Mayo Clinic?

I'm in the hospital now and going to be let go on TPN on Monday after they have been trying to get my system ready for surgery. I've been trying to get a Hospital to Hospital transfer to Mayo (I am in Kansas City) but my doctor here doesn't seem to be able to make the connections. Has anyone here tried to go to the Mayo to get a better picture on what surgery for fistulas would entail?

MMMNAVY:

Thanks for dropping the note. No, I'm at Saint Luke's in the Plaza where I went in to get healthy enough for fistula surgery. THey have been causing problems with my urinary tract. But they sent me home on TPN and some antibiotics and I didn't last 36 hours before I was distended and dehydrated and infected again. Came back in to the ER and have been trying to get to go to the Mayo because they say I'm a complicated case.

I think St. Lukes is not a great place to be, but I am a bit bias, at least the plaza is nice.  Is it still have alot of construction going on?  I wonder if you ask your GI to get in contact with DR. G and see if he can help?

https://referral.kumed.com/weblink/phyPro.do?poid=GN10295&ofid=

 

  Probably a "hail" of a whole lot less than when I went to Mayo that way back in 1978!!! Remember how HEAVY those imaging films were? Ha! Now most places can provide those images on CD or DVD. And instead of a heavy folder of paper copy reports you can have them scanned at a Kinko's or some place similar or scan them at home if you have a scanner and CD/DVD read/write drive and take even the paper copy reports on CD/DVD instead. Mayo won't use your flash drive but they will use CDs and DVDs.

I so well remember being sick as a dog, weighing 89 lbs (usual weight for me was 110-115 lbs), carrying the HEAVY envolope of imaging films and a HEAVY envelope of paper reports, not just on the plane from our airport but also during a layover and transfer at O'Hare!!! Thankfully the airline was able to provide wheelchair service on such short notice thru O'Hare for me! I remember being short on cash and having absolutely NO IDEA what was a fair or reasonable tip for the Red Cap who wheelchaired me thru O'Hare from one terminal to another. I was so grateful to him!

And the shuttle driver at Rochester airport was just great helping me out. As were the staff at St Mary's ER when I got there w/my HEAVY goodies!!

I would have been sooooo grateful to only have a couple of CDs to carry!!! But CDs and DVDs didn't even exist back then. *sigh* But, obviously, I made it thru. We do what we gotta do. And sometimes it is amazing what we CAN do if we HAVE to and are DESPERATE enough!

Due to the short notice I gave everyone, including my husband, there was NO ONE to meet the kids at the schoolbus stop after school that day much less care for the animals and the kids whilst "we" were gone so poor hubby HAD to stay home and I HAD to go it alone. The Mayo docs were GREAT! They called my hubby the evening of surgery and the day after surgery to keep him informed of how I was doing and then I was able to take over and keep him informed by phone. I did take some needlepoint w/me that I had been working on at our local hospital so I had something to keep me occupied as I recovered and there was a yarn shop right across from the front door of St Mary's and the Pink Ladies were just GREAT about keeping me in stock w/yarn.

Good luck, David!!!! Mayo is a 12 hour drive for me from Michigan but well worth every mile of the drive! I made my first trip to Mayo when I was 16 to help my Aunt w/the drive. So I've been going to Mayo from Michigan for 52 years for family or myself. They are the EPITOME of efficiency! And they are cracking good doctors, techs and support staff.

Hey Davidblink,

I live in Minnesota and everybody is right about the Mayo...it's the best! Please let us know of your progress and prayers go out to you and your family on a fast a safe trip there!

While Mayo is unquestionably ranked #1 in the US for gastroenterology, Barnes-Jewish in St. Louis is so close to you that I wonder if you have considered it?  According to this article, it is ranked #12 in the US:

http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/digestive-disorders

Just a thought, in case your doctor is still having difficulty making a connection with Mayo.  I saw a couple of doctors at Barnes, and had surgery there.  I highly recommend them, especially if the travel to and from Mayo is going to be difficult for you to handle.

Good luck,

Glori

Haha...Fresh Winters Davidblink?..more like Frozen! where I live there's enough ice at Halloween to ice fish some years. Yes, if you move to MN you need something to keep you toasty warm like a fireplace and fleece 10 months out of the year. We'd like to retire here too and maybe fix up a small cabin on some water.