Thanks to my lovely youngest daughter, my writing skills will be known by all who read this blog! (Or perhaps I should say lack-of!) All of my daughters have the gift of writing! Although I may not have that talent, and may not be able to entertain as they do, I can INFORM!
Our trip was preceded by a magnificent display of power in the form of hail the size of golf balls! It left broken windows, torn screens, loose gutters and a pelted new truck that belongs to my brother!
We faced a very strong headwind all the way from home to Rochester! It was actually so strong that it literally blew a piece of trim off of my car window! We did arrive safely and drove right to the hotel without any wrong turns....good start, right?
Our first day began with an appointment at 7:00 am to meet with the neurologist, Dr. K, in the Gonda Building at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. K specializes in brain function...and disfunction. The facility is amazing...much larger than I had anticipated. The Gonda Building has 18 floors, all with different specialties. Our Journey begins at the 8 West desk. I tend to be very critical of medical facilities and the smoothness of the operation....just because of the lack of customer service that frequently plagues medical practices. Certainly not the case here! They have it together! When we left Dr. K's consultation we had papers in hand with a plan! Everyone was helpful and each part of our day fit together like a puzzle, with all of the pieces present!
Dr. K was very kind, interested and thorough! He spent over an hour with us, just going over health history, asking questions that would further explain the information he had already received from our family Dr., the neurologist in KC, and the Dr. that performed the psych. evaluation that ultimately resulted in the diagnosis of frontal lobe dementia. We went through each of Mike's symptoms in detail, elaborating as needed. I was quite impressed that he asked so many questions about even simple things, so that he had a complete picture of the last several months. He also showed us the MRI that was done in KC back in October of 2010. He explained what he saw...which was very evident, even to the layperson! The MRI displayed many small spots of white areas, that are not normal. He said there was "white matter hyper intensity". However, he did not see "shrinkage", which is the hallmark of a degenerative disease! That was great news! He said his initial impression was that the Dr. that performed the psych evaluation was a little "generous" with his diagnosis. Dr. K said he does believe that something out of the ordinary is going on...however he would not have diagnosed the problem as dementia based on the information that was revealed by the testing. He asked about Mike's blood pressure - asked if he had any vascular problems, and went on to say that the spots appear as though they could be related to a small blood vessel disease. He asked if he had ever had a stroke. Of course, Mike's blood pressure is very low.....and always has been, so that wasn't a probable cause. Dr. K said if he just saw the scan...with no health info, that would have been his guess! However, as I said before, there are no markers in Mike's health history to support that diagnosis, so.....tests have been ordered! Dr. K suggested a PET scan - but only if our ins. would cover. His words were "If your ins. does not cover - I do not think the information would be so valuable to pay the $5000.00 fee for the test". So, the jury is still out on that one....if it will be approved or not. He also ordered a lumbar puncture for Thursday @ 2:15. He may also order another CT brain scan, he was not definate about that. We also have an appointment tomorrow @ 12:45 with an MS specialist to further evaluate the MS diagnosis and symptoms.
We were up at 5:00 this am, and after the drive yesterday, we are both exhausted. We went out and ate tonight, then came back to the hotel to drop the car off, and went for a walk. Downtown Rochester IS the Mayo Clinic! There are lots of little shops and a couple of shopping areas with groupings of stores. It is very clean and safe...especially for a downtown area. But, as I said, everything is built around the Clinic area, and the Methodist Hospital, which is also a part of the Mayo campus. There are subways and walk-ways that connect them all! Our hotel is about 2 1/2 blocks from the clinic. We were able to take the underground tunnel - which was great since we went over there so early! I would estimate there is about a 6 block area with underground walkways, or overhead walkways that connect them all. I will post pictures when I get home....and Elizabeth shows me how!
My fear has been that the original diagnosis was correct, my prayer has been that the original diagnosis was incorrect! I feel encouraged after today. Our God is Mighty, Holy, Perfect and Just. I choose to trust Him, and know He will pave the path that leads to our future. I know I can trust Him to walk beside us the entire way, and carry us if the journey should become too tiresome.
Psalm 138:3 "On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul" (New American Standard version)
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