Hi. Has anyone had their surgery at Keesler AFB in Biloxi Ms.? Im having surgery at Keesler in June. No set date yet. Trying to find support close to home.
Does your Doctor have a support group that meets at the hospital? I really enjoyed mine when I lived in NY!
I began the process of approval yesterday to have my Lap Band removed and then Gastric Sleeve surgery done. Please tell me about your experience at KAFB. I have been throwing up for almost 8 years from my Lap Band so ready to have it removed!
Please give me specifics if you don't mind.
Thanks
I had originally decided to do it at KAFB because my insurance didn't cover it. Once I found out my insurance did cover it I decided to have it closer to home. KAFB is over an hour away. I had to do a sleep study, quit smoking, go on a 1200 cal diet to get diabetes under control, and have a psych evaluation done, and have a stress test. Once all this was done and I was cleared for surgery I did a 2 week liquid diet to shrink my liver, had surgery and stayed in the hospital 3 days and 2 nights. That is what my doctor required. I was sick and vomiting the first day from anesthesia and narcotic pain meds but once they stopped pain meds I stopped. Was up and walking the next day and felt no pain. All in all I had a very good experience and don't regret it.
Thank you for your reply. Do you know if Dr. Gridley performs surgeries at Keesler? I guess I'm afraid of getting a general surgeon and not one that specializes in weigh loss surgeries. Thank you so much for your help! I'm really nervous because I was so very sick from the anesthesia after the first surgery.
No dr. Gridley is at Oschner in Slidell. He is very good and also gives his patients his personal number if they have any problems after surgery. Absolutely love him. He is very straight forward though. He doesn't pull any punches but he does have a wonderful bedside manner
I have Tricare Standard. I wonder what direction I should head in? I don't want a general surgeon.
Thank you so much for your help! I'll keep you informed.
I have Tricare and they finally let me have referral to a bariatric surgeon because I had metabolic syndrome, which they tried to ignore.
I had to plead my case again and again. But alas they referred me. I did not give up.
In the meantime I decided the heck with them and made an appt to go to Mexico instead
They called me the day after my surgery to setup a consult.
I have to walk in there next month and tell them I had it done already and I hope they the dr. will allow me to do my follow up appts with him.
It's gonna be a little uncomfortable to tell him this fact
Would not change a thing.
I'm worth it.
I know what you mean Connie4. Tri care didn't cover bariatric surgery until January of this year. That's why originally I decided to go to an MTF. The I had to go to a seminar at the hospital then had to wait 3 months before starting the program cause I smoked at the time. Then I had my psych evaluation and everything done by March of this year. Once I found out tricare would cover it I switched to a doctor closer to home. The up side is that I don't have so far to go in case of an emergency and any complications will be covered. The downside is I had around $600 in co pays for different tests that had to be done prior to surgery. Once I got the breakdown of the cost of surgery those co pays were really minor.
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