Mayo Decision

Our much anticipated consult with the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Nelson, finally arrived.  But the outcome was not as we had hoped.

Pat had been probed, scanned, pricked, x-rayed, tested, and had filled out more questionnaires than we care to talk about. All the test results from the Mayo Clinic and from Greenville were condensed into an executive summary for Dr. Nelson. Dr. Nelson is a very highly regarded surgeon near and far. Thank the Lord for fine doctors like her, and bless her work.  Every time her name was mentioned, someone would say, "She is really good."  When she was on her way to our appointment, you would have thought Elvis had just entered the building. Nurse Buehler, her direct report, got a beep alerting her that Dr. Nelson was in the building and on her way.  Nurse Beuhler immediately gathered all of my documents and went out to meet Dr. Nelson and escort her in. In a few minutes, Dr. Nelson came in, right on time, with her entourage, and sat down. She started with her perception of Pat' s history, then continued on with the latest scans. Dr. Nelson showed us the CT scan taken Monday, on the computer, which basically gave digital slices of my bride's body from the neck down, heart, lungs, kidneys, but especially showing a tennis ball size mass on her tail bone/sacrum area. Her radiation/chemo last fall should have shrunk it, or at least stabilized it, and it did show a large portion in the center that was dead, however, it had grown in a new direction and of course, it should not have done that. The growth is in a bad place, lots of nerves, a pivotal place, and much to our dismay, she confirmed our Greenville neurosurgeon's decision that this is too risky, potentially too debilitating, and we may not get all the rogue cells. Back to the doctor's creed, "First do no harm."

We talked about our options going forward, prognosis, expectations, potentials. Needless to say, this was a very emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically draining discussion, but we now had the second opinion we wanted and had traveled so far to get.  And as we said before, if we are going to be turned down for surgery, let's make sure it is by some of  the best.  We finally gathered ourselves together, thanked Dr. Nelson and her staff, and left for the hotel to regroup and to lean on each other for support.

We have faced adversity many times before, but this is a tough one.  We are optimists, just what does it take to fix this? We called Pat's oncologist in Greenville immediately to set up an appointment right away, we needed to know our options.

Stay tuned.

Not PCQ