Corn Maze


I'm going to tell you what I want.  I don't feel as though I'm asking too much.  And I certainly don't see why I'm NOT getting what I want.

Here goes.....

An exceedingly experienced and handsome doctor strides purposefully into my assigned hospital room.  He shakes my hand, knows I'm the patient, and is quite taken with my youth and vibrance.  He's poured over my medical records for hours.  He is desperately sorry this is happening to me and he has a plan.  He lays out said plan and I'm whisked away to be fixed accordingly.

Warning:  prepare for full-on ranting.

The week prior to my trip to Mayo was spent gathering the medical records they requested.  Did they ask for a copy of one thing I could easily obtain?  Nope.  The list was long.  Could any of it be found in the same place by contacting one person?  Nope.  Day after day I made phone call after phone call to place after place.  The report and slides from my biopsy, all of my scans and the accompanying reports, notes from each chemo treatment, my full medical record and surgical report and notes from my physicians.  Were the slides they'd given me the correct ones?  Nope.  The day I was getting on a plane for Mayo, I copied all of the records I collected.  I'm obsessed with knowing all there is about what's happening to me.  While doing this, I discovered the error.  One meltdown and three hundred ninety-two phone calls later, my slides were found at the University of Colorado.  So I PT Cruised over there to pick them up.  Alright, I was all set!   The stress was worth it because I was finally going to Mayo!  Hooray!

After flying into Minneapolis Tuesday night and driving to Rochester in a snow storm, we awoke early Wednesday morning so I could have blood work done and a CT scan.  The rest of the day was spent in Rochester.  Dad found a great lunch spot serving gluten free selections (and wine!).  The best part was girl time with my sis!  What would I do without you, Fry?  You are my Sherpa, my rock, my twin, my BFF and partner in crime.

Remember the aforementioned wants?  I was ready.  Thursday was the big day, time to kick ass and take names!  What actually transpired was a brief, highly unfulfilling meeting with an oncologist and then I spent the weekend in Nebraska.  All they told me I needed to meet with a surgeon after having an MRI.  I'd nearly thrown up in the waiting room before my appointment.  After checking in and finding a seat on one of the couches, I became abruptly, terribly nauseous.  I wasn't sick.  I was overwhelmed, fervent, anxious, exhausted, insane, petrified.  My Sherp hassled the nurses for some H2O and I started chugging water.  It was all for not, though, because nothing happened.  There are three ways to treat cancer:  surgery, chemotherapy, radiation.  The liver is not typically radiated, leaving surgery and chemo as my options.

Exiting my appointment with zero answers, Mom and Tiff headed to Minneapolis to catch flights back to Denver.  Dad and I sat waited out the hours before my MRI time which was 6:30 pm and when I finished around 8:00 pm, we started the 6 hour drive back to Nebraska.  The other options would have been staying in Rochester over the weekend or flying to Denver and then back to MN.  It was a lose/lose situation.  Rochester is not exactly a hopping place.  Dad drove through the night and we finally sank into bed around 2:30 am.

What confuses me, among every single thing in the health care system, is this:  why didn't the surgeon just come to my appointment?  If they knew I needed a surgical consolation, why wasn't he or she there to consult?  Why wasn't an MRI ordered in the first place instead of a CT scan?  Why did they take up my time to tell me they can't tell me anything?   Clearly I'm not running the health care system because it would not be this disjointed.  Everything about it is wrong.  So now I sit in the Midwest, waiting for a Monday appointment with the surgeon to see if surgery is a possibility.   Preceded by a 6 hour drive back to Minnesota, it should take about 1.5 milliseconds.  The answer is either yes or no.

UGH!  It's getting harder and harder to contain my Godzilla side.  Perhaps it's just time to let it go.





I'm sorry to my Nebraska people for not being in contact.  My trip to Nebraska was literally last minute.  I simply need some down time.  I also do not want my pent-up rage to be unleashed unnecessarily on the wrong people.  Please except my deepest apologies.   I truly love you all.



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