Mayo Clinic AZ transplant evaluation itinerary arrived!

Great news!!!!!

Dental clearance wasn't an issue with me, as I have dentures.

Did themister have a colonoscopy recently? If not, I'm surprised that isn't part of the itinerary. They may add things after the 4 days. It seemed to me that they continuously added stuff. I know it took nearly 6 wks. to completely get through it. He is lucky that he has good veins, so he doesn't have the problems that I do. I wouldn't be surprised if different Mayo Clinics work differently, though. Is a psychiatric appt. on his itinerary? I think that's pretty standard.

You definitely made the right choice in moving there and having his evaluation start so quickly!

Please let us know how it goes!

Hugs,
Connie

@**David** I thank you for the info. Our friend had to get dentures when he flunked his dental clearance for a transplant. Whatever it takes ;)  We both do annual or semi-annual dental already. I want to get this done prior to his eval. Did you go to your regular dentist?

@Connie...I really appreciate your documented, evaluation post. I saw Mer post during your evaluation process regarding "a long week" for her evaluation. You were surprised by that.  Our friend had one at Mayo AZ that was about 10 days. They did not give us specifics, so I have no idea how many actual days. Oh, and one day for you was a Mammogram, Pap. He won't need those    Terribly difficult to do alone, and with a van service. What a trooper you are.

Themister had a colonoscopy Dec. 2011. He was hospitalized mid January for TIPS. Due to some complication, he required a CT scan. 5 days in-patient, for that overnight out-patient procedure. They thought there was a pulmonary blockage, and had to make two attempts at placing the TIPS. Anyway...we are happy this evaluation is 4 days. A gift to just get approved for evaluation with proper insurance.

Here are the tests. The preps came attached to the schedule in detail.

Day 1 6:30 a.m.-last appointment 3:30 p.m. 

 Morning

6:30 Registration

7:30 Liver Transplant Survey

7:30 Transplant Precertification

7:45 Transplant photo visit

8:00 Social Worker visit

9:30 Liver Transplant Ed visit

10:00 Hepatology Transplant Evaluation

11:30 Lab visit (fasting)

(Drive to Scottsdale Clinic

Afternoon

2:30 PFT (2 hour fasting)

3:30 Rad Bone Mineral Analysis

Day 2    8:50 a.m.

8:45 Lab Visit (fasting)

8:50 Lab container pick-up

8:55 Lab Visit,

10:45 Liver transplant education visit

1:00 Rad US Carotid Artery Ultra Sound 

2:00 Dietician visit

3:00 Registration Appointment

3:40 Rad General X-Ray

4:15 Rad CT abdomen and pelvis (with contrast-4 hour fast prior).

Should be finished by 6 p.m---ish?

Day 3  8:45 a.m.

8:45 Cardiology EKG

10:00 Psychology Testing

11:00 Psychiatry Consultation

Drive to Phoenix Campus.

 Afternoon

2:00 Cardiology Dobutamine Echo (1-2 hr. testing -fasting after  breakfast...test is 2 p.m.)

2:45 Caregiver class during his Cardio Echo 

4th of July....off

Day 4  10:00 a.m.

10:00 Transplant Iothalamate Test (4 hour fast and drink 4-6 glasses of water in the our prior to test. Don't pee 45 mins. prior to test. (note from themiz.....glad this test is him, not me!)

2:00 Liver transplant NC (nurse) visit

2:30 Hepatology  Transplant return visit

3:00 Transplant Surgery Consult

End of Schedule

Scheduler mentioned there may be additional tests requiring a couple of days, if needed. They said they make a decision the following Wednesday. I totally expect some added testing. Whatever it takes. We remain....positive.

So very grateful for all of you.

Hugs, themiz

 

Post Edited (themiz) : 6/12/2013 1:17:55 PM (GMT-6)

I went back and added times. There is morning at one campus, and afternoon at another. It will be jammin', but I think we can do it. He can have unflavored water in moderate amounts. Do you see anything else that may be hard. I drive and he sleeps when I drive. I will take things like a small pillow, blanket, and snacks for him....and his meds. I think it we can do this. You guys know the tests IRL. Thanks! hugs themiz

Thanks, Connie. I will call them. You are very helpful with this information. hugs, themiz

I used my own dentist. At MGH, I had 5 days to do those tests, and had the colonoscopy/endoscopy at a local hospital, as well as a liver biopsy. I'll be surprised if those days go as smoothly as the schedule appears. Hospitals almost never run on time, it's the nature of the beast. I had to do more tests (neurological) as I had a cerebral hemorrhage a few months prior to getting on the list. If they want to do an arterial blood draw...well let's just say it's the worst test going. Still, it's all worth it in the end.

Oh good. I was afraid you had to run off after Friday's appts. I often wish I had kept the original itinerary to look back on. We changed a lot of my brother's appointments by calling the schedule line and filling in any gaps in the calendar. That way it would be faster to get listed.

Anytime you want you can request a new itinerary at all the check-in desks, sometimes they add things and forget to tell you :)

But when you get a new one, it only tells you future appts. so you might want to hold on to the old ones.
It's a great tool for letting newbies in on what to expect.

I was dreading the ABG, but had no problems at all. They got it on the first try (they do it on the inside of the wrist) and had no pain at all. I don't know the size of the needle as I didn't look. I also had a stress test and various other ones that I don't see on themisters' schedule. They may skip the Infectious Disease, but if he hasn't gotten a TB test or vaccinations against hep A and B, tetanus (if he's not had one in 10 yrs.), he can expect that.

Also, I don't see a psychiatric eval and I guarantee they will do that. However, he is moving along at a good pace and hopefully it won't be long before he is listed.

Hugs,
Connie

We are done with transplant eval for themister and he will be presented Wednesday to conference. All went well. Schedule was carried out just as it was posted.

Themister aced all tests ; ) .... labs, psych, hepatologist, transplant surgeon and whatever else they did. Transplant surgeon, Psych, and Transplant Hepa think there is no reason to not list, and wrote this in their final notes.

Mayo AZ is brilliant in every way. I must say we were more than pleased to have him evaluated at this transplant center. The MELD is about 28 for transplantation, but around 35 in CA, per some of the team members. We are in Region 5, same region as CA.

Also, themister is on Medicare since becoming disabled when starting his 2nd treatment for Hep C. For anyone lurking and wondering about Medicare and Mayo for transplant. In AZ, we have AARP Medicare Complete United Healthcare HMO. This Medicare product has a transplant network accepted by Mayo AZ.

Themister will begin his series for Hep A/B vaccinations on Tuesday.

Only 4 days for this evaluation.

You all are so very important to those of us following you with liver disease, TIPS, transplants, transplant evals, and HE. We are grateful for the input and info as caregivers or surviving ones.

Big hugs, themiz

Post Edited (themiz) : 7/5/2013 8:44:35 PM (GMT-6)

Themister's MELD was 16 on the last report, 15 on the others. Mayo said they transplant at about MELD 28. We are Region 5. I don't know what that number is, but CA transplants at a higher MELD than AZ. Both are same region. I will become more familiar with the data.

But for now, we are done with "liver" for today. We take chunks of time being normal married folk and try to live life, not just live this disease. Tonight is a movie on the tube. Last night we went to watch the fireworks at the ball park. It is very hot here, and makes for interesting nights and beautiful sunrise's. Hope you had a great 4th, WD2! I will catch up tomorrow morning on all of the posts I missed. Hugs

Post Edited (themiz) : 7/5/2013 9:15:08 PM (GMT-6)

Themiz, Mayo FL transplants around 22-25. It's District 7, which contains the Gulf Coast states. I was transplanted at 25.

Congrats on TP eval. being finished!

Hugs,
Connie

Themiz,

I am glad that your husband's evaluation went so smoothly. I am still in the midst of completing tests for dual listing at Indiana University Health. I was in Indy 4 days in mid June and had a triphasic ct of the abdomen, stress test with dobutamine, echocardiogram and EKG, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood draw (ouch,) chest X-ray, met with the hep, social worker, and psychologist, had tons of blood drawn, and took their transplant Ed class. Since returning home to Chicago, I have had my pap and have scheduled my endoscopy/colonoscopy and mammogram to complete their requirements.

I think they might make me repeat my cardiac cath test as I have elevated pressure on the right side of my heart and they were concerned about my pancreatic cysts. I have had Northwestern send these reports to them, but they like everything done within the past year. My cath was in 2008 and my EUS with FNA was in late 2010.

My meld had dropped back down to 15 so I thought I had plenty of time to get these things done. Find out from my hep at Northwestern that my liver lesion grew to 2.1 after several years of doing nothing. I had to go in immediately for a chest ct and nuclear bone scan. No other cancer showed up so they are going to treat the lesion with Therasphere radiation beads. My meld was raised to 22 because of the tumor.

At meld 22. I am #2 at Northwestern and #8 in Chicago. This can change if someone elses meld drops so I am on call status.

I notified Indiana that I will be treated with the Therasphere. If they don't require additional testing, I am scheduled to be done with their requirements this month along with my tumor treatment. Good news is that I would be #1 or #2 at their center three hours away.

I guess what I am saying is that it is good that you got all the evaluation done. I have been waiting at Northwestern almost 3 years with a meld of 15-18. Now, I feel I am off to the races as it were.

Post Edited By Moderator (hep93) : 7/6/2013 12:04:13 PM (GMT-6)