Hi, I had my gastric bypass at Madigan Medical Center( Ft. Lewis, Wa.). I had mine done in 2003. When I went to the doctor to get a referal to have it done off-post(2002), they told me that they were now having them done there but that I would have to get on a waiting list . The waiting list back then was a year or less. Around that time tho, alot of the surgeons were being sent to Iraq, so instead of a year, it took 1 1/2 yrs and that's cuz after waiting 14 months, I went in to push. To get on the list, you have to be 100lbs overweight to the weight you should be weighing, according to height and body build. Then there is also age and health. If you have health problems that could complicate surgery, they may not do it and also depends on how old you are. If you are too old, they may not do it either. Once you pass those requirements you are added to the waiting list. They also give you an appointment with their dietician to give you an idea of what they are going to do, how it will affect you, what you need to be eating and how much. They give you a pamphlet explaining in detail what they are doing, how long for recovery, what they will remove other than excess stomache, side-effects from after the surgery etc...
At Madigan, I was told that after I lost the weight, they would remove the excess loose skin from my stomache area and put my belly button back where it goes. As far as I know, they do it but I moved from Ft. Lewis before I could find out. Since I moved to South Texas, the southern region of Tricare does not do the plastic surgery to remove the excess loose skin cuz Humana took over this part of tricare and they see it as plastic surgery for looks not for the purpose we intend it to be. To me it is to remove the extra skin that is hanging from my stomache that is hurting my back and knees. I explained that to them and they still turned me down. Since I don't know what region of Tricare you are in, that is all I can tell you. You need to make an appointment with your Family Practice doctor and they will tell you what your Tricare region does, if they even do it and if they don't find out if they give referals to have it done off-post. Hope this helped! GOOD LUCK!
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