 Well hello there my beautiful internet friends and welcome back to another Saturday story time You may note that we are not in my normal background We're not at home or sitting in my car and I hate filming in cars I feel like it's kind of tacky But this day did not go according to plan this week has not gone according to plan And I do not want to miss telling you guys a Saturday story times this week We're gonna be talking about the time that I had to go to the Mayo Clinic And if you know what the Mayo Clinic is you'll know that that's a pretty big deal And I'll talk about what the Mayo Clinic is in just a second for those of you guys who don't know But in today's story time, we're gonna be covering why I had to go there How I got in how my experience there actually was versus kind of what it was built up to be and if I got any answers when I left So if you don't know the Mayo Clinic is this kind of giant medical city It's just a big medical campus in Rochester, Minnesota And the best of the best of the best work there People from around the world try to get in to see the doctors at the Mayo Clinic because they are the top of their field Generally speaking, they won't accept you They won't review your case unless you've exhausted resources in your area and that was the case for me They wouldn't consider my case until I had exhausted doctors in Colorado and like good medical centers here in Colorado I didn't initially think of going to the Mayo Clinic But it began to be a real possibility in my mind after about a year of meeting with doctors here in the area and getting Absolutely nowhere. So what was actually going on? Well, I know some of you guys know this already But I had found out in 2013 that I had a key RML formation Which is essentially a brain condition where the back of my brain is like compressed against the back of my skull I was supposed to have brain surgery for that but they canceled it last minute because they just determined that the risk Was going to be way too high for the possible payoff But that left me with a host of nasty symptoms with migraines almost every day Being super dizzy super out of it super nauseous just really unable to function as a person I couldn't work consistently. I couldn't do anything consistently It was kind of scary to try to go and drive anywhere because I didn't know if I just have to like sit and Lay down in my car in the parking lot for two hours as this condition like Combined my head and took over my life and I'd have to wait somewhere until it left And so I didn't really feel safe going many places I couldn't work full-time for sure and no one really had any answers because it didn't present itself like other things Like I had a lot of migraine like symptoms But it wasn't just like migraines like everybody else has migraines and so after that brain surgery was canceled because they said I don't think that this is like causing all of your issues. I think there might be something else going on You should talk to other neurologists That's what I did and I talked to other neurologists for a long time here in Colorado So I talked to a number in the Springs and then I went up to Denver and we talked to them and the consensus was essentially like We don't really know which was not helpful because I was a young 20 year old not able to really live life And I just wasn't satisfied with that and so I began to consider the Mayo Clinic because people always talked about it I had had friends who had gone there and they talked about it kind of like is this medical heaven Where everyone could solve your problems and one of the things that they talked about is that doctors from different specialties Would actually talk to each other like the same day about your case So you wouldn't be bounced from doctor to doctor to doctor waiting weeks at a time for the next appointment And I was like, yes, that sounds amazing. Get me in there, please But they only accept kind of complicated cases I ended up with a primary care doctor who actually used to work with the Mayo Clinic and eventually he got me in They accepted my case So I was supposed to go there for my first appointment and then it was kind of an Undetermined amount of time that I would be there for Brian being the lovely human being that he was we were not married at that time And my mom we all got my little white Chevy Sonic Which is not a big car for three people and drove from Colorado to Minnesota in the winter paired for I wasn't really sure What but we didn't know if we were gonna be there for like one appointment or like 50 And before we go any further talking about the Mayo Clinic specifically I want to talk about something that I think really impacts Patient care and how I felt as a person and in doctor's offices so often I would be explaining myself over and over again I'd have like three minutes with a doctor before they were on to something else after waiting like two months to get in with This specialist who was super important and front desk workers have bad days And so sometimes they wouldn't be nice to me and like trying to schedule appointments is difficult And getting doctors to actually listen to you and take you seriously is very challenging and referral systems are Frustrating at times and so I've been dealing with that for quite some time And then I showed up to the Mayo Clinic and I felt like I was like checking into a five-star hotel Now I wasn't actually like stay like I wasn't like staying in the hospital I we'd rented like an Airbnb nearby, but they treat you like you're a person From the moment you walk in the door like I was handed like a nice packet and like schedule of events Essentially of like who I was gonna meet with when I was gonna meet with them Who those people were how it was gonna be laid out and even just like that was so refreshing And then it like all began so we kind of checked in on day one and then day two is when I was supposed to start meeting with specifically like the neurologists and I was understandably super nervous because I just wanted an answer like I Just wanted an answer. I just wanted to know what was going on. I wanted something to be better I wanted to be taken seriously because a lot of doctors didn't really a lot of doctors would just Have more important things to do than listen to me if that makes sense And when I got to that first appointment someone came in who was basically a physician's assistant and he already knew my case But he listened to every word I said for honestly about 20 minutes and did like a bunch of Neurological tests and then said okay. Well, then I'm gonna bring in the doctor and she came in and knew my case She did not ask any of the questions I had already answered to the person before if you have ever been in a hospital You know that you answer the same questions like 27 times. She knew why I was there She knew what we had tried before she knew what medications I was on She knew which ones I had tried before like she was on top of things and that set the tone for the rest of my time at the Mayo Clinic it was Honestly kind of like awe inspiring when it comes to the medical community It it really blew me away and like I said, I was really scared for that first appointment, right? And she told me I think what you're dealing with is vestibular migraines where essentially you don't get the Piercing horrible pain quite as bad, but you get a lot of vestibular symptoms a lot more than other people do And I think you're dealing with some kind of dizziness issue on top of that So I want you to see a couple other colleagues But while you're here, let's do lots of other stuff too because I was also dealing with chronic neck issues And chronic pain issues when it came to that and so from there I started seeing other doctors Now here's the thing the Mayo Clinic is booked out for like months, right? But they said if you go to the front desk first thing in the morning and say that you know You're here from out of town as most people are and you would like to see the doctor and you sit and you wait There's a good chance that they'll get you in and that happened every single doctor that they recommended that I get in with I was able to see By sitting in a waiting room Patiently throughout the day and and waiting for it to happen They made time for me They made time for me every single one of them and the initial neurologist that I had seen Wanted to see me one time again before I left so I had like I think it was just about 10 days that we were there It may have been a little bit less than that that I was just talking to doctor after doctor and you know what? It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life when it comes to medicine because every person I talked to listened to me No one was in a hurry. No one was rushing off to do something else important Like I was the important thing like that in itself was a super healing experience because I had so much Experience with doctors who had more important things on their mind than my life That was in shambles and then I was at this place where people were on board to figure out What the heck was going on and all the doctors seemed to talk to each other and they knew it was going on and Long story short that initial diagnosis is the diagnosis that I have I have a curey malformation. I have vestibular migraines and I have chronic subjective dizziness syndrome Which apparently is a real thing. I just get dizzy a lot. I tip over a lot I'm just very wobbly and they were some of the first doctors to ever Talk about the fact that some of the Relational and emotional trauma that I had gone through might be impacting my physical health Might be impacting like the rest of my body and other areas that I felt pain in which for the record They were right about for the record that is completely accurate But other doctors had brought it up like an afterthought like oh, maybe you're just dealing with anxiety You know like brushing it off, but they took it all very seriously like, you know You have PTSD and that's a serious thing and that can really impact the conditions that you have And here's what you should do to take care of that and here's some suggestions that we have And they didn't fix anything during those many days that I was at the Mayo Clinic But it was such a healing experience to go and I have nothing but good memories Even though I didn't get any answers because of like how I was treated And how I was treated by every single person I came into contact with anybody who worked there treated me like that And I'm sure my experience is not everybody else's experience, but the experience that I had was amazing It's super frustrating that there wasn't a magic pill that I could take that could fix everything But doctors who actually listened to me took their time and then gave a considered thorough diagnosis After doing a lot of tests and talking to a lot of people was so helpful and so healing They suggested a number of things that I should try and then like come back They invited me to like come back after a few months if those things didn't work But that trip was expensive and so we have not been able to go back to the Mayo Clinic And also I found doctors that I was able to work with here in the area that were really great too But a long story short the Mayo Clinic experience that I had was incredible And I'm super grateful for it even though we didn't get any answers just being listened to Was incredible and different and healing So today's Saturday story time is you know filmed in a car and a little off the cuff And less of a story as an accounting of events But I did want to share that with you guys because I know a number of you are actually facing going the Mayo Clinic I know some of you have actually been to the Mayo Clinic and are at the Mayo Clinic And so I just wanted to share my experience going there because it was a slightly life changing one in a good way A huge shout out to all of my patrons you guys do so much for me You keep the lights on you keep gas in my car and I really appreciate you today's patron of the day is jody merkel Jody, I'm so grateful for all you do for me. Thank you guys for listening. I love you I'm thinking about you and I will see you soon. Bye guys