Met with a surgeon at Mayo Clinic today. Surgery is scheduled for March 8.

I have anywhere from 1 to 4 of these things wrong that need to be fixed -

1 - The original surgery did not cut away enough of the muscles at the top of the incision on the esophagus (unlikely).

2 - the original surgery did not extend the incision on the esophagus close enough to the stomach. (probable)

3 - One part of the original surgery wrapped part of the upper stomach around the lower esophagus to prevent reflux after the necessaary part of the surgery. This could be herniating above the diaohragm. (very likely)

4 - The liver and the esophagus may have been connected by scar tissue during healing and need to be separated. (probable)

So....I'm good to go in 13 days, assuming the t's get crossed and the i's get dotted by the insurance people.

Can they make you better, stronger, faster while they're at it?

Yes, it does seem that a robotic sphincter would solve all your problems.

A bionic sphincter? I don't even want to know what MBC and Scrooge would say about that.

Yes, you do.

Admit it ;)

With the number of surgeries, procedure, diagnostics, and consultations you've gone through, youv'e gotta be approaching the "6 Million Dollar Sphincter" mark by now.

A 6 million dollar sphincter.....I guess my price is going to increase from the small appliance range.

(let's just say I'm not complaining too much about the increase in 13% on the old insurance premium coming up.....I've been getting quite a good deal.)

What have I been telling you?

A bionic sphincter?

Leo would be a WMD!

For his sake, I hope not- Bush might try to invade him.