After having some odd ball symptoms that I have had for many years, my AWESOME surgeon decided that I needed an Endocrinology work up. After that 2 of my doctors told me that I needed to go to Mayo Clinic to get some things checked out since what they think I have is rare. I'm thinking to myself, "Mayo Clinic? It's not like I am dying or have cancer, what on earth am I going there for? Is this really that big of a deal?" The thought is that I have something called Cushing's Syndrome. After contacting Mayo Clinic they wanted to see me in 6 days! I hear that is super fast, normally there is a much longer waiting time.
As we drove through Madison WI, we waved to our favorite NPR Doc, Zorba Paster from the radio show "On Your Health".
Day 1: spent close to 2 hours with the doctor, taking history as well as him doing his dictation in front of me and asking if I had anything to add or change. Pretty impressive. He was a very nice man and very detailed. I was then given a list of places to go and people to see over the next few days.
We went back to the hotel to relax, the boy swam and we spent the evening flipping through tons of TV channels that had nothing on...lol. Exhibit A of why we don't pay for TV at home :O) We did arise early on a few days to watch 19 Kids & Counting as it was on from 5am-6am. Yes you have to be die hard fans to get up that early to watch a TV show.
Thanks to another homeschooling mom who is a thrifty traveller, we were able to get a great deal on a hotel right across from Mayo Clinic. We started out with an Economy Double Bed room, but after a few nights we decided it was just not working out, so we upgraded to a larger room and spent the rest of our stay in some much needed comfort. I had found some decent rates at an Extended Stay America that was 10 miles from Mayo Clinic. We lived for a month at an Extended Stay America during our adoption process, no frills, no pool, no breakfast, no soap, no shampoo and only clean towels/sheets/maid service every 3 days. So for LESS $$ we got a pool, walking distance to Mayo Clinic, shops, places to eat, computer room, free shuttle to grocery stores and mall, Barnes & Noble, on site public library (this was a hit with the child!). All these places were connected by an underground Subway, so not once did we have to go out into the cold to go anywhere.
We stayed at The Kahler Hotel in the Economy One Double Bed Room according to the hotel website is
"Quaint and functional, these rooms offer guests a cozy environment mixed with a nice assortment of features including a 27-inch TV, a mini-refrigerator, and complimentary high-speed internet wi-fi with speeds up to 50Mbps complete." We rented a microwave for $5.00 per day, which was worth it for heating up leftovers. This room was a bit too quaint, about the size of a child's bedroom, very clean and neat, but very small and not enough room on the floor for a cot or sleeping bag. One of us slept either in the office chair or in the bed. This would be great room for a husband/wife to stay in.
We saved on meals by packing a small crockpot, hotplate, egg cooker, a pot and a skillet, along with groceries and dishes. It was wonderful to come back to the hotel in the late afternoon to a crockpot full of delicious food.
We were rubbing elbows with the Mayo Clinic medical students at the hotel, who are the cream of the crop as only 250 are accepted at a time to Mayo's Medical School. They even have their own Mayo Medical School Lounge in the hotel. It was very nice with a full kitchen and living room. We saw many foreign students going in and out of there and the YUMMY smells coming from the kitchen were of an ethnic delight each night.
We met a number of foreign people who were coming to Mayo for treatment as well as we ran into 2 ladies from our home area that were coming for treatment. What a small world we live in!
Our unsocialized homeschooler meet a bunch of kids to swim with at the pool and had a lot of fun with them.
Tomorrow I will share my exciting day of testing.
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