That's great Doreen, good luck to you too and keep in touch.

Great! I am so happy for you! I am on the same date~

I met you at support group. I am now Feb 12th. Yahoo! [email protected] Orange County, CA Dr. Ali

My endo went fine, I have my follow up with him on Monday but the papers that came home with me said he found Esophogitis, Gastritis, Hiatal Hernia and he also removed some polyps while he was in my stomach. I'm wondering if part of the reason he performs his own scopes is he tends to "find" a lot of Hiatal Hernias. That and GERD could be an opportunity to operate regardless of WLS. Could help the insurance coverage... "We needed to go in anyway". I survived my psych eval and nutrition class- turns out I'm not crazy afterall! Found out my Doc is as hard a$$ when it comes to his rules. I've been told to start the vitamin regimen and to begin "protein loading" adding 2 shakes to my normal daily intake. That's kind of good, I'll know how to make a great shake by the time it counts. I will have 2 weeks of clear liquid + shakes pre-op and 4 weeks post op! Then it's 2 more weeks of mushies. By then I'll probably receive a fill and have to start liquids again. No wonder his patients are so successful- he never lets them eat anything solid! I had a consult with the military docs and they would be more than happy to perform bypass on me- the doc was very blatant in his disregard of the band. He also didn't think Tricare would cover surgery off base. One of the nurse coordinators called me afterwards and gave some numbers to call about referrals to help cover it thru my Dr. She wasn't sure but thought it was possible and to call monday. It wasn't a total waste of time- they sent me a letter stating I wasan excelent candidate for WLS. I can always use that if I have to appeal a denial from BC/BS later. Take care and stay in touch- Stacey

Best of luck to you too Nora.... :-p