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Do You Know About Mayo Clinic?

little sister
Jan 24, 2018
2 min read

Last Fall, my sister and I took off on a quest to Mayo Clinic in Rochester,

Minnesota, to see what was wrong with her brain? When we were to return from Minnesota, I had my yearly oncology appointment coming up, which meant for me, several days of scans and test prior to the appointment with my oncology doctor.

I am always a bundle of nerves during this period of time. The unwanted anticipation of the scans, and then the waiting for the appointment. You're either going to have a glass of champagne or a shot of whiskey when the appointment is over, it could go either way. I had heard about Mayo, but I never really knew about Mayo, so I decided on this trip with my sister, I would check out their Cancer Center, in case someday in the future, I may need a second opinion or something, because you just really never know.

This it what I discovered.

It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. First of all, anyone can go to Mayo Clinic, a doctors referral is not necessary and the clinic takes all kinds of insurance, including Medicare.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, includes a Cancer Education Center, where you can learn about cancer, treatments, research and support. This center serves as a focal point of information and inspiration, and helps empower patients to become active partners in their health care. The center includes a medical librarian, nurse educators, clinical research coordinators and American Cancer Society Patient Navigators.

To discover more about The Cancer Education Center Click Here From this link you can also request an appointment in Arizona, Florida or Minnesota.

Before arriving to your appointment, you will need to do a bit of leg work to have your history, reports and scans, etc. sent ahead of time where they will be reviewed by a team of experts in breast radiology and pathology. At your first appointment, the doctor may request blood work, X-ray, scans or other test. You may expect to be met by several physicians and members of the breast team who will meet with you individually. Your team may include specialists from Internal Medicine, Breast Imaging, Medical Oncology, Pathology, Radiation, Oncology, General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Genetics and Psychology. Your schedule may change due to extended consultations, waiting times for test results or other unplanned delays, which could extend over than one day, so it is important to plan for that.

After the visit, you will receive a summary in the mail, and Breast specialists at Mayo Clinic work with you to develop a comprehensive care plan for your breast conditions and coordinate any follow up appointments with either them or your hometown physician - which ever works best for you! Mayo Clinic also offers The Continuity Breast Clinic to provide cost-effective, high quality care to established, stable breast patients.

I would encourage anyone with personal health concerns to explore Mayo Clinic, especially if you are facing breast cancer or metastatic breast cancer, or like me, you're always thinking about what's it going to be...champagne or whiskey?

Pictures From Our Trip To Mayo Clinic. Click Pic for Description :)