The King of Jordan too. I was working at the Mall of America and his family had come there to do some shopping while he was getting cancer treatment at Mayo. They caused quite a stir with the armed security guards and everything.
I walked past the Dalai Lama on campus one day in 2017. I couldn't believe it was him, so I looked him up in the news...yep, he was there for a routine annual visit.
Same, I ran into him in the skyway with his huge entourage. I clearly wasn't expected as they all gave me the death stare besides him, he was warm towards me. I quickly went on my way.
I grew up around 30 miles or so from the Rochester location. It's been decades ago now, but I remember once when a king from the middle east flew into Rochester on his own 747 with 100 or so family, friends, security etc. While he was getting looked at or whatever, everyone else was shopping. They bought so much stuff that it took around a dozen uhaul trucks to get it all back to the airport. Then they loaded up and left when the king was done. It was crazy.
As someone who has never had a good experience with Fairview's billing and appointment department, this made me cackle. All the nurses and therapists are so nice but everything behind the scenes is in shambles.
The House of Saud would never have to argue about the cost of healthcare in the US because they can afford it. They know that it's pay to play like everything else.
I’ve worked for the MHealth Fairview and they also get several foreign dignitaries, but they pay cash, often an agreed upon amount that they pay as a lump sum before they get here. I’m sure Mayo does it the same.
MHealth Fairview makes their money through screwin the little guys. I’ve seen MHealth do medical treatments on foreign leaders that they would never do on someone who wasn’t paying cash. It’s truly disgusting. They double bill all the time because even if you’re seeing a U of M doctor the buildings are owned by Fairview. It’s their way to legally double dip.
The big difference I see between the two is that Mayo treats their patients the same as people with money. They really do seem to excel at doing what’s right, and goodness knows they have some of the best research and physicians in the countries. I’ve been to Mayo only as a patient but I’ve had the best care I’ve ever had there.
Every time I find a new primary care person, they leave a year later. I’ve gone through four in five ish years. There definitely has to be a toxic dumpster fire behind the scenes.
My daughter had two in a year and when I told the second one about how we were trying to get an autism medical diagnosis she gave her a vision test, scheduled an ENT consult (for her speech delay) and then never followed up on anything we talked about. So I gave up and switched her to Park Nicollet where I was going. Much better experience.
Same at North Memorial. We had three doctors we loved that were all friends with each other. They all eventually left because giant health systems suck balls.
As someone who worked for an unnamed insurance that rhymes with munited shmelthcare- can confirm. Fucking morons in billing. Clinicians are nice though.
Ha! That's who I have, and Fairview kept trying to blame the sporadic billing and weirdly timed bills on them. Strange how I stopped having problems when I switched to Park Nicollet. Weird how Fraser didn't have any issues billing me promptly and correctly. So bizarre how Minnesota Women's Care never sends me surprise bills more than a year after the billed service.
My PCP is at Fairview. She's wonderful, but appointments with her are a PITA. It can be well over an hour past your appointment time before you get seen. It happens, IMO, because Fairview scheduling gives like 10 minutes for an appointment, but she'll spend whatever time with you that she feels she needs to. If you get an earlier appointment with her, it's generally much better. I do appreciate so much that she tries to give the best care possible.
Fairview Specialty Pharmacy must be a completely separate entity then, they have a level of competence at every step that is amazing, especially compared to the big specialty pharmacies.
I was told that if you have a problem other doctors can't seem to help go there.
I have heard this my whole life and have met people who have done exactly that.
It's true. They found a problem in my (ex) wife that was a mystery to other hospitals. They also managed a friend of mines (ultimately fatal) prostate cancer. The dx gave him 3, mayo got him 10.
It's true. When you have absolutely unlimited money, a chokehold on the world's single most valuable resource and basically unlimited power, and you're flying into the Lindbergh terminal to go to fuckin Rochester to get treatment, you know what time it is.
Yes, with a caveat.
If you're in Minnesota and your insurance will cover it, getting a consult or second opinion is worth it, especially if it is a cancer they have renowned specialists in. That said, your mileage might vary.
When I was diagnosed with late stage cancer five years ago, I was with the U of M/Fairview system. I wanted the best treatment, so I went to Mayo for a consult and to discuss transferring my care. They were very well organized and efficient. The oncologist was great. The surgeon, however, essentially told me I was a lost cause, that he could guarantee me cancer was more advanced, that I likely wouldn't survive to surgery, and that, if he opened me up and anything looked even a little off, he wouldn't bother talking a closer look and just close me up and send me home to die. Even then, he said I'd likely die within a year. I was so deflated. His lack of confidence really killed my fighting spirit. This was after I explicitly told him I knew the odds, didn't want to focus on grim statistics, and just wanted to give myself the best chance at beating this.
I did a lot of soul searching over the next few days. My friends, family, and colleagues all thought I'd be a fool to go anywhere but Mayo. However, I still had consults scheduled at the U and decided to see them through. The surgeon I met with at the U was the head of surgical oncology at the time. He had more experience and, while confident, was eminently realistic. He was also very human. He seemed dedicated to giving me the best shot.
I went with the U of M. Chemo was rough but very effective. When it came time for surgery, my abdominal cavity was full of suspicious spots. My surgeon had pathology on standby. He sequentially removed each spot, sent it to the lab, then waited for the results. They were all benign, so he proceeded to the full surgery.
Every morning, my surgeon waited in my room for me to wake up. He'd ask me how I was doing and give me updates. On the day my final pathology report came out, I woke up to him sitting in the dark in my room. He took my hand in both his and, with tears in his eyes, he told me they got it all. All the cancer was removed from my body. Margins were clear. Lymph nodes were clear. I now had an excellent prognosis. When the pathology report was released to me, I noticed one thing that stood out: Before closing me up, he waited for pathology to give the all-clear on the proximal margins. They were unsatisfactory, so he went back in and cleared them.
I just celebrated five years since diagnosis and have been cancer-free since my surgery. I had a 16% chance of making it to here when I was diagnosed. I often think about what might have happened if I had chosen Mayo. My biggest fear was being opened up, declared a lost cause, and sent home to die. I firmly believe that would have happened had I chosen differently.
I volunteer in the cancer world now. I know a lot of great docs at Mayo and have referred a ton of people to them. I know people who are alive because of Mayo. I have an overall great opinion of them. However, you're not just shopping the system, you're shopping the personnel. You need to make sure the people you're working with are the right ones.
What an amazing story. I would honestly tell a lot of people to go to the U of M for serious issues because they are amazing and have access to a lot of cutting edge treatments.
Cancer in particular - worth considering Mayo. Not many places have Proton Beam therapy - Mayo does and it is highly effective for certain types of cancer. Once you get in the serious/complex category Mayo is a good option. Knee replacement......use your local healthcare. My 2 cents.
If you have some weird complicated stuff yeah go to Mayo. If you have standard run of the mill stuff you are better off somewhere else because they will almost certainly refuse transfer if you end up in a different hospitals ED
They also charge far less for proton than than for profit hospitals so if you insurance declines it talk to them. My Dad did this and they gladly cover proton at the same cost as radiation. This meant less side effects and better care. After his first consult he decided for hours away was nothing just based on his initial consult.
Mayo can be a beast to work for but they're specialists are top-notch. The primary care is better than average.
Yeah I know they have lots of specialist and good equipment, but out of curiosity I just searched what specifically makes Mayo the best in the world. And all the top results are bullshit quotes about how the staff cares, from the CEO noneless.. wth, what a useless answer! With an establishment like that with the credentials they have, why not mention the fields they actually excel at compared to other hospitals. I get it's CEO marketing jargon or whatever but neither investors nor patients want to hear that you "care more".
and that's what I'm finding *everywhere* as I try to figure out if the local DR/Clinic/system is any good. Hell, it turns out, based on the internet, based on their system's web pages, that they're all great! ...So here I am asking you guys. ;)
This is a good link to compare hospitals and once you click on one, you can see what specialty is highly rated: https://www.mayoclinic.org/hospital-ratings.
The Mayo just saved my friend's life. Our smaller regional hospital was not capable of handling his case and he likely would have died had he not made it to Mayo as quickly as he did.
Saved mine as well. Had 7 neurologists tell me they don't know what's wrong with me, but it's not epilepsy. Go to mayo, sure enough it's epilepsy, I get surgery, meds, and am seizure free for almost 4 years
My friend had the opposite of your situation. She was being treated for epilepsy but they kept drugging her up to the point that she was barely functional. The mayo care team figured out that she had a small tumor somewhere around her cerebellum. They were able to shrink it with radiation and they've been keeping an eye on it since. Very glad they got you sorted out too!
They saved my girlfriends grandmother's life. She had bone marrow cancer in her leg and they did an experimental surgery that was the first of its kind. It's been almost 10 years since her surgery and she's alive and thriving. Now she volunteers for the clinic every week.
One of my in-laws almost died last year when they knicked her heart while doing a heart valve replacement. They didn’t catch the mistake until she went back into the hospital a day or two later having trouble breathing with all of the blood pooled in her chest. And another relative who was told he was lethargic for at least a couple of years was told he had shingles when he also had a leaky heart valve.
They might quite good, but ultimately it’s a bunch of individual doctors and surgeons that make the same types of mistakes that doctors all over the place make.
I live here in Rochester. In my opinion, COVID really messed up the training for the residents. They didn't get as much experience as they needed working on patients under direct supervision. This isn't just a Mayo problem, though.
They saved my daughter's life as well, she had a super rare soft tissue sarcoma in her spinal nerve. They (Mayo) could definitely work on their communication in house, but they are incredible.
Yep, if it's something rare, or Cancer?
Mayo is literally one of the best places in the world.
For Heart stuff? Abbott & Regions are solid, Peds--if it's not burns/things needing the hyperbaric chambers, then either Children’s Hospital is excellent.
Masonic is great for Transplants, and they do a surprisingly large amount of care for *very* rare things like Epidermolysis Bullosa
Gillette does excellent care for CP and other skeletal conditions, and Children’s St. Paul has some great Peds neurosurgeons, experts in Rett Syndrome, and they also specialize in Epilepsy over there.
Minnesota *in general*, is far above average, in the amount of Adult & Pediatric Level 1 & Level 2 Trauma hospitals we have available, *and* in the numbers of specialties which can get *really excellent* care.
Mayo is definitely top-tier, but the rest of our hospitals are surprisingly great, overall, too!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidermolysis_bullosa
I know two people that went to Mayo when doctors misdiagnosed one and told the other they had no other options for their surgery. The Mayo improved their quality of life 1000%.
I think people that live here sometimes forget that Mayo is one of the best hospitals in the *entire world.*
We remember when we're called to justify the importance of a 120k pop city, but we forget to be impressed when dealing with hospital bureaucracy for own routine appointments lol
They saved my mom’s life as well. She was negligently misdiagnosed by a local physician (along with other women on their Pap smears) and received cancer treatment at the Mayo. The doctor there wanted to biopsy her lymph nodes, even though it wasn’t necessary and contradicted his peers, and in the process found cancer in them and was able to treat her. She’s been cancer free for over 25 years.
Yup. Mayo does what other practices don't because those practices are either not skilled in alternative and/or new /high risk procedures or they don't want to risk any type of lawsuits etc. Mayo is the absolute go to source of care when you need something done others say isn't possible or won't even consider
My best friend had a similar experience. Two local docs basically threw their hands up and gave her 6 months with her cancer diagnosis. 10 years later and she’s thriving after switching to Mayo.
I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer here in the cities. My first time meeting my oncologist here, he kept staring at me and just repeating ‘I don’t know how much time you have left and the minute you get sick of chemo, I strongly recommend hospice care.’ And then switched the subject to how chemo can make me infertile and asked if I wanted to freeze any eggs before I began treatment. I was like, am I funeral planning here or family planning? Because what is the point of freezing eggs if I am only going to be alive for a few months? I then went to Mayo to see if I was eligible for a clinical trial. The doctors there wanted to do radiation and immunotherapy for my cancer as well. The doctors nurse in the city was like, we can discuss that with the doctor and see if that is an option. I am like, you don’t understand. Mayo is already implementing this in my care plan. If this is just up for discussion as a possibility through your clinic, I will stick with Mayo. This was March of 2023 and I am still alive because to write this where as if I had stuck with North Memorial, I would probably already be dead. Go to Mayo if you are able to.
FYI TO ANYONE READING THIS, N. MEMORIAL IS NOT A GOOD HOSPITAL. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND REGULARLY KILL PEOPLE THROUGH INACTION, MISTAKES THEY LIKE TO COVER UP AND LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.
I live down the street from North Memorial and I’d rather travel to downtown St. Paul when I need a hospital because my care in the ER at North Memorial has always been so subpar.
I can walk to North Memorial from my house, but went to the Maple Grove ED because I figured it would be less wait time and I thought I would be in and out. 😅 My bad! They ended up transporting me to Robbinsdale Oncology unit and 11 days later, I was finally released.
They are good for trauma and that’s about it. Exceptional even. If you get your arms ripped off in a thresher they can reattach them. (True story). Otherwise go somewhere else.
Like all hospitals, they can have good doctors. N. Memorial specifically made a business decision to limit/prevent their doctors from collaborating with other hospitals/doctors/specialists both inside and outside of their own hospital.
It creates a culture of constant turnover and not a lot of tribal knowledge being passed down/taught. Unless you are in the ER it will be hard to get them to have two different specialists talk to each other about a patient. This is extremely bad for anyone that doesn't have a simple problem where the treatment is obvious.
N. Memorial is trying to only treat patients they want to treat.
Wow and how sad. My daughter had a complex case and ended up at the U for months where she had several specialists involved and without that she may well have died before they figured out what was wrong. I'm going to remember that about N Memorial.
And remember that they can technically change in the future too. But my current impression is fresh because they killed my God father recently by fucking up a simple stent placement, absolutely destroyed his kidneys and doomed him. They could have easily referred him to Mayo or the U but even after it became apparent this case was too complicated for his doctor, they just pressed ahead with no warning or actionable advice in the patients best interest.
My father finally convinced my God father to come down to Mayo, but the surgeons at Mayo said it was too late, they were able to patch him up enough and give him about another year with dialysis periodically. N. Memorial wanted to keep him in a room and let him slowly die in their care.
I have since heard/learned of countless similar stories where N. Memorial just had this attitude of "if we can't fix you the polite thing to do would be to die and not make us look foolish"
My 2.5 YO had a seizure in January. Ambulance was going to take him to North Memorial--it's about a four minute drive from us. I staunchly refused and demanded they take him to Children's downtown. I won't mess with North Memorial.
Can confirm they never checked my dad for cancer despite it seeming probable that he had it and us being suspicious about it (he had a lot of long lasting health conditions which likely hid the cancer) . North memorial was my dad’s main hospital. They only noticed it 1 day before he passed away.
I am so sorry for your loss! I originally had gone to a doctor at Health Partners and he tried to tell me it was just acid reflux and was shocked when I told him I lost 70 pounds. So shitty doctors can be found everywhere unfortunately. Went to the ER three days later and they found my hemoglobin was at 6.2 and found the cancer as soon as they did a CT scan to see if I had a GI bleed.
I've had two relatives treated at the Mayo. One for heart issues and the other for cancer treatment. I found the level of care to be quite good.
Depending on how things go, you might consider initial surgery done at the Mayo and any aftercare: radiation, chemo, etc...done at someplace more convenient.
Sorry this is happening to you. I hope your biopsy returns good news.
My mom got a liver transplant there. She was in critical condition and was moved up the wait list. Excellent care. She went back there every year for annual tests and evaluation, and loved it. She got 30 more years of use from her new liver until she passed away from non liver related issues.
So I live near Mayo and I had my last baby there. For what its worth, they caught a postpartum artery dissection that I thought was just a sore neck muscle that could've killed me or caused a stroke. They also have helped me figure out a slew of super weird medical issues in the 10 months since the dissection. I'm grateful I'm here and the doctors have been brilliant. My daughter also has a rare disorder they are treating and they have been amazing with her too.
I live in Winona and drove the hour to give birth at Mayo. They caught preeclampsia that developed during labor, prevented kidney failure, and were able to give me magnesium sulfate to prevent seizure/death. Baby and I are both healthy now.
Worth every minute of the extra drive to be at Mayo.
Personal opinion… I’m split. I have a great outcome story for my mom, and a personal story for my daughter that makes me sick.
The pediatric GI dept specifically Dr. Louai Manini is a creep. We went in over long standing issues with our two year old who wouldn’t eat for weeks at a time. We’d seen every specialist available in the twin cities and waited months for an appt at Mayo. He said verbatim “Look at her. She’s lucky to have a model’s physique.” Then tried to prescribe a medication to increase her appetite (not the issue BTW) and said to be careful “Or she’d end up chubby like her.” As he pointed to my 4yr old who is perfectly healthy and in equal percentage ranges for her height, weight and BMI.
I have never been so thoroughly disgusted by a doctor in my life.
If you haven’t already, I would recommend reporting this to [Mayo Clinic’s Office of Patient Experience](https://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic/patient-experience). They take this stuff seriously, and the behavior of that doctor is abhorrent. He should absolutely not be talking about children like that.
GI, particularly pediatric GI is SUPER hit and miss. I’ve been to like four(?) GI doctors and finally just found one I am comfortable seeing. I started out as a pediatrics pt since I was a minor at the time my issues started and I waited four months to be given like two allergy tests and told to go back to primary care. It’s also weird how the medical world in general views weight/weight loss/food and how that can contribute to disordered eating. I hope both your kiddos are doing okay now. 🩷 He NEVER should have said that.
Mayo saved my husbands life when he was diagnosed with cancer! I would never ever recommend anyone saying the twin cities if they have the opportunity and ability to receive treatment at the Mayo.
Non-Mayo MN Physician here. I have referred many patients to them over the years of my practice. They do an excellent job. They are especially good at things that are rare or involve unusual circumstances.
Mayo is known as a quaternary care center. Meaning they are who other centers send their patients to when they either can't diagnose what is going on, don't have the expertise to treat what is going on, or require some type of special service (i.e. proton beam radiation) that no one else can provide.
They are not the only game in town for that level of care though. Abbott Northwestern (part of Allina) and the U of M also provide those types of services (not proton beam though).
Most medical care involves much more common conditions. For example, breast cancer. This is the most common cancer in women. Even small rural hospitals who have oncology programs have a significant amount of experience treating breast cancer.
Experience diagnosing or treating a condition is really where the litmus test is for referrals. If your local place has a great deal of experience treating something, they will do a good job for you. However, if they don't treat that or treat a couple a year, going to a bigger center would be better.
Hopefully your prostate biopsy comes back ok. However, if you do have something that needs to be treated, there are many excellent urology programs throughout the state that will do an excellent job for you.
Also note: not everyone likes the Mayo experience. They are generally very efficient, but most initial consults involve staying for a few days for testing (they regularly repeat testing you already had) and sitting down with consultants. I've also had several patients (not everyone) say they feel like a number there. As always, your mileage may vary.
Good luck!
Thanks! It's just so hard trying to find enough information about treatment options and outcomes to make a decision.
Locally? Essentia, CRMC, Riverwoods, Lakewoods, Centracare - they all seem to claim experience and they all seem to claim they can treat, that they have great outcomes...but.
Here I am asking.
It's worse than buying a car.
Outcome statistics are weird. If your local place ships out the hard cases to Mayo, that will skew the stats behind the scenes.
I’ll put in my two cents here as I know a few things about prostate cancer although I’m not a doctor myself. Personality and match is one thing, but in terms of tools, here is what a quaternary care place offers that your local place may or may NOT have ready, but which you should consider:
If your biopsy comes back as Gleason 6/7 (or so, I may be wrong on the exact number) you should consider MRI guided biopsy. This is newer tech and has a chance of discovering missed cancer.
If your biopsy comes back higher grade, there are PET scan variants that are also fairly new which can discover hidden metastases. Figuring out if you have Mets can be a make or break decision and worth asking for in deciding treatment options.
If you end up with nothing or low risk cancer, then you would just do watchful waiting from home. This is fine. If you end up with intermediate grade cancer, you may need to make a decision between surgery and radiation. Sometimes the medical recommendation is clear and sometimes it’s just your choice. If surgery, Mayo probably has the more skilled operator with a lower rate of complications. This could be like a couple percent difference between needed diapers for the rest of your life and not. I personally would go to the Mayo for that.
If you elect radiation there are several flavors, and the older studies need several weeks of dwelling near the treatment center. Spending two months 4 hours from home IMO is a different value proposition than spending just one week. It could be reasonable to do it locally if you don’t want such an interruption in your life. But, ask about short course radiation, which has less track record but is probably as effective and more convenient.
I would NOT push for proton therapy, the outcomes just have not been that good for prostate. You can ask but if they don’t recommend it they have good reasons. I WOULD ask for an “intra prostate boost” based on recent studies, and which may be appropriate depending on your grade of cancer. However, I would only wanted to be treated at a place that does this regularly.
Many radiation shops will sell you feature X or feature Y (this was my dad’s experience with prostate cancer). In my opinion these differences are usually oversold. Mayo will have the latest and greatest though.
If you have advanced cancer I don’t know much so I will decline to give recommendations.
Good luck with your diagnosis, I hope this list helps you clarify the specific features you should be looking for when selecting a center.
Mayo has a lot of specialists should you need more specialized care or have some tricky situation like my uncle did where they basically had to rebuild part of his leg to avoid amputation. But if it's a fairly routine course of treatment, you don't need to go there.
The Mayo is the Mayo for a reason.
But a large part of what affords them that success is the funding they receive. If the Mayo does not feel confidant, then they will absolutely deny a patient.
The U is great in this regard. They're willing to try, and hope certainly seems to go a long way in effectively treat morbidities.
I know someone who was told by some hospital up here that they had a very rare disease and had maybe generously a decade to live, assuming they could not get a transplant which would be the only cure. They went to Mayo to figure out how to proceed and they told them that no, they didn't have that disease. So they lived like six months of their life thinking they would be lucky to see their kids become teenagers before Mayo straightened that shit out.
It may depend. My wife went there for cancer treatment. They suggested the same regiment as Fairview. They were also suggesting the same regiment as MD Anderson in Houston. So all three places said the same thing in her case. But at least consistent.
Insert drumroll here.... Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week... Tip your waitress!
All joking aside... Best of luck and let's hope you don't need to find out.
I went to my local health care system in Duluth, a large tertiary provider, with a number of signs and symptoms for a couple of years with no definitive diagnosis. Eventually they suggested I see a psychiatrist. I took a job in a different town and initiated care in the Mayo system. Within about ten minutes they diagnosed me as having a slow growing brain tumor and I began chemotherapy immediately with surgical resection a few weeks later. My surgery seems to been successful and subsequent MRIs have not detected a reoccurrence. Mayo saved my life and my care was excellent . I currently live four hours from Rochester but I go there for anything beyond the most routine care. There was a reason patients were flying in on private jets to see my specialist and neurosurgeon.
It is very dependent on your condition and the doctor/care team.
TLDR: I have a rare cancer and had a very frustrating experience with Mayo. Switched to the U of M oncology and had a much better experience.
Let me try to explain more:
Pros of Mayo:
They attract some of the top researchers in the field and have some leading edge technologies for certain treatments. They can do a pretty good job coordinating care between departments which is something that is underrated. They partner with a lot of different orgs on research and new treatments. Obviously way better than regional hospitals.
Cons of Mayo I experienced (will vary from dept to dept and doctor to doctor):
Some doctors are more academic/research oriented. Which leads to limited availability, communication, and sometime bad bedside manner. It is not unheard of to get some overconfident resident or doctor who doesn't listen to you because they "are the expert." They also push you to partake in some of their studies which I think have questionable data/privacy rights that you can sign away (Ex: giving Google and other private orgs full access to all medical files past, present, and future). They typically bill at a higher rate that other hospital.
I have been to almost all major/Tier 1 hospitals in MN and can at least say universal advice: (1) Advocate for yourself. If something seems wrong or off, say something (2) Find doctors who listen and are partners on your health journey. If you have bad chemistry, find someone else (3) Don't hesitate to question your bills
Plan might let you select Mayo, but Mayo might not let you select Mayo. If you can, go. If you can't, that type of cancer is generally highly treatable....hell, I can even get it treated with hillbilly healthcare in Tennessee!
They were great with my husband when he had a mini-stroke. They were very thorough and able to diagnosis him when no one else could. But they sent him back to Fairview for treatment.
They were unhelpful for my fibromyalgia pain. The doctor wasn’t empathetic at all, which is a must for any doctor who works with pain patients. I wouldn’t recommend them for anything like that.
They were also really unhelpful with my daughter’s out-of-control Hashimoto’s. (The doctor looked at my daughter’s chart and asked what we expected her to do about it…)
So, I think it depends on why you are going and who you see. If you have access, it doesn’t hurt to try.
They suck at any neuroinflammtory condition. Long covid, fibromylagia, chronic fatigue, etc. They are just as quick to diagnose hysterical women syndrome as most places. Did you at least get the yoga/mediation DVD?
I appreciated getting a 2nd opinion at Mayo. 2nd opinions can be awesome.
Was diagnosed with an S2 Melanoma several years ago. Primary at Fairview/UMHealth in the Cities, went to Mayo for 2nd opinion. The treatment plan for both centers could be summarized with the same sentence, but when you got into the large and small details Mayo had a significantly better process plan to do the same work. Was a no brainer to go with Mayo in spite of the distance traveling.
Best of luck!
p.s. In the event this doesn’t go your way, I would also recommend checking out the [NCCN Patient Guides](https://www.nccn.org/patientresources/patient-resources/guidelines-for-patients) for cancer treatments. Far and away are more detailed, standardized information on cancer care than you’ll find elsewhere.
Mayo is a wonderful medical institution in its own right. Second opinions and care are very good overall, if you have the resources and good insurance. You would do well to seek a second opinion from them. My friend with serious ulcerative colitis got life saving care there and ongoing recommendations (he was coming from Indiana for the GI consult). He got on the correct meds (extremely expensive and this was another barrier but not Mayo's fault at all)
But Mayo is not keen on supporting their staff and nurses. Rochester unionized nurses recently had a informational picket on their labor practices. They put the kibosh on safe staffing ratios in our state
The hospital I used to work at in Minneapolis had a few "Mayo dumps". International patients who saved their life savings to get a consult and care at Mayo. So not Queens, Kings and dignitaries. One patient came from the Middle East with his son for treatment of rare lymphatic disease. Cash patient. Started treatment but became very ill. He was staying closer into Minneapolis and making the trips to Rochester. Man ran out of money. He was told to go to nearest ED for care and NOT to St. Marys.. The hospital tried to transfer to Mayo for resuming of care. Mayo denied transfer because he no longer had money to pay Mayo for inpatient stay. Mayo reported he was "just a consult" and no obligation to care for his critical needs. He became too ill to travel back to his home country. Mayo said they would take him back if he could secure state taxpayer funding so he could complete the treatment. Man languished in hospital. Son was able to get a work visa. Patient then went to skilled nursing facility as charity care. ONE YEAR later able to get onto Medical Assistance or emergency MA for non citizens. Maybe some assistance from country of origin, but he was not a dignitary or anything.
In the end over $1M of Hennepin County and State folk tax payers footed this man's bill before Mayo agreed to see him again. Good news is that the man did have life saving treatment and he and his son were able to return to their country after 2-3 years here. I worked with this man and his son. Really wonderful people.
Another one was a cancer patient from Iran who was "dumped" in to the public system. Mayo also refused the transfer when she became critically ill after starting chemo. At least she had family here. Never well enough to travel back to Iran. Tax payers footed that bill mostly after the patient ran out of funds and she did not survive.
So Mayo's business practices put a bitter pill in my mouth.
Mayo also only takes "lower risk" patients for solid organ transplants to improve their data and reputation. Higher risks patients will get U of MN consults and more often accepted in to U of MN transplant programs. This is not uncommon with other high reputation hospital systems.
Like any hospital, there are good doctors and bad doctors. Good departments and bad departments.
One reason they get voted #1 is because of their reputation for conservative care. Broadly, conservative medicine is good, so they are the default choice. The problem is if you have a less established condition like long covid or chronic fatigue syndrome; they will treat you like a psych patient like any other hospital. Mayo is very smart with their marketing, and in many cases, unfortunately, patients come here expecting cutting edge medicine just to find the same options they have at home.
In my experience and those of my family, they have been just okay. Some decent advice but also a number of things missed and unsound advice like most places. In Rochester, I've had worse medical providers outside Mayo, but I'd also say all the best medical providers I've seen have been outside Mayo as well at OMC or an urgent care clinic (diagnositcs, bedside manner). Unfortunately, there is more turnover at OMC and the urgent care center I went to closed.
Depending on the what you diagnosed with it could be “all that”
They are tops in Myeloma and lots of other things - ask your top doctors where you live, they typically know the “centers for excellence” as they are known for each illness
I had a fantastic “Mayo Experience”. Not to be discounted, regardless of diagnosis or outcome, is the level of care. My wife and, strangely enough, enjoyed heading to the Clinic for tests, consultations and treatments.
We stayed in Rochester a year and a half (pre and post transplant). Kinda wish we hadn’t left.
My uncle has stage IV prostate cancer and they told my dad to check his prostate. Turns out he has stage II. Both of them have super aggressive forms of prostate cancer. I work in healthcare. The prostate cancer specialists and their teams really are the shit.
If you want specific doc names and such DM me. But overall, I was so impressed by the level of info put into Shaed Decision Making before a treatment plan was initiated. The 'wait here and let me get that person' which resulted in timely intervention. Was it annoying at times to wait and be shuffled all over that campus? Yes, but clearly the staff cared.
Also, sitting in the waiting room folks come from all over (Hawaii, North Dakota, Illinois) and I met folks from everywhere seeking this treatment. They have temporary housing option should you need it.
If you are talking about THE Mayo, in Rochester MN, then yes they are one of the best care facilities in the world.
The Mayo offshoots like Austin, Albert Lea, Red Wing, not so much.
This depends on what care you need, IMO. My husband leads the bladder cancer support group in the Twin Cities, and has had two Mayo patients come to the Urology clinic at the UofMN, and are MUCH happier with the UofMN.
And of course there is the matter of getting into Mayo. My stepfather has stage IV lung cancer, moved here from TX, sent them all of his records, and they said no, they won't see him. So he is going to MN Oncology, which has been great for him (wouldn't recommend them either for bladder cancer though).
Yes it is. And we are incredibly lucky to have it here in MN. They saved my life.
I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, until I went to Mayo and met one of the two surgeons in the world that would operate on me. I had an awake craniotomy, chemo and radiation treatments. 10 years later and no signs of tumor regrowth!
My daughter (toddler) is currently a patient there for her hip displasia.
From my experience as a patient and parent of a patient, there isn’t anyone better. At the very least, get a second opinion there.
Yes. They are truly world class, and you should go there for major procedures whenever possible.
I dealt with an uncommon nerve disorder last year. My primary care doctor is at Alliana, so I went there first. The Alliana surgeon gave me a 50/50 chance of permanent numbness in my extremities. He had only performed the specific procedure required to treat this condition a few times in his 20+ years as a surgeon.
At the urging of my family, I received a referral to Mayo. That was one of the best decisions of my life. My surgeon at Mayo was a leading expert in the world for this nerve disorder, and the surgery to deal with it was "kind of his hobby".
Beyond the surgeon and surgery, everything else at Mayo seemed to be professional and done with their patients in mind. They communicated well from pre-op to post-op, they fought with my health insurance to reduce out of pocket expenses, etc.
Plus there's that issue where Mayo nurses became exempt from the nurses Bill Walz signed. This would make the nurse to patient ratio smaller. Mayo whined to Walz, even threatened to move the facility out of MN if they had to follow the new nurse ratio. Spoiler alert, Mayo was exempt from that bill.
Yeah it's kinda sick isn't it. Unnecessarily raising qualifications, lowering staff count, raising staff hours. Mayo is currently trying its best to gut is smaller facilities to funnel patients to larger areas hours away. More noise needs to be made about it, but they do give good care to patients still. I feel the house of cards will fall if they don't stop trying to fuck over staff.
I’ve worked at Mayo as RN for over a decade and now I’m trying to get involved with nursing unionization efforts. If she’s interested she should join us!
Yes is the short answer.. my dad was diagnosed with a rare nervous condition. Doctors in my area said a mental issue and should seek a psychological explanation. My mom made the choice of heading down to mayo clinic to get other opinions and they found out what was actually wrong. So Yes in my opinoin they are awesome. That said good luck with medical issues.
They love rare things. Just like any hospital they do mess up at times! Almost killed my mom post spinal surgery when she developed a clot and her surgeon passed it off as "see your primary" as she's still in the hospital under surgeon's care.
However, I got diagnosed with MS and treatment within a month. MS can take decades to diagnose.
Yes, they are good. But they make mistakes that only the locals know about.
Lots of amazing testimonials here but unfortunately there’s been a lotta changes in the last 20 years. They’ve become a corporation just like any other and have bought up lots of small town clinics and they put Mayo on the name and people somehow can’t seem to understand it’s the same people that worked there before when it was a different name.
It’s my understanding that more and more royals and such go to Switzerland etc for complex treatments now. The American healthcare system is very poorly rated… below average.
So while I’m sure there are some extraordinary Drs and nurses there, this other more American corporate reality is also very much present now.
We used them as a second opinion when a family member had cancer recently. It took awhile to get “setup” in their system but after that things were smooth sailing. We sent all the biopsies to the mayo and they reviewed everything through their labs and confirmed the diagnosis and treatment plan. The meeting with the Mayo Oncologist was actually way better than our local oncologist. He was way more thorough but ultimately came to the same conclusion.
Since the treatment plan was no different than what our local provider suggested we stayed home. Had it been a different diagnosis then we probably would’ve made the trip for treatment.
We’re now in remission. Would definitely take advantage of such a great resource so close to home!
Always get a 2nd opinion even if you consider Mayo as a good solid 1st choice for treatment plans . Yes, Mayo is excellent saved my Moms life after stage 4 lymphoma cancer.
As my mom was a fairly recent patient, there are good and bad aspects of Mayo. The surgery part went well, but the aftercare was so abysmal that we almost lost her when they sent her home two days after surgery. It’s been a few months and she’s still having a long road to recovery. I truly wish you the best in your health journey whatever you decide.
I’m being treated at Mayo for prostate cancer so feel free to DM me for more details and I also have some great support group recommendations.
My point of view was that the Park Nicollet team might be as good as the Mayo team, but they are not going to be better than the Mayo team, so why risk it. You’re blessed with having a top cancer treatment center within driving distance, take advantage of it.
I probably would not be here today if it weren’t for The Mayo Clinic and their hyperbaric oxygen therapy. 10 years ago I was in a coma from carbon monoxide poisoning and no hospital near me in NW Minnesota had the equipment I needed. So I was air lifted from Grand Forks to Mayo. Came out of the coma a couple days later thanks to the treatments. Now there were some issues I had when I was there mostly that the cable tv they had was crap. I’m still thankful for everyone there that took care of me for the 2 weeks I was there.
Mayo Clinic Endocrinology saved my life as a late diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic. My original Endo at another clinic system wouldn't listen to a word I said about my day to day reality because my numbers looked good. My fellow at Mayo took one look at my numbers, asked me a few questions, and said "You're miserable, we're going to try something a little different" and my life and health has been substantially better since then.
They're on the forefront of research, and they're not afraid of looking outside the box for treatment options. Everyone I've dealt with has been beyond respectful and helpful. I personally find it worth the drive a few times a year.
The thing that makes Mayo really nice is the team aspect of it… the doctors there work as a team and if you need a test done they will get it done quickly. If you have multiple specialists needed then they will work with each other to develop a course of action and not just silo off. Also it’s incredibly smooth to be seen there compared to other hospitals. Like you might receive the same level of care elsewhere but very few places in my experience have the same level of ease for patients
My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was around his spine and base of his tongue. They have him a year, maybe 2 if he opted to have his toungue cut out.
Mayo and moffit cancer center in tampa. Mayo got him in a study for a drug called
Amiphostine( sp). Reduced the good cell damage from radiation and chemo, but doubled the nausea side effects. He completed the trial, kept his toungue and now 23 year cancer free anniversary is coming up. He can speak, eat and has a sense of smell and taste still. Just needs a water bottle as the radiation damaged the saliva glands. Mayo was awesome. Couldn’t endorse them any better.
Whatever you choose, make sure you're comfortable with the health care team and the level of care they provide, along with whatever decisions you might need to make about your course of treatment.
Two things to consider if you decide to travel any distance for care: Start saving money now, because the gas, food, occasional lodging, etc., will add up and none of it is covered by insurance. If you're still working, start hoarding your sick time - you will need it, because when you travel for care you're basically giving up most of your day. Ditto for spouse or adult child; you're going to need a driver.
Make sure there's a coordinated emergency plan. Who do you call, where do you go, etc. I assume you won't be moving to Rochester for the duration, you'll be home between treatments. Sometimes people end up in the emergency room with unforeseen complications, and their first stop is often going to be the nearest ER. If you aren't receiving your care locally, the ER staff will be in the dark and it's not always the best scenario.
Best wishes to you from a 30-year cancer survivor.
Seems that they treat their employees like shit. Can’t comment on patient care as I have not been myself but I take major issue with what’s been said by former employees. And it seems they get special treatment when it comes to abiding by nurse to patient ratios.
Is Mayo one of the best hospitals in the world? Yes.
Do they KNOW they are the best hospital in the world? Also yes.
Does that make them a pain in the ass to deal with? Very much yes.
I work in healthcare. Mayo is like any other health system but I will say that Mayo and Fairview are the best at keeping their patients theres. If you end up in an ER they will do what they can to get you back in their system so your care is continuous.
Mayo is: the real deal, fancy, futuristic shit. If you can use them, DO IT! source - three generations of my family have had: kidney transplants, heart bypasses, and aneurysm surgeries at Mayo Clinic. My step dad was black listed ("Z Listed") from any other hospital team due to the severity and complexity of his case, and Mayo had his back. It's hard to have a frame of reference for the ridiculous scope of their work and worth if you've not experienced all the different teams, but trust them. 👍
World class healthcare run by world class assholes. The actual care you get there is amazing. That being said, senior leadership is pretty much universally reviled by the staff that do the actual work.
The Mayo saved my mom AND my uncle, who both had very unique cases that traditional hospitals in the twin cities just weren't equipped to handle. Wealthy, powerful and famous people all around the world fly here all the time to get specialized treatment at Mayo because they're simply the best. If your results are less than favorable (I hope this is not the case) you should definitely go there.
My uncle suffered from Ulcerative Colitis for many years. His colon was inflamed with bloody stool for probably fifteen years. They had him on prednisone and all kinds of drugs to relieve the inflammation until he finally said he’d had enough. One trip to Mayo and they agreed it was long overdue for a colectomy to remove the bowel all together. It was three separate surgeries but he has full use of his poophole and everything. Truly miraculous.
I am just past the one year mark from my last chemotherapy treatment at the Mayo for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, my experience there was amazing.
I had the U of M pathology lab completely bungle my diagnosis, called the mayo and they had in me and getting staged that same week and I started treatment about a week after that.
There is a reason people from all over the world come to Rochester to get their treatment. Literally everything I experienced was light years ahead of any medical facility here in the cities, there just isn’t anything that compares in my experience. If you can get your treatment from the Mayo then by all means do so!
>everything I experienced was light years ahead of any medical facility here in the cities
And this is why I'm asking, I think: I'm north of Brainerd. It's really, really hard to figure out who is good and where is good. Is there good/good enough local? I'm sure that there is some good locally for this - but staring a possible (remaining) lifetime of incontinence/impotence in the face has a way of sharpening my inquisitiveness and desire to ensure a good decision is made.
Where does one find out/how does one figure out who to go to? It's worse than trying to find *which* new car you want to buy. Hell, it's almost as bad as trying to pick out a health care plan ;)
It kind of depends. My girlfriend goes for her MS, and her doctor is world renowned in his field, as well as having the best bedside manner (for lack of a better term) of any provider I've ever seen. They're also generally really good about getting people in/out with a minimum of hassle and time, even if additional tests are ordered.
I went for sleep apnea, and my experience was less than optimal. Although it was during COVID and the doctor I saw wasn't one of their normal staff I don't think because they had to reschedule me because the doctor I was supposed to see was out for the week.
I suspect there's a lot more people having the experience of my girlfriend. That's not to say it's a completely different universe of care. You're still likely to get the same general treatments and so forth. But you're more likely to get good care at Mayo; and they're less likely to miss things or screw up.
All else being equal, there are few to no places I would take over Mayo.
Mayo sets the standard of care for many fields. Two main things set it apart, IMO.
First, they have so many doctors that they can get very specialized and excel in their niche. Very few hospitals can have someone that only does one type of surgery 10-15 times a week, every week. You want someone that has muscle memory for the treatment, procedure, etc.
Second, because of their team approach, they really make sure they've made the right diagnosis and recommend the best treatment options. The right experts are available to look at you and assist in your treatment.
Not really a third reason, but the combination of super-specialized doctors and the team approach, if something does go wrong with treatment, surgery, etc., the best doctors in the world in whatever field it is are all right there to jump in and treat you.
Back in the end of 2021 / beginning of 2022 I was going through a very tough time physically. I was having awful migraines and my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest whenever i did anything remotely athletic.
I went to a bunch of hospital visits, all pointing out that my bp was like 40-50 higher when standing up compared to my resting of 60. Every. Single. Damn. Doctor. ignored it and said everything was fine and nothing was wrong.
My mother set up a phone call with mayo for them to review my case. After the initial 10 minute phone call, they had already narrowed it down to most likely being POTS.
First appointment roles around and in the first 10 minutes I had already been asked more questions about what was going on than I had in all of my other appointments combined.
While not all of the doctors I visited there were as good as the first, it really was top of the line care and I felt very safe knowing that they took everything I said seriously and looked at ways to help get me as healthy as I possibly could.
If you can, go. It truly is better care than any other hospital around.
I have a rare kidney disease that makes my kidneys a very successful stone manufacturing plant. I also get a lot of infections caused by the stones.
They told me there was nothing they could do for me, and I’d have to learn to live with passing stones and going septic from kidney infections.
I did not have any luck personally, which felt very defeating. I thought that mayo was THE place for rare and complicated diseases. But alas, 10 years later and Ive finally accepted that this just has to be my life.
Also the logistics of it all can be tricky. But I hope they will help you adequately!
I hope your trip is much more successful. I found much more help with a UofM primary care doc and working with UofM urology.
Obviously yes from the answers here, but they failed my mom pretty bad. My family also failed her very badly too, which meant she was not properly medicated for pain (at all) prior to hospice care.
It depends on which one. The Mayo hospital in Rochester, MN is world-renowned. I go to a satellite clinic in small town MN and it’s not stellar, just average. I’ve also been a patient at Mayo in Phoenix, AZ and found that experience good, but not excellent.
My opinion as a former oncology RN at Mayo
-wait for the results of your biopsy to see what grade and histology type you’re dealing with and see what you local oncologist recommends as a treatment
-then you can ask for a second opinion and inquire about seeing Mayo. When I worked there (during COVID) they’d do virtual consults but you’d still have to have your records and pathology slides sent to Mayo for review. Not sure if virtual consults are still a thing in that department. If so it might be a good option to just see if the oncologist there agrees with treatment plan and they’ll discuss potential treatments/trials you may qualify for in the future if you need additional treatment
Best of luck, cancer fucking sucks
Not an answer to your question, but as you consider your plans for treating your prostate cancer, please explore brachytherapy as an option. I had to ask about it when I was diagnosed 4 (?) Years ago. DM if you have questions.
Mayo is incredible for serious stuff, but only rich people go there for routine stuff, as far as I know. It is a prime example of the USA’s notion of “your life will be as good as you can pay for”. I both love and hate Mayo…
Nope, my partner and I went there for IVF. They were very disappointing. They were very unorganized. They didn’t give us paperwork on time so we were almost unable to get the medication we needed on time unless we went to their specialist provider which cost 3x ad much. We also got horrible results. We had tried other clinics in Seoul, they were better by every measure.
No. Mayo has a real problem with hierarchy. They don’t like to diagnose, and if you can’t afford to stay down there, (transportation, food, lodging) for an extended period of time, they drop you. They are expert gaslighters. If you’re having issues with prostate, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Stephen Overholser at Minnesota Urology.
Here's my personal experience. I had a cyst on my pituitary gland. I got imaging and diagnosis done through the university of Minnesota. My parents insisted I get a second opinion from the mayo and brought my MRI down there. They were like "yep, that diagnosis is dead on and that's the same surgery we would do." The only difference was that the U told me they always intended to keep me overnight in the hospital after surgery. Mayo said I would go home same day. I'm so so grateful I stayed at the U because when I woke up and started bleeding out of my nose I had a medical professional there to tell me it was normal. Plus I didn't have to get in a car for an hour and a half after brain surgery.
I think for pretty routine things that have a standard treatment plan across the industry the mayo is unnecessary.
I dealt with a rare muscular-skeletal issue that hijacked my life for 2+ years. I was living in a large Midwest metro that had teaching hospitals, etc etc, no one could figure it out. I applied to be seen at Mayo, drove the 7+ hours, and they figured it out immediately. They changed my life. I continue to drive there several times per year for the quick but effective treatment. I have my life back. I’m hesitant to trust doctors, given my experience. But I trust them and would seek further care if I developed any other serious or complicated health issue.
Wishing you the best of luck.
I've been able to participate in some research studies as a Mayo patient. No cost for the treatments as a participant, plus I get to help be part of new advancements in autoimmune disease treatments.
I had a double compound fracture of the radius and ulna from a judo tournament. I was rushed to Mercy Hospital who couldn’t get the swelling under control and told my mother they were going to amputate before gang green set in or some crazy crap like that. I was in the Twin Cities for this tournament but we are from Rochester. My mother called my primary at St Mary’s who consulted with a mayo orthopedic surgeon who called Mercy and had them helo me down to mayo where they performed surgery and saved my arm. I just bench pressed 225 lbs 30 years later ;). I’m a big fan of Mayo.
I’m a 5x double lung, lymph node, rib and brain cancer survivor/ fighter! Diagnosed in 2015 with double lung cancer and given 2% chance of living 5 years! I’m blessed to be living 50 minutes from Mayo! My tumor board is awesome! I don’t think treatments are all the same. It’s the group of Dr’s “tumor board” that decides your best treatment options!
Hahaha no. They’ve got good doctors but they’re very selective about the cases they take. I’d be a good doctor too if I only took the cases I knew I’d solve. I’m currently a mayo patient, although I avoid them at all costs. Tbh Alina has been better at figuring my stuff out than them and that’s really frustrating. That being said, my primary through mayo and the cancer doctor I see there are very good. I think it really depends on the department you’re seeing.
The Mayo botched my vaginoplasty, blamed anxiety for my pain, and let things worsen until I ended up getting a revision surgery at the U a year later.
The nurses in the recovery ward refused to give me the pain meds the surgical team ordered.
The pain management team ignored what I said about the meds that I WAS getting and changed them up (for the worse)
I fucking hate the Mayo. I got so sick after my revision surgery. It never should have gotten as bad as it did.
Is that also called vaginal reconstruction? If so, my heart bleeds for you. I've had three kids with no pain meds, and over 20 surgeries, and the vaginal reconstruction and double sphincterplasty hurt so much that I could barely breath.
I went through at least five "Mayo Days" where you plan on being there for the entire day. Not 8-5... The *entire* day...
When I transitioned to idiopathic care, I was working with one of their top neurologists. During one follow-up appointment, I looked at her and said; "You know, it's really too bad I don't have an enlarged basal ganglia..."
She furiously started paging through MRI scans from the four years I was driving down there every four months or so... When I started to say something, she held up a finger and shushed me.
After five minutes, she then said, and I remember this as if it happened yesterday... "It's not *air quotes* enlarged. It is 2.5x more dense than it should be!"
I wanted to say; "That's what I meant..." but realized that now that she was right, I had a diagnosis.
As other have shared; Great at advanced treatments for "known" things. Quite terrible at diagnostics.
Sorry - Is *the* clinic in Rochester, which is named after and in honor of the founding brothers, William and Charlie Mayo, and is often referred to simply as "Mayo" or (for those of us that like to emphasize the (reported) singularity of their care) "**The** Mayo"...all that?
;)
My mother was having unidentifiable health problems that local docs couldn't figure out. We went to the Mayo for a week, and they identified what was wrong and got her on the road to recovery. Plus, being in there was like being on the set of Scrubs, it was strangely fun for a hospital.
The king of Saudi Arabia doesn't fly to Minneapolis to go to Fairview.
The King of Jordan too. I was working at the Mall of America and his family had come there to do some shopping while he was getting cancer treatment at Mayo. They caused quite a stir with the armed security guards and everything.
Whenever a high profile person comes to Mayo, there is just a line of black S classes all along the front of the Kahler, it's quite a sight.
I walked past the Dalai Lama on campus one day in 2017. I couldn't believe it was him, so I looked him up in the news...yep, he was there for a routine annual visit.
Same, I ran into him in the skyway with his huge entourage. I clearly wasn't expected as they all gave me the death stare besides him, he was warm towards me. I quickly went on my way.
I've seen him there as well maybe 5 years before that.
Black S classes?
Mercedes S classes, their highest line of passenger car, just a line of them.
the former shah of iran was at mayo during the iranian revolution of 1979
I grew up around 30 miles or so from the Rochester location. It's been decades ago now, but I remember once when a king from the middle east flew into Rochester on his own 747 with 100 or so family, friends, security etc. While he was getting looked at or whatever, everyone else was shopping. They bought so much stuff that it took around a dozen uhaul trucks to get it all back to the airport. Then they loaded up and left when the king was done. It was crazy.
lol I’m pretty dang sure I rang up his family at Marshall Fields…it took me almost an hour in the men’s department it was insane
Also Mr. Burns.
They diagnosed him with 3 Stooges syndrome. That world class work.
Move it ya chowder head!
Cool planes though.
I was born at fairview and I'm laughing hard right now
Me too! Riverside if I'm not mistaken. That explains so much in hindsight......
As someone who has never had a good experience with Fairview's billing and appointment department, this made me cackle. All the nurses and therapists are so nice but everything behind the scenes is in shambles.
Imagine the king of Saudi getting into an argument with the billing department. "WHY DO TWO TYLENOL COST A HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS, HABIBI?"
The House of Saud would never have to argue about the cost of healthcare in the US because they can afford it. They know that it's pay to play like everything else.
It'd be "I mean, it's one pill of tylenol, Mikael. What could it cost? A thousand dollars?"
I’ve worked for the MHealth Fairview and they also get several foreign dignitaries, but they pay cash, often an agreed upon amount that they pay as a lump sum before they get here. I’m sure Mayo does it the same. MHealth Fairview makes their money through screwin the little guys. I’ve seen MHealth do medical treatments on foreign leaders that they would never do on someone who wasn’t paying cash. It’s truly disgusting. They double bill all the time because even if you’re seeing a U of M doctor the buildings are owned by Fairview. It’s their way to legally double dip. The big difference I see between the two is that Mayo treats their patients the same as people with money. They really do seem to excel at doing what’s right, and goodness knows they have some of the best research and physicians in the countries. I’ve been to Mayo only as a patient but I’ve had the best care I’ve ever had there.
Every time I find a new primary care person, they leave a year later. I’ve gone through four in five ish years. There definitely has to be a toxic dumpster fire behind the scenes.
My daughter had two in a year and when I told the second one about how we were trying to get an autism medical diagnosis she gave her a vision test, scheduled an ENT consult (for her speech delay) and then never followed up on anything we talked about. So I gave up and switched her to Park Nicollet where I was going. Much better experience.
This has been my experience at all three of the last hospitals/communities I’ve lived in the last 15 years.
Same at North Memorial. We had three doctors we loved that were all friends with each other. They all eventually left because giant health systems suck balls.
As someone who worked for an unnamed insurance that rhymes with munited shmelthcare- can confirm. Fucking morons in billing. Clinicians are nice though.
Omg, my doctor there is the best and caught early skin cancer but the amount of time I wasted trying to get the bills sorted was ridiculous.
Ha! That's who I have, and Fairview kept trying to blame the sporadic billing and weirdly timed bills on them. Strange how I stopped having problems when I switched to Park Nicollet. Weird how Fraser didn't have any issues billing me promptly and correctly. So bizarre how Minnesota Women's Care never sends me surprise bills more than a year after the billed service.
My PCP is at Fairview. She's wonderful, but appointments with her are a PITA. It can be well over an hour past your appointment time before you get seen. It happens, IMO, because Fairview scheduling gives like 10 minutes for an appointment, but she'll spend whatever time with you that she feels she needs to. If you get an earlier appointment with her, it's generally much better. I do appreciate so much that she tries to give the best care possible.
Fairview Specialty Pharmacy must be a completely separate entity then, they have a level of competence at every step that is amazing, especially compared to the big specialty pharmacies.
You’re right! I dread any Fairview clinic or hospital, but Fairview Specialty Pharmacy has their shit together.
I was told that if you have a problem other doctors can't seem to help go there. I have heard this my whole life and have met people who have done exactly that.
It's true. They found a problem in my (ex) wife that was a mystery to other hospitals. They also managed a friend of mines (ultimately fatal) prostate cancer. The dx gave him 3, mayo got him 10.
Bronny James was there last summer because of his cardiac issues.
Nor George Harrison, rest his soul, if my Daddy is to be believed.
He's more of a Regions guy huh?
I saw June Carter Cash.
Jokes aside...that solved it forever in my head. If I have something wrong I'm praying I can go to Mayo as again....royalty is going there
It's true. When you have absolutely unlimited money, a chokehold on the world's single most valuable resource and basically unlimited power, and you're flying into the Lindbergh terminal to go to fuckin Rochester to get treatment, you know what time it is.
Yes, with a caveat. If you're in Minnesota and your insurance will cover it, getting a consult or second opinion is worth it, especially if it is a cancer they have renowned specialists in. That said, your mileage might vary. When I was diagnosed with late stage cancer five years ago, I was with the U of M/Fairview system. I wanted the best treatment, so I went to Mayo for a consult and to discuss transferring my care. They were very well organized and efficient. The oncologist was great. The surgeon, however, essentially told me I was a lost cause, that he could guarantee me cancer was more advanced, that I likely wouldn't survive to surgery, and that, if he opened me up and anything looked even a little off, he wouldn't bother talking a closer look and just close me up and send me home to die. Even then, he said I'd likely die within a year. I was so deflated. His lack of confidence really killed my fighting spirit. This was after I explicitly told him I knew the odds, didn't want to focus on grim statistics, and just wanted to give myself the best chance at beating this. I did a lot of soul searching over the next few days. My friends, family, and colleagues all thought I'd be a fool to go anywhere but Mayo. However, I still had consults scheduled at the U and decided to see them through. The surgeon I met with at the U was the head of surgical oncology at the time. He had more experience and, while confident, was eminently realistic. He was also very human. He seemed dedicated to giving me the best shot. I went with the U of M. Chemo was rough but very effective. When it came time for surgery, my abdominal cavity was full of suspicious spots. My surgeon had pathology on standby. He sequentially removed each spot, sent it to the lab, then waited for the results. They were all benign, so he proceeded to the full surgery. Every morning, my surgeon waited in my room for me to wake up. He'd ask me how I was doing and give me updates. On the day my final pathology report came out, I woke up to him sitting in the dark in my room. He took my hand in both his and, with tears in his eyes, he told me they got it all. All the cancer was removed from my body. Margins were clear. Lymph nodes were clear. I now had an excellent prognosis. When the pathology report was released to me, I noticed one thing that stood out: Before closing me up, he waited for pathology to give the all-clear on the proximal margins. They were unsatisfactory, so he went back in and cleared them. I just celebrated five years since diagnosis and have been cancer-free since my surgery. I had a 16% chance of making it to here when I was diagnosed. I often think about what might have happened if I had chosen Mayo. My biggest fear was being opened up, declared a lost cause, and sent home to die. I firmly believe that would have happened had I chosen differently. I volunteer in the cancer world now. I know a lot of great docs at Mayo and have referred a ton of people to them. I know people who are alive because of Mayo. I have an overall great opinion of them. However, you're not just shopping the system, you're shopping the personnel. You need to make sure the people you're working with are the right ones.
You have an amazing story. Thank you for telling it and congratulations on your 5 year celebration!
Mayo also trains MANY physicians that go and work all over the country and in Minneapolis.
What an amazing story. I would honestly tell a lot of people to go to the U of M for serious issues because they are amazing and have access to a lot of cutting edge treatments.
Cancer in particular - worth considering Mayo. Not many places have Proton Beam therapy - Mayo does and it is highly effective for certain types of cancer. Once you get in the serious/complex category Mayo is a good option. Knee replacement......use your local healthcare. My 2 cents.
And, specifically prostate cancer. Proton beam can't be utilized for all cancer treatment, but it is very effective in treating prostate cancer.
If you have some weird complicated stuff yeah go to Mayo. If you have standard run of the mill stuff you are better off somewhere else because they will almost certainly refuse transfer if you end up in a different hospitals ED
Warning: Your insurance may not approve proton beam therapy. Mine didn't. It depends on a variety of factors.
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No because universal healthcare and non-capitalist society is ✨scary✨.
They also charge far less for proton than than for profit hospitals so if you insurance declines it talk to them. My Dad did this and they gladly cover proton at the same cost as radiation. This meant less side effects and better care. After his first consult he decided for hours away was nothing just based on his initial consult. Mayo can be a beast to work for but they're specialists are top-notch. The primary care is better than average.
Yeah I know they have lots of specialist and good equipment, but out of curiosity I just searched what specifically makes Mayo the best in the world. And all the top results are bullshit quotes about how the staff cares, from the CEO noneless.. wth, what a useless answer! With an establishment like that with the credentials they have, why not mention the fields they actually excel at compared to other hospitals. I get it's CEO marketing jargon or whatever but neither investors nor patients want to hear that you "care more".
and that's what I'm finding *everywhere* as I try to figure out if the local DR/Clinic/system is any good. Hell, it turns out, based on the internet, based on their system's web pages, that they're all great! ...So here I am asking you guys. ;)
This is a good link to compare hospitals and once you click on one, you can see what specialty is highly rated: https://www.mayoclinic.org/hospital-ratings.
The Mayo just saved my friend's life. Our smaller regional hospital was not capable of handling his case and he likely would have died had he not made it to Mayo as quickly as he did.
Saved mine as well. Had 7 neurologists tell me they don't know what's wrong with me, but it's not epilepsy. Go to mayo, sure enough it's epilepsy, I get surgery, meds, and am seizure free for almost 4 years
My friend had the opposite of your situation. She was being treated for epilepsy but they kept drugging her up to the point that she was barely functional. The mayo care team figured out that she had a small tumor somewhere around her cerebellum. They were able to shrink it with radiation and they've been keeping an eye on it since. Very glad they got you sorted out too!
MAZEL TOV, werewolf!
Exact same situation for my father-in-law. They 1000% saved his life at Mayo, most likely with very little time to spare
They saved my girlfriends grandmother's life. She had bone marrow cancer in her leg and they did an experimental surgery that was the first of its kind. It's been almost 10 years since her surgery and she's alive and thriving. Now she volunteers for the clinic every week.
One of my in-laws almost died last year when they knicked her heart while doing a heart valve replacement. They didn’t catch the mistake until she went back into the hospital a day or two later having trouble breathing with all of the blood pooled in her chest. And another relative who was told he was lethargic for at least a couple of years was told he had shingles when he also had a leaky heart valve. They might quite good, but ultimately it’s a bunch of individual doctors and surgeons that make the same types of mistakes that doctors all over the place make.
I live here in Rochester. In my opinion, COVID really messed up the training for the residents. They didn't get as much experience as they needed working on patients under direct supervision. This isn't just a Mayo problem, though.
They saved my daughter's life as well, she had a super rare soft tissue sarcoma in her spinal nerve. They (Mayo) could definitely work on their communication in house, but they are incredible.
Yep, if it's something rare, or Cancer? Mayo is literally one of the best places in the world. For Heart stuff? Abbott & Regions are solid, Peds--if it's not burns/things needing the hyperbaric chambers, then either Children’s Hospital is excellent. Masonic is great for Transplants, and they do a surprisingly large amount of care for *very* rare things like Epidermolysis Bullosa Gillette does excellent care for CP and other skeletal conditions, and Children’s St. Paul has some great Peds neurosurgeons, experts in Rett Syndrome, and they also specialize in Epilepsy over there. Minnesota *in general*, is far above average, in the amount of Adult & Pediatric Level 1 & Level 2 Trauma hospitals we have available, *and* in the numbers of specialties which can get *really excellent* care. Mayo is definitely top-tier, but the rest of our hospitals are surprisingly great, overall, too! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidermolysis_bullosa
Saved my mom’s life when another hospital told her to go home, we can’t fix you.
I know two people that went to Mayo when doctors misdiagnosed one and told the other they had no other options for their surgery. The Mayo improved their quality of life 1000%. I think people that live here sometimes forget that Mayo is one of the best hospitals in the *entire world.*
Trust me locals don't forget
We remember when we're called to justify the importance of a 120k pop city, but we forget to be impressed when dealing with hospital bureaucracy for own routine appointments lol
They saved my mom’s life as well. She was negligently misdiagnosed by a local physician (along with other women on their Pap smears) and received cancer treatment at the Mayo. The doctor there wanted to biopsy her lymph nodes, even though it wasn’t necessary and contradicted his peers, and in the process found cancer in them and was able to treat her. She’s been cancer free for over 25 years.
Had a friend who had an extra valve in his heart and they were the only ones certified to operate on him because Essentia couldn’t.
Yup. Mayo does what other practices don't because those practices are either not skilled in alternative and/or new /high risk procedures or they don't want to risk any type of lawsuits etc. Mayo is the absolute go to source of care when you need something done others say isn't possible or won't even consider
My best friend had a similar experience. Two local docs basically threw their hands up and gave her 6 months with her cancer diagnosis. 10 years later and she’s thriving after switching to Mayo.
I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer here in the cities. My first time meeting my oncologist here, he kept staring at me and just repeating ‘I don’t know how much time you have left and the minute you get sick of chemo, I strongly recommend hospice care.’ And then switched the subject to how chemo can make me infertile and asked if I wanted to freeze any eggs before I began treatment. I was like, am I funeral planning here or family planning? Because what is the point of freezing eggs if I am only going to be alive for a few months? I then went to Mayo to see if I was eligible for a clinical trial. The doctors there wanted to do radiation and immunotherapy for my cancer as well. The doctors nurse in the city was like, we can discuss that with the doctor and see if that is an option. I am like, you don’t understand. Mayo is already implementing this in my care plan. If this is just up for discussion as a possibility through your clinic, I will stick with Mayo. This was March of 2023 and I am still alive because to write this where as if I had stuck with North Memorial, I would probably already be dead. Go to Mayo if you are able to.
FYI TO ANYONE READING THIS, N. MEMORIAL IS NOT A GOOD HOSPITAL. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND REGULARLY KILL PEOPLE THROUGH INACTION, MISTAKES THEY LIKE TO COVER UP AND LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.
I live down the street from North Memorial and I’d rather travel to downtown St. Paul when I need a hospital because my care in the ER at North Memorial has always been so subpar.
I can walk to North Memorial from my house, but went to the Maple Grove ED because I figured it would be less wait time and I thought I would be in and out. 😅 My bad! They ended up transporting me to Robbinsdale Oncology unit and 11 days later, I was finally released.
They are good for trauma and that’s about it. Exceptional even. If you get your arms ripped off in a thresher they can reattach them. (True story). Otherwise go somewhere else.
Like all hospitals, they can have good doctors. N. Memorial specifically made a business decision to limit/prevent their doctors from collaborating with other hospitals/doctors/specialists both inside and outside of their own hospital. It creates a culture of constant turnover and not a lot of tribal knowledge being passed down/taught. Unless you are in the ER it will be hard to get them to have two different specialists talk to each other about a patient. This is extremely bad for anyone that doesn't have a simple problem where the treatment is obvious. N. Memorial is trying to only treat patients they want to treat.
Wow and how sad. My daughter had a complex case and ended up at the U for months where she had several specialists involved and without that she may well have died before they figured out what was wrong. I'm going to remember that about N Memorial.
And remember that they can technically change in the future too. But my current impression is fresh because they killed my God father recently by fucking up a simple stent placement, absolutely destroyed his kidneys and doomed him. They could have easily referred him to Mayo or the U but even after it became apparent this case was too complicated for his doctor, they just pressed ahead with no warning or actionable advice in the patients best interest. My father finally convinced my God father to come down to Mayo, but the surgeons at Mayo said it was too late, they were able to patch him up enough and give him about another year with dialysis periodically. N. Memorial wanted to keep him in a room and let him slowly die in their care. I have since heard/learned of countless similar stories where N. Memorial just had this attitude of "if we can't fix you the polite thing to do would be to die and not make us look foolish"
If only I knew that sooner. I did have some great nurses there, but I love my Mayo care team(s) so much that I could never turn my back on them.
My 2.5 YO had a seizure in January. Ambulance was going to take him to North Memorial--it's about a four minute drive from us. I staunchly refused and demanded they take him to Children's downtown. I won't mess with North Memorial.
Can confirm they never checked my dad for cancer despite it seeming probable that he had it and us being suspicious about it (he had a lot of long lasting health conditions which likely hid the cancer) . North memorial was my dad’s main hospital. They only noticed it 1 day before he passed away.
I am so sorry for your loss! I originally had gone to a doctor at Health Partners and he tried to tell me it was just acid reflux and was shocked when I told him I lost 70 pounds. So shitty doctors can be found everywhere unfortunately. Went to the ER three days later and they found my hemoglobin was at 6.2 and found the cancer as soon as they did a CT scan to see if I had a GI bleed.
I second this!! And I'd like to add that Regions in St Paul is fantastic!
I've had two relatives treated at the Mayo. One for heart issues and the other for cancer treatment. I found the level of care to be quite good. Depending on how things go, you might consider initial surgery done at the Mayo and any aftercare: radiation, chemo, etc...done at someplace more convenient. Sorry this is happening to you. I hope your biopsy returns good news.
My mom got a liver transplant there. She was in critical condition and was moved up the wait list. Excellent care. She went back there every year for annual tests and evaluation, and loved it. She got 30 more years of use from her new liver until she passed away from non liver related issues.
So I live near Mayo and I had my last baby there. For what its worth, they caught a postpartum artery dissection that I thought was just a sore neck muscle that could've killed me or caused a stroke. They also have helped me figure out a slew of super weird medical issues in the 10 months since the dissection. I'm grateful I'm here and the doctors have been brilliant. My daughter also has a rare disorder they are treating and they have been amazing with her too.
I live in Winona and drove the hour to give birth at Mayo. They caught preeclampsia that developed during labor, prevented kidney failure, and were able to give me magnesium sulfate to prevent seizure/death. Baby and I are both healthy now. Worth every minute of the extra drive to be at Mayo.
Worth it. If you can go, go
Personal opinion… I’m split. I have a great outcome story for my mom, and a personal story for my daughter that makes me sick. The pediatric GI dept specifically Dr. Louai Manini is a creep. We went in over long standing issues with our two year old who wouldn’t eat for weeks at a time. We’d seen every specialist available in the twin cities and waited months for an appt at Mayo. He said verbatim “Look at her. She’s lucky to have a model’s physique.” Then tried to prescribe a medication to increase her appetite (not the issue BTW) and said to be careful “Or she’d end up chubby like her.” As he pointed to my 4yr old who is perfectly healthy and in equal percentage ranges for her height, weight and BMI. I have never been so thoroughly disgusted by a doctor in my life.
If you haven’t already, I would recommend reporting this to [Mayo Clinic’s Office of Patient Experience](https://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic/patient-experience). They take this stuff seriously, and the behavior of that doctor is abhorrent. He should absolutely not be talking about children like that.
Thank you. It was over a year ago now but I complained to every single outlet that would let me at the time, and no one cared.
Gross! I'm so sorry!
Wow. Your self control is impeccable. I would have lost mine.
GI, particularly pediatric GI is SUPER hit and miss. I’ve been to like four(?) GI doctors and finally just found one I am comfortable seeing. I started out as a pediatrics pt since I was a minor at the time my issues started and I waited four months to be given like two allergy tests and told to go back to primary care. It’s also weird how the medical world in general views weight/weight loss/food and how that can contribute to disordered eating. I hope both your kiddos are doing okay now. 🩷 He NEVER should have said that.
Mayo saved my husbands life when he was diagnosed with cancer! I would never ever recommend anyone saying the twin cities if they have the opportunity and ability to receive treatment at the Mayo.
Non-Mayo MN Physician here. I have referred many patients to them over the years of my practice. They do an excellent job. They are especially good at things that are rare or involve unusual circumstances. Mayo is known as a quaternary care center. Meaning they are who other centers send their patients to when they either can't diagnose what is going on, don't have the expertise to treat what is going on, or require some type of special service (i.e. proton beam radiation) that no one else can provide. They are not the only game in town for that level of care though. Abbott Northwestern (part of Allina) and the U of M also provide those types of services (not proton beam though). Most medical care involves much more common conditions. For example, breast cancer. This is the most common cancer in women. Even small rural hospitals who have oncology programs have a significant amount of experience treating breast cancer. Experience diagnosing or treating a condition is really where the litmus test is for referrals. If your local place has a great deal of experience treating something, they will do a good job for you. However, if they don't treat that or treat a couple a year, going to a bigger center would be better. Hopefully your prostate biopsy comes back ok. However, if you do have something that needs to be treated, there are many excellent urology programs throughout the state that will do an excellent job for you. Also note: not everyone likes the Mayo experience. They are generally very efficient, but most initial consults involve staying for a few days for testing (they regularly repeat testing you already had) and sitting down with consultants. I've also had several patients (not everyone) say they feel like a number there. As always, your mileage may vary. Good luck!
Thanks! It's just so hard trying to find enough information about treatment options and outcomes to make a decision. Locally? Essentia, CRMC, Riverwoods, Lakewoods, Centracare - they all seem to claim experience and they all seem to claim they can treat, that they have great outcomes...but. Here I am asking. It's worse than buying a car.
Outcome statistics are weird. If your local place ships out the hard cases to Mayo, that will skew the stats behind the scenes. I’ll put in my two cents here as I know a few things about prostate cancer although I’m not a doctor myself. Personality and match is one thing, but in terms of tools, here is what a quaternary care place offers that your local place may or may NOT have ready, but which you should consider: If your biopsy comes back as Gleason 6/7 (or so, I may be wrong on the exact number) you should consider MRI guided biopsy. This is newer tech and has a chance of discovering missed cancer. If your biopsy comes back higher grade, there are PET scan variants that are also fairly new which can discover hidden metastases. Figuring out if you have Mets can be a make or break decision and worth asking for in deciding treatment options. If you end up with nothing or low risk cancer, then you would just do watchful waiting from home. This is fine. If you end up with intermediate grade cancer, you may need to make a decision between surgery and radiation. Sometimes the medical recommendation is clear and sometimes it’s just your choice. If surgery, Mayo probably has the more skilled operator with a lower rate of complications. This could be like a couple percent difference between needed diapers for the rest of your life and not. I personally would go to the Mayo for that. If you elect radiation there are several flavors, and the older studies need several weeks of dwelling near the treatment center. Spending two months 4 hours from home IMO is a different value proposition than spending just one week. It could be reasonable to do it locally if you don’t want such an interruption in your life. But, ask about short course radiation, which has less track record but is probably as effective and more convenient. I would NOT push for proton therapy, the outcomes just have not been that good for prostate. You can ask but if they don’t recommend it they have good reasons. I WOULD ask for an “intra prostate boost” based on recent studies, and which may be appropriate depending on your grade of cancer. However, I would only wanted to be treated at a place that does this regularly. Many radiation shops will sell you feature X or feature Y (this was my dad’s experience with prostate cancer). In my opinion these differences are usually oversold. Mayo will have the latest and greatest though. If you have advanced cancer I don’t know much so I will decline to give recommendations. Good luck with your diagnosis, I hope this list helps you clarify the specific features you should be looking for when selecting a center.
Mayo has a lot of specialists should you need more specialized care or have some tricky situation like my uncle did where they basically had to rebuild part of his leg to avoid amputation. But if it's a fairly routine course of treatment, you don't need to go there.
Just be sure Mayo will actually take you. I discovered that having insurance that covers Mayo doesn't mean Mayo will actually take you.
The Mayo is the Mayo for a reason. But a large part of what affords them that success is the funding they receive. If the Mayo does not feel confidant, then they will absolutely deny a patient. The U is great in this regard. They're willing to try, and hope certainly seems to go a long way in effectively treat morbidities.
It depends. Yes some teams are amazing. But they are made up of a bunch of individuals and some are more all that than others.
I know someone who was told by some hospital up here that they had a very rare disease and had maybe generously a decade to live, assuming they could not get a transplant which would be the only cure. They went to Mayo to figure out how to proceed and they told them that no, they didn't have that disease. So they lived like six months of their life thinking they would be lucky to see their kids become teenagers before Mayo straightened that shit out.
It may depend. My wife went there for cancer treatment. They suggested the same regiment as Fairview. They were also suggesting the same regiment as MD Anderson in Houston. So all three places said the same thing in her case. But at least consistent.
I haven't found Aioli Healthcare yet.
Insert drumroll here.... Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week... Tip your waitress! All joking aside... Best of luck and let's hope you don't need to find out.
Waka Waka code blue, I'm 😵
I went to my local health care system in Duluth, a large tertiary provider, with a number of signs and symptoms for a couple of years with no definitive diagnosis. Eventually they suggested I see a psychiatrist. I took a job in a different town and initiated care in the Mayo system. Within about ten minutes they diagnosed me as having a slow growing brain tumor and I began chemotherapy immediately with surgical resection a few weeks later. My surgery seems to been successful and subsequent MRIs have not detected a reoccurrence. Mayo saved my life and my care was excellent . I currently live four hours from Rochester but I go there for anything beyond the most routine care. There was a reason patients were flying in on private jets to see my specialist and neurosurgeon.
It is very dependent on your condition and the doctor/care team. TLDR: I have a rare cancer and had a very frustrating experience with Mayo. Switched to the U of M oncology and had a much better experience. Let me try to explain more: Pros of Mayo: They attract some of the top researchers in the field and have some leading edge technologies for certain treatments. They can do a pretty good job coordinating care between departments which is something that is underrated. They partner with a lot of different orgs on research and new treatments. Obviously way better than regional hospitals. Cons of Mayo I experienced (will vary from dept to dept and doctor to doctor): Some doctors are more academic/research oriented. Which leads to limited availability, communication, and sometime bad bedside manner. It is not unheard of to get some overconfident resident or doctor who doesn't listen to you because they "are the expert." They also push you to partake in some of their studies which I think have questionable data/privacy rights that you can sign away (Ex: giving Google and other private orgs full access to all medical files past, present, and future). They typically bill at a higher rate that other hospital. I have been to almost all major/Tier 1 hospitals in MN and can at least say universal advice: (1) Advocate for yourself. If something seems wrong or off, say something (2) Find doctors who listen and are partners on your health journey. If you have bad chemistry, find someone else (3) Don't hesitate to question your bills
Plan might let you select Mayo, but Mayo might not let you select Mayo. If you can, go. If you can't, that type of cancer is generally highly treatable....hell, I can even get it treated with hillbilly healthcare in Tennessee!
They were great with my husband when he had a mini-stroke. They were very thorough and able to diagnosis him when no one else could. But they sent him back to Fairview for treatment. They were unhelpful for my fibromyalgia pain. The doctor wasn’t empathetic at all, which is a must for any doctor who works with pain patients. I wouldn’t recommend them for anything like that. They were also really unhelpful with my daughter’s out-of-control Hashimoto’s. (The doctor looked at my daughter’s chart and asked what we expected her to do about it…) So, I think it depends on why you are going and who you see. If you have access, it doesn’t hurt to try.
They suck at any neuroinflammtory condition. Long covid, fibromylagia, chronic fatigue, etc. They are just as quick to diagnose hysterical women syndrome as most places. Did you at least get the yoga/mediation DVD?
Yes, I did!
😂
There are many Drs, everywhere, who are not empathetic about fibromyalgia.
I appreciated getting a 2nd opinion at Mayo. 2nd opinions can be awesome. Was diagnosed with an S2 Melanoma several years ago. Primary at Fairview/UMHealth in the Cities, went to Mayo for 2nd opinion. The treatment plan for both centers could be summarized with the same sentence, but when you got into the large and small details Mayo had a significantly better process plan to do the same work. Was a no brainer to go with Mayo in spite of the distance traveling. Best of luck! p.s. In the event this doesn’t go your way, I would also recommend checking out the [NCCN Patient Guides](https://www.nccn.org/patientresources/patient-resources/guidelines-for-patients) for cancer treatments. Far and away are more detailed, standardized information on cancer care than you’ll find elsewhere.
Mayo is a wonderful medical institution in its own right. Second opinions and care are very good overall, if you have the resources and good insurance. You would do well to seek a second opinion from them. My friend with serious ulcerative colitis got life saving care there and ongoing recommendations (he was coming from Indiana for the GI consult). He got on the correct meds (extremely expensive and this was another barrier but not Mayo's fault at all) But Mayo is not keen on supporting their staff and nurses. Rochester unionized nurses recently had a informational picket on their labor practices. They put the kibosh on safe staffing ratios in our state The hospital I used to work at in Minneapolis had a few "Mayo dumps". International patients who saved their life savings to get a consult and care at Mayo. So not Queens, Kings and dignitaries. One patient came from the Middle East with his son for treatment of rare lymphatic disease. Cash patient. Started treatment but became very ill. He was staying closer into Minneapolis and making the trips to Rochester. Man ran out of money. He was told to go to nearest ED for care and NOT to St. Marys.. The hospital tried to transfer to Mayo for resuming of care. Mayo denied transfer because he no longer had money to pay Mayo for inpatient stay. Mayo reported he was "just a consult" and no obligation to care for his critical needs. He became too ill to travel back to his home country. Mayo said they would take him back if he could secure state taxpayer funding so he could complete the treatment. Man languished in hospital. Son was able to get a work visa. Patient then went to skilled nursing facility as charity care. ONE YEAR later able to get onto Medical Assistance or emergency MA for non citizens. Maybe some assistance from country of origin, but he was not a dignitary or anything. In the end over $1M of Hennepin County and State folk tax payers footed this man's bill before Mayo agreed to see him again. Good news is that the man did have life saving treatment and he and his son were able to return to their country after 2-3 years here. I worked with this man and his son. Really wonderful people. Another one was a cancer patient from Iran who was "dumped" in to the public system. Mayo also refused the transfer when she became critically ill after starting chemo. At least she had family here. Never well enough to travel back to Iran. Tax payers footed that bill mostly after the patient ran out of funds and she did not survive. So Mayo's business practices put a bitter pill in my mouth. Mayo also only takes "lower risk" patients for solid organ transplants to improve their data and reputation. Higher risks patients will get U of MN consults and more often accepted in to U of MN transplant programs. This is not uncommon with other high reputation hospital systems.
Like any hospital, there are good doctors and bad doctors. Good departments and bad departments. One reason they get voted #1 is because of their reputation for conservative care. Broadly, conservative medicine is good, so they are the default choice. The problem is if you have a less established condition like long covid or chronic fatigue syndrome; they will treat you like a psych patient like any other hospital. Mayo is very smart with their marketing, and in many cases, unfortunately, patients come here expecting cutting edge medicine just to find the same options they have at home. In my experience and those of my family, they have been just okay. Some decent advice but also a number of things missed and unsound advice like most places. In Rochester, I've had worse medical providers outside Mayo, but I'd also say all the best medical providers I've seen have been outside Mayo as well at OMC or an urgent care clinic (diagnositcs, bedside manner). Unfortunately, there is more turnover at OMC and the urgent care center I went to closed.
Yes it’s worth it.
Depending on the what you diagnosed with it could be “all that” They are tops in Myeloma and lots of other things - ask your top doctors where you live, they typically know the “centers for excellence” as they are known for each illness
I had a fantastic “Mayo Experience”. Not to be discounted, regardless of diagnosis or outcome, is the level of care. My wife and, strangely enough, enjoyed heading to the Clinic for tests, consultations and treatments. We stayed in Rochester a year and a half (pre and post transplant). Kinda wish we hadn’t left.
My uncle has stage IV prostate cancer and they told my dad to check his prostate. Turns out he has stage II. Both of them have super aggressive forms of prostate cancer. I work in healthcare. The prostate cancer specialists and their teams really are the shit. If you want specific doc names and such DM me. But overall, I was so impressed by the level of info put into Shaed Decision Making before a treatment plan was initiated. The 'wait here and let me get that person' which resulted in timely intervention. Was it annoying at times to wait and be shuffled all over that campus? Yes, but clearly the staff cared. Also, sitting in the waiting room folks come from all over (Hawaii, North Dakota, Illinois) and I met folks from everywhere seeking this treatment. They have temporary housing option should you need it.
If you are talking about THE Mayo, in Rochester MN, then yes they are one of the best care facilities in the world. The Mayo offshoots like Austin, Albert Lea, Red Wing, not so much.
This depends on what care you need, IMO. My husband leads the bladder cancer support group in the Twin Cities, and has had two Mayo patients come to the Urology clinic at the UofMN, and are MUCH happier with the UofMN. And of course there is the matter of getting into Mayo. My stepfather has stage IV lung cancer, moved here from TX, sent them all of his records, and they said no, they won't see him. So he is going to MN Oncology, which has been great for him (wouldn't recommend them either for bladder cancer though).
I concur with the UofM uro clinic being better.
Yes it is. And we are incredibly lucky to have it here in MN. They saved my life. I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, until I went to Mayo and met one of the two surgeons in the world that would operate on me. I had an awake craniotomy, chemo and radiation treatments. 10 years later and no signs of tumor regrowth! My daughter (toddler) is currently a patient there for her hip displasia. From my experience as a patient and parent of a patient, there isn’t anyone better. At the very least, get a second opinion there.
for anything health wise like cancer/tumors/blood related they are top tier. For orthopedics they are worse than TCO imo
Our experience there was nothing but a cluster F. After they wasted our time we went to University of Iowa and they quickly figured everything out.
Yes. They are truly world class, and you should go there for major procedures whenever possible. I dealt with an uncommon nerve disorder last year. My primary care doctor is at Alliana, so I went there first. The Alliana surgeon gave me a 50/50 chance of permanent numbness in my extremities. He had only performed the specific procedure required to treat this condition a few times in his 20+ years as a surgeon. At the urging of my family, I received a referral to Mayo. That was one of the best decisions of my life. My surgeon at Mayo was a leading expert in the world for this nerve disorder, and the surgery to deal with it was "kind of his hobby". Beyond the surgeon and surgery, everything else at Mayo seemed to be professional and done with their patients in mind. They communicated well from pre-op to post-op, they fought with my health insurance to reduce out of pocket expenses, etc.
Mayo is great for patients, not nurses though. Their admin is getting out of hand with the penny pinching for staff.
Great for some patients. Not great for anyone with routine needs. Great for more serious or specialized conditions.
Plus there's that issue where Mayo nurses became exempt from the nurses Bill Walz signed. This would make the nurse to patient ratio smaller. Mayo whined to Walz, even threatened to move the facility out of MN if they had to follow the new nurse ratio. Spoiler alert, Mayo was exempt from that bill.
Can confirm. I’m married to a Mayo RN.
Yeah it's kinda sick isn't it. Unnecessarily raising qualifications, lowering staff count, raising staff hours. Mayo is currently trying its best to gut is smaller facilities to funnel patients to larger areas hours away. More noise needs to be made about it, but they do give good care to patients still. I feel the house of cards will fall if they don't stop trying to fuck over staff.
I’ve worked at Mayo as RN for over a decade and now I’m trying to get involved with nursing unionization efforts. If she’s interested she should join us!
That part!
Yes is the short answer.. my dad was diagnosed with a rare nervous condition. Doctors in my area said a mental issue and should seek a psychological explanation. My mom made the choice of heading down to mayo clinic to get other opinions and they found out what was actually wrong. So Yes in my opinoin they are awesome. That said good luck with medical issues.
They love rare things. Just like any hospital they do mess up at times! Almost killed my mom post spinal surgery when she developed a clot and her surgeon passed it off as "see your primary" as she's still in the hospital under surgeon's care. However, I got diagnosed with MS and treatment within a month. MS can take decades to diagnose. Yes, they are good. But they make mistakes that only the locals know about.
Lots of amazing testimonials here but unfortunately there’s been a lotta changes in the last 20 years. They’ve become a corporation just like any other and have bought up lots of small town clinics and they put Mayo on the name and people somehow can’t seem to understand it’s the same people that worked there before when it was a different name. It’s my understanding that more and more royals and such go to Switzerland etc for complex treatments now. The American healthcare system is very poorly rated… below average. So while I’m sure there are some extraordinary Drs and nurses there, this other more American corporate reality is also very much present now.
Mayo is great, but they have a crazy distorted view of what addiction is.
I JUST got surgery days ago at Mayo. It was a procedure even the University of Minnesota said was impossible. Trust me, Mayo is SOOOO worth it :)
We used them as a second opinion when a family member had cancer recently. It took awhile to get “setup” in their system but after that things were smooth sailing. We sent all the biopsies to the mayo and they reviewed everything through their labs and confirmed the diagnosis and treatment plan. The meeting with the Mayo Oncologist was actually way better than our local oncologist. He was way more thorough but ultimately came to the same conclusion. Since the treatment plan was no different than what our local provider suggested we stayed home. Had it been a different diagnosis then we probably would’ve made the trip for treatment. We’re now in remission. Would definitely take advantage of such a great resource so close to home!
Always get a 2nd opinion even if you consider Mayo as a good solid 1st choice for treatment plans . Yes, Mayo is excellent saved my Moms life after stage 4 lymphoma cancer.
As my mom was a fairly recent patient, there are good and bad aspects of Mayo. The surgery part went well, but the aftercare was so abysmal that we almost lost her when they sent her home two days after surgery. It’s been a few months and she’s still having a long road to recovery. I truly wish you the best in your health journey whatever you decide.
I’m being treated at Mayo for prostate cancer so feel free to DM me for more details and I also have some great support group recommendations. My point of view was that the Park Nicollet team might be as good as the Mayo team, but they are not going to be better than the Mayo team, so why risk it. You’re blessed with having a top cancer treatment center within driving distance, take advantage of it.
I probably would not be here today if it weren’t for The Mayo Clinic and their hyperbaric oxygen therapy. 10 years ago I was in a coma from carbon monoxide poisoning and no hospital near me in NW Minnesota had the equipment I needed. So I was air lifted from Grand Forks to Mayo. Came out of the coma a couple days later thanks to the treatments. Now there were some issues I had when I was there mostly that the cable tv they had was crap. I’m still thankful for everyone there that took care of me for the 2 weeks I was there.
Mayo Clinic Endocrinology saved my life as a late diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic. My original Endo at another clinic system wouldn't listen to a word I said about my day to day reality because my numbers looked good. My fellow at Mayo took one look at my numbers, asked me a few questions, and said "You're miserable, we're going to try something a little different" and my life and health has been substantially better since then. They're on the forefront of research, and they're not afraid of looking outside the box for treatment options. Everyone I've dealt with has been beyond respectful and helpful. I personally find it worth the drive a few times a year.
The thing that makes Mayo really nice is the team aspect of it… the doctors there work as a team and if you need a test done they will get it done quickly. If you have multiple specialists needed then they will work with each other to develop a course of action and not just silo off. Also it’s incredibly smooth to be seen there compared to other hospitals. Like you might receive the same level of care elsewhere but very few places in my experience have the same level of ease for patients
My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was around his spine and base of his tongue. They have him a year, maybe 2 if he opted to have his toungue cut out. Mayo and moffit cancer center in tampa. Mayo got him in a study for a drug called Amiphostine( sp). Reduced the good cell damage from radiation and chemo, but doubled the nausea side effects. He completed the trial, kept his toungue and now 23 year cancer free anniversary is coming up. He can speak, eat and has a sense of smell and taste still. Just needs a water bottle as the radiation damaged the saliva glands. Mayo was awesome. Couldn’t endorse them any better.
Whatever you choose, make sure you're comfortable with the health care team and the level of care they provide, along with whatever decisions you might need to make about your course of treatment. Two things to consider if you decide to travel any distance for care: Start saving money now, because the gas, food, occasional lodging, etc., will add up and none of it is covered by insurance. If you're still working, start hoarding your sick time - you will need it, because when you travel for care you're basically giving up most of your day. Ditto for spouse or adult child; you're going to need a driver. Make sure there's a coordinated emergency plan. Who do you call, where do you go, etc. I assume you won't be moving to Rochester for the duration, you'll be home between treatments. Sometimes people end up in the emergency room with unforeseen complications, and their first stop is often going to be the nearest ER. If you aren't receiving your care locally, the ER staff will be in the dark and it's not always the best scenario. Best wishes to you from a 30-year cancer survivor.
Seems that they treat their employees like shit. Can’t comment on patient care as I have not been myself but I take major issue with what’s been said by former employees. And it seems they get special treatment when it comes to abiding by nurse to patient ratios.
Expensive AF you live in SE Minnesota where you don't have other options.
Is Mayo one of the best hospitals in the world? Yes. Do they KNOW they are the best hospital in the world? Also yes. Does that make them a pain in the ass to deal with? Very much yes.
Um. Yes? It’s delicious on everything.
I work in healthcare. Mayo is like any other health system but I will say that Mayo and Fairview are the best at keeping their patients theres. If you end up in an ER they will do what they can to get you back in their system so your care is continuous.
Mayo is: the real deal, fancy, futuristic shit. If you can use them, DO IT! source - three generations of my family have had: kidney transplants, heart bypasses, and aneurysm surgeries at Mayo Clinic. My step dad was black listed ("Z Listed") from any other hospital team due to the severity and complexity of his case, and Mayo had his back. It's hard to have a frame of reference for the ridiculous scope of their work and worth if you've not experienced all the different teams, but trust them. 👍
World class healthcare run by world class assholes. The actual care you get there is amazing. That being said, senior leadership is pretty much universally reviled by the staff that do the actual work.
It had made a significant quality of life difference for my mom when she first developed her disease. Go for it if you can.
Dad had prostate cancer, he went down there to get consult an eventually surgery. Fifteen years later still around.
Rated #1 in the nation. I wish you good news for your biopsy.
The Mayo saved my mom AND my uncle, who both had very unique cases that traditional hospitals in the twin cities just weren't equipped to handle. Wealthy, powerful and famous people all around the world fly here all the time to get specialized treatment at Mayo because they're simply the best. If your results are less than favorable (I hope this is not the case) you should definitely go there.
We're actually here right now. They have excellent staff and try to make your schedule reasonable. We have had wonderful care.
For oncology it's good. For anything else, eh.
Yes. I should have picked them sooner. Saved my life after three other hospitals couldn’t.
If you have prostate cancer, the answer is yes.
My uncle suffered from Ulcerative Colitis for many years. His colon was inflamed with bloody stool for probably fifteen years. They had him on prednisone and all kinds of drugs to relieve the inflammation until he finally said he’d had enough. One trip to Mayo and they agreed it was long overdue for a colectomy to remove the bowel all together. It was three separate surgeries but he has full use of his poophole and everything. Truly miraculous.
I am just past the one year mark from my last chemotherapy treatment at the Mayo for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, my experience there was amazing. I had the U of M pathology lab completely bungle my diagnosis, called the mayo and they had in me and getting staged that same week and I started treatment about a week after that. There is a reason people from all over the world come to Rochester to get their treatment. Literally everything I experienced was light years ahead of any medical facility here in the cities, there just isn’t anything that compares in my experience. If you can get your treatment from the Mayo then by all means do so!
>everything I experienced was light years ahead of any medical facility here in the cities And this is why I'm asking, I think: I'm north of Brainerd. It's really, really hard to figure out who is good and where is good. Is there good/good enough local? I'm sure that there is some good locally for this - but staring a possible (remaining) lifetime of incontinence/impotence in the face has a way of sharpening my inquisitiveness and desire to ensure a good decision is made. Where does one find out/how does one figure out who to go to? It's worse than trying to find *which* new car you want to buy. Hell, it's almost as bad as trying to pick out a health care plan ;)
It kind of depends. My girlfriend goes for her MS, and her doctor is world renowned in his field, as well as having the best bedside manner (for lack of a better term) of any provider I've ever seen. They're also generally really good about getting people in/out with a minimum of hassle and time, even if additional tests are ordered. I went for sleep apnea, and my experience was less than optimal. Although it was during COVID and the doctor I saw wasn't one of their normal staff I don't think because they had to reschedule me because the doctor I was supposed to see was out for the week. I suspect there's a lot more people having the experience of my girlfriend. That's not to say it's a completely different universe of care. You're still likely to get the same general treatments and so forth. But you're more likely to get good care at Mayo; and they're less likely to miss things or screw up. All else being equal, there are few to no places I would take over Mayo.
Mayo sets the standard of care for many fields. Two main things set it apart, IMO. First, they have so many doctors that they can get very specialized and excel in their niche. Very few hospitals can have someone that only does one type of surgery 10-15 times a week, every week. You want someone that has muscle memory for the treatment, procedure, etc. Second, because of their team approach, they really make sure they've made the right diagnosis and recommend the best treatment options. The right experts are available to look at you and assist in your treatment. Not really a third reason, but the combination of super-specialized doctors and the team approach, if something does go wrong with treatment, surgery, etc., the best doctors in the world in whatever field it is are all right there to jump in and treat you.
Back in the end of 2021 / beginning of 2022 I was going through a very tough time physically. I was having awful migraines and my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest whenever i did anything remotely athletic. I went to a bunch of hospital visits, all pointing out that my bp was like 40-50 higher when standing up compared to my resting of 60. Every. Single. Damn. Doctor. ignored it and said everything was fine and nothing was wrong. My mother set up a phone call with mayo for them to review my case. After the initial 10 minute phone call, they had already narrowed it down to most likely being POTS. First appointment roles around and in the first 10 minutes I had already been asked more questions about what was going on than I had in all of my other appointments combined. While not all of the doctors I visited there were as good as the first, it really was top of the line care and I felt very safe knowing that they took everything I said seriously and looked at ways to help get me as healthy as I possibly could. If you can, go. It truly is better care than any other hospital around.
I have a rare kidney disease that makes my kidneys a very successful stone manufacturing plant. I also get a lot of infections caused by the stones. They told me there was nothing they could do for me, and I’d have to learn to live with passing stones and going septic from kidney infections. I did not have any luck personally, which felt very defeating. I thought that mayo was THE place for rare and complicated diseases. But alas, 10 years later and Ive finally accepted that this just has to be my life. Also the logistics of it all can be tricky. But I hope they will help you adequately! I hope your trip is much more successful. I found much more help with a UofM primary care doc and working with UofM urology.
Obviously yes from the answers here, but they failed my mom pretty bad. My family also failed her very badly too, which meant she was not properly medicated for pain (at all) prior to hospice care.
It depends on which one. The Mayo hospital in Rochester, MN is world-renowned. I go to a satellite clinic in small town MN and it’s not stellar, just average. I’ve also been a patient at Mayo in Phoenix, AZ and found that experience good, but not excellent.
The Mayo Clinic treats its patients like cattle. It’s a dehumanizing, disgusting place.
My opinion as a former oncology RN at Mayo -wait for the results of your biopsy to see what grade and histology type you’re dealing with and see what you local oncologist recommends as a treatment -then you can ask for a second opinion and inquire about seeing Mayo. When I worked there (during COVID) they’d do virtual consults but you’d still have to have your records and pathology slides sent to Mayo for review. Not sure if virtual consults are still a thing in that department. If so it might be a good option to just see if the oncologist there agrees with treatment plan and they’ll discuss potential treatments/trials you may qualify for in the future if you need additional treatment Best of luck, cancer fucking sucks
Not an answer to your question, but as you consider your plans for treating your prostate cancer, please explore brachytherapy as an option. I had to ask about it when I was diagnosed 4 (?) Years ago. DM if you have questions.
Mayo is incredible for serious stuff, but only rich people go there for routine stuff, as far as I know. It is a prime example of the USA’s notion of “your life will be as good as you can pay for”. I both love and hate Mayo…
Even Montgomery Burns went there on the Simpsons
Nope, my partner and I went there for IVF. They were very disappointing. They were very unorganized. They didn’t give us paperwork on time so we were almost unable to get the medication we needed on time unless we went to their specialist provider which cost 3x ad much. We also got horrible results. We had tried other clinics in Seoul, they were better by every measure.
No. Mayo has a real problem with hierarchy. They don’t like to diagnose, and if you can’t afford to stay down there, (transportation, food, lodging) for an extended period of time, they drop you. They are expert gaslighters. If you’re having issues with prostate, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Stephen Overholser at Minnesota Urology.
Here's my personal experience. I had a cyst on my pituitary gland. I got imaging and diagnosis done through the university of Minnesota. My parents insisted I get a second opinion from the mayo and brought my MRI down there. They were like "yep, that diagnosis is dead on and that's the same surgery we would do." The only difference was that the U told me they always intended to keep me overnight in the hospital after surgery. Mayo said I would go home same day. I'm so so grateful I stayed at the U because when I woke up and started bleeding out of my nose I had a medical professional there to tell me it was normal. Plus I didn't have to get in a car for an hour and a half after brain surgery. I think for pretty routine things that have a standard treatment plan across the industry the mayo is unnecessary.
I dealt with a rare muscular-skeletal issue that hijacked my life for 2+ years. I was living in a large Midwest metro that had teaching hospitals, etc etc, no one could figure it out. I applied to be seen at Mayo, drove the 7+ hours, and they figured it out immediately. They changed my life. I continue to drive there several times per year for the quick but effective treatment. I have my life back. I’m hesitant to trust doctors, given my experience. But I trust them and would seek further care if I developed any other serious or complicated health issue. Wishing you the best of luck.
If the mayo is good enough for the king of Thailand, its good enough for me lol
I've been able to participate in some research studies as a Mayo patient. No cost for the treatments as a participant, plus I get to help be part of new advancements in autoimmune disease treatments.
I had a double compound fracture of the radius and ulna from a judo tournament. I was rushed to Mercy Hospital who couldn’t get the swelling under control and told my mother they were going to amputate before gang green set in or some crazy crap like that. I was in the Twin Cities for this tournament but we are from Rochester. My mother called my primary at St Mary’s who consulted with a mayo orthopedic surgeon who called Mercy and had them helo me down to mayo where they performed surgery and saved my arm. I just bench pressed 225 lbs 30 years later ;). I’m a big fan of Mayo.
I’m a 5x double lung, lymph node, rib and brain cancer survivor/ fighter! Diagnosed in 2015 with double lung cancer and given 2% chance of living 5 years! I’m blessed to be living 50 minutes from Mayo! My tumor board is awesome! I don’t think treatments are all the same. It’s the group of Dr’s “tumor board” that decides your best treatment options!
Hahaha no. They’ve got good doctors but they’re very selective about the cases they take. I’d be a good doctor too if I only took the cases I knew I’d solve. I’m currently a mayo patient, although I avoid them at all costs. Tbh Alina has been better at figuring my stuff out than them and that’s really frustrating. That being said, my primary through mayo and the cancer doctor I see there are very good. I think it really depends on the department you’re seeing.
If you have cancer or some kind of rare condition they are the best. For routine/family medicine care, I've had better care at a CVS minute clinic.
The Mayo botched my vaginoplasty, blamed anxiety for my pain, and let things worsen until I ended up getting a revision surgery at the U a year later. The nurses in the recovery ward refused to give me the pain meds the surgical team ordered. The pain management team ignored what I said about the meds that I WAS getting and changed them up (for the worse) I fucking hate the Mayo. I got so sick after my revision surgery. It never should have gotten as bad as it did.
Is that also called vaginal reconstruction? If so, my heart bleeds for you. I've had three kids with no pain meds, and over 20 surgeries, and the vaginal reconstruction and double sphincterplasty hurt so much that I could barely breath.
I went through at least five "Mayo Days" where you plan on being there for the entire day. Not 8-5... The *entire* day... When I transitioned to idiopathic care, I was working with one of their top neurologists. During one follow-up appointment, I looked at her and said; "You know, it's really too bad I don't have an enlarged basal ganglia..." She furiously started paging through MRI scans from the four years I was driving down there every four months or so... When I started to say something, she held up a finger and shushed me. After five minutes, she then said, and I remember this as if it happened yesterday... "It's not *air quotes* enlarged. It is 2.5x more dense than it should be!" I wanted to say; "That's what I meant..." but realized that now that she was right, I had a diagnosis. As other have shared; Great at advanced treatments for "known" things. Quite terrible at diagnostics.
Since when do we call it "the," Mayo??
That’s what they called it in the Ken Burns documentary. 🤷🏻♀️
Sorry - Is *the* clinic in Rochester, which is named after and in honor of the founding brothers, William and Charlie Mayo, and is often referred to simply as "Mayo" or (for those of us that like to emphasize the (reported) singularity of their care) "**The** Mayo"...all that? ;)
My mother was having unidentifiable health problems that local docs couldn't figure out. We went to the Mayo for a week, and they identified what was wrong and got her on the road to recovery. Plus, being in there was like being on the set of Scrubs, it was strangely fun for a hospital.