@joanmahon Hi Joan. I looked up some Jacksonville Hotels and there are several within 6 miles of Mayo that are pet friendly. Maybe you could take the puppies and your husband with you. That might help you get through everything and he'll be there to take notes and remember the details. https://hotelguides.com/hospitals/florida/mayo-clinic-jacksonville-hotels.html

Patients really do have some power in their recovery and believing you can do it can make it happen. You might enjoy watching the inspirational Ken Burns documentary about Mayo. Back at the beginning of my spine issues when I was really afraid and having panic attacks, I thought about why and I realized that I had all the tools myself in my own life experience to overcome the fear. It took work, and I did a lot of things including watching Ted Talks about fear. I turned to art and music to help me cope before I came to Mayo. I had 2 years of looking and not finding medical help and knowing what was wrong even as all the doctors were missing the complete diagnosis and wouldn't help me because they didn't understand why I had the symptoms I had. Those were the hardest years of my life, and I was taking care of both my elderly parents who were disabled and in wheelchairs because of disease and injuries. During that time, my dad passed away. It was right afterwards that I was given my appointment to come to Mayo and a surgeon changed my life. I brought my best effort and I had a great physical therapist doing myofascial release work who helped my surgery be successful by loosening my neck muscles which made it easier for the surgeon to do his job, Mayo is thorough in evaluating, so don't worry. Stress will make you forgetful and is bad for your health. Do what you can to reduce the stress in your life.

We have a discussion about Art and Healing and how doing anything creative will help you overcome the stress and have better health. Here is the discussion.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/art-for-healing/

Pets help with healing too.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-pets-can-do-health-and-healing/

Gratitude will help you focus on sharing the good things no matter how small.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gratitude-discussion-group/

You might want to turn off the news and watch something calming on PBS. Don't place expectations on yourself, just do whatever will help you feel happy and valued. It sounds like you've been the one who always takes care of everyone else, but it's your turn now to have someone take care of you. I'm so happy for you to have an appointment at Mayo. I had to drive 5 hours to Rochester for mine, and it was worth every mile. I know you can do this, and I'm sure you have made a lot of people's lives better in your career. It's hard sometimes to surrender and be the patient when you think you need to be the caregiver. We're here for you and I hope you will share your experience after you get to Jacksonville.

Joan, thanks for your message. I'm seeing it because I participated in this discussion. You can also tag someone, so they will get the message by typing a "@" and their user name. Those show up in blue on Connect when someone does that and I tagged you by typing @joanmahon at the beginning of this message. You can send private messages too if you click the envelope at the top, and you will need to type the same thing to tag someone to send them the message. Hugs and hopeful that Mayo can help. You'll be in good hands.