In my quest to fix my legs, I got myself an appointment at the Arizona branch of the Mayo Clinic. My appointment was set for the Monday of Thanksgiving week. I was told that I should plan on staying for 2 to 5 days for any testing that might be required. Since the place is a clinic and not a regular hospital, I knew it would be closed Thanksgiving Day and probably the day afterwards. That meant I only needed to make myself available Monday through Wednesday. Fortunately I was able to get plane tickets that left late Sunday evening for Phoenix for my appointment Monday morning. My return flight--on Thanksgiving Day--was early in the morning. But at least I could make my appointment.
Of course, after making the flight arrangements and getting the hotel reservations, it occurred to me that my insurance through work requires me to do all lab work and diagnostic testing at the hospital where I am employed. I couldn't have anything done at the Mayo Clinic because it would cost an arm and a leg. Staying beyond Monday seemed pointless---but the reservations had been made. ARGH!
I had tried to contact the clinic beforehand about the insurance issues, hoping to get prescriptions for test I could do before I headed out there. I tried emailing my doctor, but because he had not officially met with me yet, he was not officially my doctor and I could not email him through the Mayo Clinic's website. I tried to explain to the insurance people at the Mayo about my problem...and they told me to speak with my doctor. Clearly that got me no where. So when I arrived, the only diagnostic stuff they had to go on was the records I had my hospital, my general practitioner, and my current neurologist had sent in.
The Scottsdale branch of the Mayo Clinic was nice... But it was also somehow smaller than I had anticipated.
Unlike other medical facilities, the checking in was rather smooth and quick.
Before long, I was ushered into a small office. Bachir Estephan, a neurologist from Lebannon, was my doctor. He was a nice guy and he seemed genuinely interested in trying to help me.
However, when I explained my insurance predicament, he was clearly as frustrated as I was. But he understood. In talking with him though, I consented to one partial test---another EMG (Electromyogram)--to be conducted the following Wednesday morning.
Wednesday morning, bright and early (Ugh!), it was back to the clinic.
Even though the Mayo Clinic is one of the--if not the--top-notch medical facilities in the world, I already had a feeling of despair as I walked...er, hobbled, up to the clinic for my test.
After sitting in the waiting room, I was led down a long hallway with many exam rooms off of the sides of it.
The girl who was going to do the exam was nice, but she was misinformed. She just thought she was going to do the basic EMG. No, I told her. She was only supposed to test two areas --- not all five she was planning on. I also informed her Dr. Estephan wanted to do the second part of the test, the one that involves the needle being shoved into my skin.
She went in the back office to ask about all of this. Fortunately, Dr. Estephan had arrived and he explained it all to her.
After the tech had finished her part, Dr. Estephan came in. He explained that the test she had performed was normal. It showed that electrical impulses carried through my larger nerves. Instead of continuing to the needle test, he decided that---to save me money--he would just have me have some diagnostic work back home. He also said, just like the doctors in Fresno had said, that with people in my age group and older, sometimes they just develop these neuropathies and in about 80% of them there is no way to really diagnose or treat them. Swell...
He did say that I needed to lose weight (Duh!). But, of course, my legs are the hindrance and why I stopped walking and stopped going to the gym in the first place. Realizing my Catch 22 plight, he suggested the help of a dietitian. I'll do it. I'll try anything that helps.
I tried to put the phone on video mode and have it in my pocket when he came to speak to me after writing my diagnostic prescriptions, so that you could hear what he had to say yourself. However, when I saw him coming, I somehow goofed up (of course) and got these two bad photos of him instead. Oh well.
He also wants me to have another MRI of my spine.
The test I am least excited about is the "punch skin biopsy" from my left foot and calf. Ouch! He said to have someone from neurology--not dermatology--do it as they are testing the peripheral nerves.
On the plus side, although Erich (who went with me) and I had a nice time in Phoenix (More about that later), regardless of what the tests show (if anything), I do not have to go back to the clinic. Dr. Estephan says we can communicate via phone or email from here on out. That's good.
If Dr Estephan says there is nothing he can do for me, I'm still not giving up. I'll try acupuncture. I'll try a chiropractor. I have a co-worker who has been after me to see her friend who does some sort of pressure-release massage therapy for people like me. It's supposed to be painful but effective. I'm game--if it helps. I just need to get to my primary (I have an appointment in March) and get some referrals for all of this. I am not giving up.
CHEERS!
To find out the latest, click the link here: https://monsterago-go.blogspot.com/2019/02/leg-update-15-i-think-i-have-figured-it.html
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