Mayo the Incredible

Yesterday I posted my thoughts of the Mayo Clinic and how it may be at risk if/when a version of Obama care is passed. Today I wanted to detail our Friday experience at the Mayo. It was incredible and goes to show how health care can operate in a capitalistic system, and what we risk as we move toward national health care.

The set up to Friday starts with our Thursday experience. We had brought Mary (my mother in law) to Mayo for treatment of thyroid cancer that had spread to her lungs and breastbone. The treatment performed on Wednesday was administering radioactive iodine. Thursday was supposed to be a quiet day with no appointments or treatments. Friday would be the culmination of 2 weeks diagnosis and treatment, ending with a full body scan and appointment with the endocrinologist who would reveiw all results and recommend a course of treatment.

But Thursday did not start well. Terri, her father Neil, and I met for breakfast in the hotel lobby and returned to our rooms to plan the day's activities. Mary had to stay in the room all day due to the radioactive iodine in her system. When we returned to our rooms, Mary was extremely confused and would not respond to questions. This was an obvious downturn in her condition, so an ambulance was called. The paramedics agreed that something was going on and transported her to the St. Mary's emergency room.

My first concern was bringing in a new set of doctors and specialist, and the time required to get them up to speed on her condition and treatment. To my surprise, St. Mary's is affiliated to Mayo and had access to all doctor's reports, test results and future appointments. The general doctor assigned to Mary required only a few hours to get completely up to speed and align his treatment with the ongoing Mayo treatment.

By evening, Mary had undergone a cranial MRI that found her cancer had spread to the brain and was the cause of her confusion. Steroids were administered to reduce the inflammation in her brain, and we retired for the evening hoping for improvement by the next day. The plans for Friday appeared to be over. Her 10 AM body scan and 1PM appointment with the endocrinologists would be missed. Our hope was to see her improve enough to be able to leave the hospital.

Friday morning found a marked improvement in Mary's condition. We arrived at the hospital in time to speak with the doctors as they made their rounds. The general medical doctor arrived around 9AM with some surprising news. He was willing to release Mary in time for the 1PM appointment at Mayo. Mary's release was completed by noon (light speed by hospital standards). We made the 1PM appointment with her primary Mayo doctor. The original plan was that he would review all test results and recommend a treatment plan, but all of that had changed with the discovery of brain cancer and the lack of full body scan results.

Now the amazing part starts. The endocrinologists first set up an immediate consult with an oncologist that specializing in thyroid cancer. He then set up the full body scan to be performed that same afternoon. From his office we went immediately to the oncologist for a brief consult. From there we went to an appointment for the body scan. All of this was completed by 4PM. With the test results in the Mayo system, we went back to the new oncologist who spent the next 2 hours reviewing results and talking to Mary, Neil and Terri. We had just accomplished in 5 hours what might take 4-6 weeks in Kansas City where each visit would lead to serial scheduling of the next with several days in between.

The results of the afternoon at Mayo were the radio iodine treatment from Wednesday seemed to be effectively fighting the brain cancer, and would continue to be the course of treatment. Mary was allowed to return to KC where she will work with her local doctor directed by the Mayo thyroid cancer specialist. The final surprise came with the Mayo specialist provided the family with his home telephone number, with instructions to call if there were any problems or concerns.

I didn't think that happened anymore. But I guess it can when a highly trained specialist is empowered with the tools and support he needs to to be effective. This entire operation was delivered by a capitalistic environment - the very one threatened by Obama.