Mayo part 3

My second trip to the Mayo clinic was at the beginning of March. I had to go back for MORE tests that couldn't get done last time. It was a good trip, despite having my groin cut open.

I got to meet the wound care people and they did this mist treatment to me. After a couple of days, my foot looked better than it has the past 10 months! :) We found a place in Kansas that also does the mist treatments, and I will be going there regularly until my foot is healed. I was also told to not put any weight on my foot. I'm supposed to lay around until it is completely healed. They said that walking on my stump was a big factor in it not yet healing.

The big test I had to do was a vein mapping. They told me they would cut open my jugular vein and pour dye into me and watch it on an X-Ray machine. Oh, and I would be fully awake the whole time! I was freaking out!!! They said I wouldn't remembe the procedure, and I told them memories don't scare me. Having my neck sliced open did! Long story short, they didn't cut into my neck...they sliced open my groin.

I don't wanna talk about it! >:(

Anyway, now I'm back in Kansas. They transplant will proceed AFTER my foot is healed, so that's the next project. I'll be going to a wound care clinic in Wichita 3 times per week until it's done. :) Yea for more travel! Most of my life is spent in a car.

-Nat

MAYO part 2

My first trip to the Mayo clinic was in February of this year. I went for a week of testing, interviews, testing, meeting specialists, testing, getting poked and more testing. Every time I met a new specialist, they would order more tests. Every day I would get a brand new schedule with all the new stuff added to it. It made it hard to plan in advance for anything.

I met TONS of people and learned lots of new names (and forgot even more names). I explored the huge Mayo campus. It was suprisingly easy to get around, despite it being so large. Mayo connected to hotels, malls and basically the entire downtown area through a skyway system AND a subway system. The coolest part was the underground subway mall. We accidently found it. Apparently with all the subway corridors, many shops have opened up in them. Mostly eateries. The nicest section had a Subway, Dairy Queen, Caribou Coffea, Quiznos, a Christian Book store, several pharmacies, a children's toy shop, and lots more local stores. It was really neat!

After a week, we learned several important things:

• A kidney transplant is looking possible so far
• It will be extremely difficult
• There are many more tests to be done
• There are many more specialists to consult
• Hilary still MIGHT be able to donate
• Minnesotans LOVE their sandwiches
• Hobby gaming is popular in this area
• The doctors here really know their stuff
• The doctors here appreciate an informed patient
• Everybody talks funny
• I have to come back in March for a scary test where they cut open the jugular vein in my neck, fill me full of dye and watch with an X-Ray machine all while I am WIDE AWAKE!!!

I'll blog about that later...

-Nat

MAYO part 1

The kidney people in Wichita thought I was too difficult to do a transplant on, so they referred me to the Mayo clinic. The Mayo clinic is the world's best hospital. It's located in Rochester, Minnesota, a city of around 100,000 people. Basically, it's about 18,000 smaller than Topeka, KS.

The Mayo clinic specializes in difficult cases. They are always learning and creating new ways to do medical science. The Mayo clinic complex is made up of many tall skyscraper buildings all connected by skyways and a walking subway system. That's nice because it's not really good weather in Minnesota most of the year.

In February, I made my first visit to the Mayo clinic. I made a second trip to the Mayo clinic in early March. I'll blog later about both of those visits...

-Nat