To Jean

October 11, 2003

Jean,

Dr Lehmann performed my first sphincterotomy on me. I was referred

to him by a gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center. He told

me that the choice for me was between him and Dr Cotton in South

Carolina. I chose Dr Lehman for the main reason that I was told he

is the type of doctor who won't give up on a patient until he finds

out what is causing the problem. Mine was a mystery to 4 different

doctors, and he was the only one who was successful in finding my

pancreatic duct after it had been resected in a previous surgery. It

was supposed to be a 40 minute procedure, but it took him 3 hours to

find it and open it wide enough to get a stent in. He works at IUMC

and I have his phone number if you wish for it. Not sure whether to

post it on the board here, if I am allowed, I shall, if not you are

welcome to email me personally and I can give it to you then.

As to the Angel Flight..I found out about that through the rescue

squad. They are broken up into different sectors around the country.

Each sector has their own webpage. The main one is

I was down at MD for 10 days, and couldn't afford

accomodation close to the hospital either. I was also helped by the

Shriners. I contacted the local Shriners in our town..also was told

about them by a woman at the rescue squad, and they paid for my

accomodation. They told me anytime I need their help, they would be

there for me. I will be giving them huge donations whenever they are

collecting now.

I thought they only helped children, but that is not so. They don't

ask for proof of income and neither does Angel Flight. They will

just want both doctor's (PCP and doctor you are going to see) and

fax to them a request that you are safe to fly, and confirmation

that you are seeing the doctor at the other end, and then will get

back to you a few days before you leave with the names of the

pilots. They only fly 300 miles each pilot and plane, so expect to

change pilots and planes a few times depending on how far you need

to go. I even got to fly one of the planes on my second leg to Texas

from Tennessee *L* and the planes are only small ones, not

commercial flights.

Hope this has helped you some,

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