Day 1 At Mayo . . . Are We At A Hotel?

So we had our first day at Mayo, and all I can say is . . . WOW.  We met our shuttle bus down in our lobby.  Totally on time to the minute.  We get to Mayo and the shuttle bus pulls in and the first thing I think of is, are we checking into a high end hotel?!  There were three lanes into the lobby.  People armed with wheelchairs for people who may need them.  Whisked us right in and pointed us to the right direction.  It was pretty unbelievable.  Over the last 7 years Tony and I have spent countless hours in hospitals, and the fact that everything just moved along like a well oiled machine was, well remarkable.

I guess we didn’t realize that it was going to feel like September rather than July in Minnesota.  It was 53 degrees while we sat out waiting for the shuttle bus.  The only snafu was that we had been sent a giant questionnaire regarding not only Tony’s medical health, but his family health as well.  It took me quite a while to fill it all out and they provided a self addressed stamped envelope to send it back in plenty of time to get to the unit before our first appointment.  When we checked in the lady said “we never received your paperwork so you’ll need to fill this out again.”  Ugh.  Turns out the assistant to the doctor we saw said they hardly ever receive the paperwork though the mail, so I had to fill it out all over again.

No big – I made quick work of it and had it filled out in 15 minutes while Tony had his vitals taken.  We were then escorted into our first doctor appointment.  We brought a ton of medical records as well as his biopsy slides of his liver.  Nice view!

Interesting story.  As Tony was laying down to get examined, he noticed a falcon on the ledge.  Turns out they built a falcon habitat on the top of the building to control the pigeon population!

So here’s the deal.  Our first appointment was at 9:20 a.m.  By 10:30 we were provided a printout of his next three day schedule based on their review of his medical records.  Unbelievable.  Yes, we had to wait a bit in between appointments, but for the most part, it went incredibly smooth.  The views were pretty stunning too.

After getting some blood work done, Tony was finally able to eat.  We hit up the cafeteria.  We both ended up with the Chef salad.  For the record, their “Wellness Meal” was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.”  Huh.  I chose the light raspberry vinaigrette dressing, until I was about to put it on my salad – 21 grams of carbs for a serving!  No thanks, I stole one of Tony’s ranch dressings.

It wasn’t until we paid for our food that I saw that on their condiment counter they had sriracha!  I my meal really didn’t warrant sriracha!

After lunch we had another test . . . and they gave us a pager to let us know when it was Tony’s turn.  Wow, when is the last time you’ve seen a pager??!!

I am being vague about the tests, because it’s all speculation at this point.  They have some ideas based on their years of experience, but we just have to sit back and wait and see.

We finally got back to our hotel around 5:00 p.m.  It was a long day, so simple was key for dinner.  For some reason I can’t download my pictures of dinner, but I made burgers with potato chips on the side.  Easy peasy!

This morning we have a very early appointment –6:15 a.m.!  It’s too early for the shuttle, so we’ll be driving there.  Hopefully there won’t be too much traffic tomorrow and we’ll find parking.

Thanks for all your continued support, hugs, emails and comments as we go through this journey – we totally appreciate it!!  Happy Tuesday, make it a great day!