm so sorry for all this trouble you are going thru now. I'm sure this will be all gone very soon and you will be able to enjoy the band.Just remember you will get great results. Will Tricare cover the antibiotic????

Oh, JWRN, I'm sorry! that's awful.

JWRN, I'm so sorry to hear about your hospital stay. Will you be able to keep your band with the allergy? Congrats. on losing the 20lbs, but such a hard way to do it. Keep taking the antibiotic so you will get to feeling better everyday. Good thoughts coming your way. Maggie:girl_hug:

Meggie, I would no wait for your surgeon to call TriWest. I'm still waiting and will be one month this friday.

I had a TriWest lady on the phone lst week and she started: "oh you called...." I interrupted her and told her not to count because I call at least twice a day everyday and I also check the web at least 10X. After she told me it was still pending I told her: Ok I will call again tomorrow morning. hehehe

They are probably hopping I get approved so they can get me to stop calling.