What education would you give me as a patient about the digestive system?

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NINNK - http://www.niddk.nih.gov/ ) sponsors an internet site called the "National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NIDDIC - http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/index.htm ). They have a webpage entitled "Your Digestive System and How It Works" that is very helpful for learning about the human digestive system. They also have a link to various digestive diseases. After learning about the digestive system and how it works you can learn more digestive diseases using this site. John Kimball, author of a general biology textbook, has much information from his book on the web. In particular he has information on the Human GI tract at http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/G/GITract.html I hope this helps.