I'm soooo glad your surgery went well.  Hopefully your healing time at home will pass comfortably and you will be losing your weight with your new "tool".  I met Dr. Howell and really liked him.  My husband likes his hands on approach, must be the mechanic in him...lol  Of course once he said, I understand what he's talking about I told him to get lost.  You never know these types that think they can do anything, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he'll say..."see, I told you I could do it."  He often compares people to animals...like the time I was pregnant and he said if we didn't make it into the hospital in time he could probably deliver our daughter since he's delivered cow's before....sigh...amazingly enough, yes, we are still married!! lol  So what did they have you eating in the hospital?  I was thinking, they said we eat those trepuree foods the first week but then we are in the hospital the first week, soooo....that doesn't quite make sense?  My worries about the vagotomy were taken care of as he doesn't think I'm a good candidate for it...worried for nuthin...lol  Hope your feeling good and the hubby is taking care of you.. Danni

Hey there nebraskafan,   I live in Fargo ,but am not a fan of Meritcare hospital and DR's.I went to Park Rapids, Mn and had my surgery done there. Dr. Smith and his staff have a special; wing just for WLS patients. Dr. Smith  is wonderful and his surgery and hospital staff have been given a "Quality of Excellence" award  several years ago My insurance would only quallitfy St. Joseph;s, Park  Rapids, MN  Meritcare jsut got their  Quality of Excellence award, this spring. Meritcare strings you along in the sytem for almost a year. With Dr. Daniel Smith, you attend his seminare and meet everyone you would have contact with and go on from there. They are wondeful! I had my done July 20, 06 , lost 98 pounds, and have had no complications. St. Jospeh's hospital and Dr. Smith are affilated with Innovis Hospital and Dakota Clinics.Im sure on this web site there are references to Dr. Smith, cause iI have put them there. You will not be sorry... Park Rapids is only 1 hour away from Fargo.         Post op can also be followed up at Park Rapids, or at Dakota  clinics with your own Dr. i personally go to Park Rapids, cause they CARE!  I am not alone with praising them, my 2 sisters, my brother and brother in law and neice all had gastric bypass surgery done by Dr. Smith. We were all very very overweight. Insurance approved me in 2 weeks. Not one of us have had problems and soon all of us will have been 1 year.  Peggy/Fargo   

i'll be thinking of you next week lori, im sure it will go great! hope the liquid diet isn't getting you down!! judi

Hi Judi, I hope your surgery went well, and you are on the road to recovery.  I have been thinking about you and wishing for an uneventful surgery and speedy recovery.

Welcome to North Dakota! Anyway my husband had surgery July 26th, 2006 and he has lost 180 pounds. I had my surgery 1 week ago the 21st. And we highly recommend Dr. Kavlie and his team. Heres a web site to some of his info.

http://www.middakotaclinic.com/find-doctor/doctor_bio.asp?DoctorID=82&Mode=Phy