just scoping it out...pun intended

[Guest guest]

Hmm, lets see, I think I'll try the endoscopy...no, no, give me the

colonoscopy, ah hell, I can't make up my mind, go ahead and give me

both, and would you throw in several more blood tests as

appetizers..then maybe I'll try the iron shots for dessert..

Saw the gastro specialist today, like I said, they won't be happy

until they have left no stone unturned. I thought it was really funny

that he had to see if the anemia was improving with oral iron. At

least when we finish the scopes, I'll know just how good or bad things

look in there.

He told me something interesting that I had previously misunderstood.

Iron is absorbed in the duodunum. B-12 attaches to some sort of cell

in the stomach, but then isn't actually absorbed until the end of the

small intestine..the reason we come up short isn't intes. bypass -

it's lack of gastric lining that creates whatever B-12 attaches to.

So for someone like me - iron malabsorption is possible while B-12 is

being absorbed just fine. I think calcium must function similarly to

iron. I'm a little concerned about protein now too. , any

idea where that is absorbed and how?

Okay, I might have gotten the point a little late - but I'm gonna try

now to do better. I've got a damn good life going here and I don't

want to bow out too soon.

I'll keep you all posted. Thanks to all of you who wrote.