Tips for your first Mayo Clinic visit and tests/appt schedules

Mostly, you can expect to be told that they don't know either, unless you fork over a few thousand more.

@grace28, I want to add my welcome to Connect. I have been traveling to Mayo Rochester annually for the past 10 years. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the quality of care and the efficiency that Mayo provides. You will be greeted by name for your appointment, and the doctor or nurse will introduce themself to you. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and you can expect to get explanations that you will understand. You might see 1 doctor, however, that doctor has a team of experts that are available for him/her to consult with about your treatment if he/she needs to. If you have labs drawn, or any scans or tests, you will get the results during your visit.
Wear comfortable shoes, take a sweater, a tote bag and water ot a leakproof water bottle.

I have not been at Mayo since last spring, so be sure to read the updated information related to the coronavirus this discussion and the links that @colleenyoung has shared with you.
Have you got any kind of a schedule or paperwork from them? Is someone going with you?
What are some specific questions you would like to ask?

@oldkarl , WOW Carl, that's a really broad statement re costs. Let's try and scare away patients going to Mayo for the first time. I have been going to Mayo 2 to 3 times a year for 5 years now and have paid a grand total of $8.00 which was later refunded. So grace28 costs are totally dependent on what type of insurance coverage you carry.

I visited last November and was delighted with my accommodations. The hotel had a shuttle service, a fantastic breakfast every day and four nights a week a soup dinner. I was so impressed with the friendly and helpful people everywhere.

@suzanne2, I also have always been impressed with the helpful people everywhere - in Mayo and in the surrounding businesses! I also am impressed with how people use the sidewalks and crosswalks, unlike where I experience locally. When I first was in Rochester 11 years ago, I had a difficult walking fast enough to cross the street within the timed light. When that happened, the gracious drivers would simply wave and smile.
Be safe and stay well.

Hello! I have a few questions about how visits are run at Mayo. I am on a waiting list for Neurology at the Jacksonville site. From what I have read here, in Community, as well as the main Mayo Clinic website, visits can run for several days and that the doctors work as a team across several specialties if needed. This is what I was looking forward to as a patient. I have had many tests run already locally between several doctors without much coordination of care, to be told that I have idiopathic peripheral neuropathy. I was hopeful to get a more specific diagnosis, if one can be had, at Mayo. However, when I just spoke to an appointment specialist (I believe that was what she was), she said no, there would be no other appointments made for me for other specialties while I was there. I do have other endocrine problems and was told the neuropathy may stem from an autoimmune disorder, so I would think I would need to see more than a neurologist. I will be traveling to get to the clinic and hoped to stay as long as it took to either get a diagnosis or a better idea of what may be happening at least. The picture the appointment specialist painted for me doesn't make me feel confident that is what will happen. Any ideas? This person didn't look at any of my records, so could she be wrong about how it will be handled? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi @macjean and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am happy to help lay out a few different scenarios that may happen depending on the course of treatment/ second opinion status. Mayo is a destination medical center that handles complex care cases, however, not all cases require that amount of integration with other specialties. If you are seeking a second opinion, they will most likely set you up with only the specialty that you are seeking that second opinion in. I can with confidence tell you that they are one of the largest and most comprehensive neurological practices in the world and they are aware of autoimmune disorders that cause neuropathy like Sjogren's syndrome, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and vasculitis. If you mention to your physician that you were told it could stem from an endocrine/autoimmune disorder, I am sure they would be happy to help with that and may suggest further testing or appts depending on your medical records. Off hand, I know that the neurologists Dr. Feyissa specializes in autoimmune related diseases and Dr. Freeman and Dr. Kennelly specialize in neuropathies.
Tell me, Macjean, did you mention this to the appointment specialist about it possibly stemming from an endocrine problem before her telling you they would only make the first appointment?

If you have a local doctor who can contact Mayo Clinic and request you be seen by a specialist in whatever other department you want while you are there it might help. It also helps if any of your local doctors know a doctor at Mayo Clinic.

Hi Amanda, thank you for your reply. No, I hadn't given that particular appointment specialist my background. The order of events didn't really warrant it. I had originally called to make an appointment. During that call I was asked to fax my medical records as they would need them to determine whether they would give me an appointment at all. I had several of my doctors fax the records and two days later someone from Mayo called. He made it sound like they were (at the time) waiting for the August calendar to become available to them, but that they would call me when that happened. Thinking this, I waited until the last week of July, thinking surely the calendar has been "released" by then, so I called the number that had called me. Then I spoke with the specialist that I referred to in my post. She informed me that I should have been told that I was on a waiting list, and that the August calendar had been out, but was currently full. I misunderstood what he was trying to say. That all being said, I asked her a few questions, but didn't get into my medical history.

Thank you for replying! Unfortunately my local doctors do not know anyone at the Mayo Clinic. The neurologist I've been working with wanted to wait until I had an appointment and a doctors name before sending more specific information to the clinic.