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What to do when you are at the end of your rope?
Visiting Mayo Clinic | Last Active: Dec 16, 2025 | Replies (7)Comment receiving replies
@colleenyoung not exactly. I made my rounds of the local specialists bouncing me back nd forth between them BEFORE i started seeing the team at Mayo. For the first year and a half I was seen at Mayo, they have done great, worked well together, and helped me get started done this path. HOWEVEr, now my mayo surgeon, told me to see a different type of Mayo GI doc, who told me to see a DIFFERENT type of Mayo GI doc, and I am just afraid I am starting the process of being passed from one person to another, with no communication amongst them, and no answers for me, and I can not deal with that again, especially when I am traveling so far, to end up getting the same subpar treatment and lack of an answer(s). So that is why I say I’m at the end of my rope.
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Hi, @jferg01.
I am a patient at Mayo Clinic MN and like you, have a long and complicated story. I have used your term, “hot potato” as well. I remember telling one local provider getting to Mayo Clinic felt more like a relay race with runners handing off a baton, a beautiful skill itself. I find it easy to fall back to my familiar feeling of fear when it isn’t going the way I think it should. I have to regroup, decide what the next best step is, and then take it. I guess I say this to let you know you are not alone, and you have come so far. Do not give up!
It sounds like you will either need to be assertive to make the next call or ask your PCP to refer you. I do know when you talk to someone at Mayo they bring up your records and can see all communication. If it were me, I would make the call and let them know how you are feeling. Don’t be shy to ask them to take a look at notes from your recent calls.
You mention an xray your PCP ordered was abnormal, then being directed to different types of GI providers when you called Mayo for help. What was abnormal about your X-ray? Do remember the specifics about the various GI specialists, and what they told you?