Yay, Mayo Clinic!

I spent a lot of time yesterday reading reviews of the Mayo Clinic — many were negative about the hassles involved and the sometimes rude doctors, but there were positive ones too, of course. Still, it made me rethink whether it made sense for us to go. I want to make sure Andy is getting the best possible care, even though I feel comfortable with the treatment the doctors have prescribed. He wanted to be sure he shouldn’t be getting a stent for his carotid dissection. My reading has convinced me it’s not a good idea, but he wasn’t sure the Mayo Clinic didn’t have a way of reducing the dangers.

Bless the Mayo site. When I searched for carotid dissection they sent me to Carotid Artery Disease, which is about plaque build up, not dissection (dissection is rare except in cases of trauma). So I tried “carotid stent” and was directed to Carotid angioplasty and stenting . It says stenting is done when regular artery surgery is counterindicated, and only if the artery is blocked 70% or more. That’s not Andy’s case — his dissection is blocking a lot less than that.

The article also says,

Blood clots can form within stents even weeks or months after angioplasty. These clots may cause a stroke or death. It’s important to take aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix) and other medications exactly as prescribed to decrease the chance of clots forming in your stent.

He’s already doing that for the dissection, so why get the stent?

When he read this last night Andy agreed it doesn’t make sense to go to the Mayo Clinic for this problem now, but they had already been a big help.

Then this morning we received this email:

Mr. Browman,

We appreciate the confidence you have expressed in Mayo Clinic and thank you for your recent request.

The Division of General Internal Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota has reviewed your information. Unfortunately, we do not believe that a visit to Mayo Clinic would add to the care you have already received. Therefore, we are unable to offer you an appointment at this time. Since we cannot offer a different treatment plan or additional options, we are unable to schedule an appointment at this time.

Please know we do not make this decision lightly. Mayo Clinic strives to provide the best possible care to all those in need. If your health situation changes, we would appreciate another opportunity to evaluate whether our services can complement those provided by your current provider….

How cool is that?! Yay, Mayo Clinic! We did get our fourth opinion without having to go there, and we trust them as a great resource to have if we need them in the future.