hi danni: howell might make you sit thru his class again even if you already did it with monson. if your appt on thursday starts at 8 am, it'll be a sales pitch from the labs research people wanting you to be in their study, about an hour of doc howell describing what he does, about an hour of the nutrionist. then later in the day (and maybe this is all you have to do) a one on one with doc howell.  after my insurance was approved i had another one on one with howell, signed the paper authorizing him to do 3 things: 1. rny, 2 gallbladder, 3 vagotomy and his nurse gave me the instructions for the couple of days before surgery. warning: if you are squeamish about giving blood do NOT do the labs thing. most of it is questionnaire but they seriously took 14 large test tubes of blood out of me.  so, you might be skipping some of these steps since you started with monson. i hope they give you a date on thursday, im looking forward to having the summer to exercise. pm charlie if you don't get any responses on the main board, she is very very nice and helpful! judi

Hello - I had my appointment with him on Tuesday.   They are booking out to the last week of July if all steps are completed right now.  Dr. Bruderer and his staff were wonderful - I think you will be very happy with them! Panda

hi danni: i copied one of my responses from quix about this:

the woman *****plied goes by Quinn's Mom here but she is due to have a baby anytime so i doubt if she is posting much:

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As someone who dealt with ulcers postop (NOT related to my WLS) I opted to have a surgical procedure ...a truncal vagotomy..total severing of the vagus nerve. I've had no side effects except for some slow motility issues (slow emptying of the pouch) but took reglan (when not pregnant) and noticed that walking after I ate helped it to move along so to speak..it basically gives you some form or degree og Gastroparesis.. I never lost taste or smell or well anything with it... Always make sure you do your research before doing anything..My advice as someone who has had this procedure..talk to a gastroenterologist ..THEY will give you the best information as far as the vagotomy and then decide if it's something you want done....especially since every person has a different outcome with every procedure Good luck! Also, i guess that Charlie who is back and posting a lot on the main board had a vagotomy with her wls 5 years ago and she really seems to know her stuff. i bet if you pm'd her she'd answer. 

just think, you will finally have a date, and i will finally have surgery next week, yay! i hope doc howell had a very soothing trip! judi

Hi Danni: He does still do it but it is optional.  I wavered and wavered and decided to go for it. A woman on Quix who no longer posts had to have a vagotomy after she had a ton of ulcers and she said she wouldn't recommend it. another gal on Quix who is a med student who has had a lot of ulcers wishes she had had it as an option. my dh had it with his rny 1 year ago and hasn't had any problems. arthritis runs in my family so i want the  option of nsaids as i get older. If you don't want it though, just tell him.  He told my dh that if he had (tmi here ) "loose stools" pre-op he probably wouldn't do it. more info than you wanted!       this board is really hopping, 3 of us!!! lol judi

Hi I don't know from personal experience, but I have heard him speak at the support group meetings and he has said he does do those.  This was probably the April support group meeting.