Anyone else having/had their surgery at a military facility?

Hello!  I'm Kate and will be having the vertical sleeve done at Brooke Army Medical Center in June.  I was wondering if anyone else has had their surgery through a military facility and, if so, what was your experience like?  Thank you!

I hope she posts herself, but I don't see her out here so much anymore.  I have a friend in Dayton, OH who had her DS done at Wright Patterson AFB and had a wonderful experience.

Thank you, Valerie.  I hope your friend does stop by and I'm glad to hear of her good experience.

I had mine done at Madigan Army Hospital in wa. 

Any surgery is a roll of the dice. I loved all my doctors regardless of my complications.

I traveled to Madigan Army Medical Center to have the DS. Like everything...there were plus and minus. I was not pleased that I was place in yes a four pack. I was the third patient then a few hours later in came a forth. She was not a bariatric patient. She was loud and obnoxious. She talked on the phone non-stop. One of the other ladies in the room had her kiddies visiting and she was using horrible profanity knowing they were there. I did ask to be moved and was place in a private room. The lady with the children was also moved to a new room.  It was soooo much better after that.  It is also a teaching hospital, and I am an old nurse and while I understand that "learning curve" I did not like having students Drs. My surgery went well, with no complications related to the DS thus far and I will not all any going forward...lol.  The best part is that I knew I would get what I needed as there is no insurance restriction. I even stayed an extra night because I was not comfortable leaving before I had a BM. 

I was in 4 different rooms while I was there. Two of them had roomates.

I loved my resident doctors :) the nurses... 40% awesome... the rest I wasn't impressed with.

I had my sleeve done at Eisenhower Army Medicla Center in Ft. Gordon, GA on January 31, 2014. My procedure went great. I have no complaints. I was actually released the next day because I was doing so great. I was walking withouth any problems, sipping fluids, and using the bathroom ok. I know there are a lot of horror stories out there of bad experiences with military hospitals but I haven't experienced that. I also had a semi-private room, however a friend of mine who had her surgery before me had four people in her room because the hospital was extremely swamped with admits and she stayed in the hospital two days longer than I did. So I guess it's an individual experience. I hope this helps.

Thanks for all the replies!

Hi Kate!

I'm in what seems like a never-ending holding queue at BAMC, I LOVE the surgeons & facility and I know they are SUPER safe & conservative!  No other surgeon on earth requires all the testing we've had to do just to get in the queue.  I have Tricare's approval to use a civilian MD, but BAMC has been so through, that I'm really leaning towards waiting for them to book me instead of using the civ md which is closer to my home. 

Are they really booking out to June now?  If so I think I'm gonna cry, that means it'll all be new surgical staff and I might not get mine until July or August.   :( 

Good Luck!  (btw... if you're unsure of the facility, I'll take your surgery date!)  lol   :)

Hi YoyoGirl!  As far as I know they are not booking out to June right now.  I got called by Dr. H. to set up my surgery date and told him I was not available until June due to currently being a student teacher and he said that was fine.  Now I'm just waiting for another call to set the actual date which I'm hoping will be in mid-June as that's the time that work best for me and my family.

I hope you get your date very soon!  Maybe we could meet up sometime when I'm up in San Antonio for pre-op appointments. 

Best of luck to us both!