@melinda7 I know you are frustrated with waiting, and I know that is hard because I had to wait 2 years until I had spine surgery. You are correct; it is expensive, but expense also has to be managed by Mayo Clinic. Everything Mayo does is very complete involving any necessary tests, and a consult with any number of specialists, and first they need to determine if surgery is the right choice for a patient. No doctor can do that without examining a patient first and without relevant imaging, and no hospital can afford to have surgical staff waiting on call just in case surgery is ordered unless it comes through the emergency department. They cannot make a promise that you will have surgery until they have the time and diagnostics to determine this.

The specialists are scheduled either for consult appointment days or surgery days in addition to teaching and research they may also be doing. The operating rooms also have to be reserved and scheduled as well as all supplies needed. Mayo does have a lot of operating rooms, and a lot of surgeons using them. Lots of patients request care at Mayo because it is worth the wait and the cost of travel for the quality of care. It is probably most of Mayo patients who travel to get there because Mayo is located as a small city in a rural community. They do also have to manage emergency patients who are in life and death situations, or who have catastrophic injuries that need to be addressed immediately to mitigate damage and possible disability and paralysis. This is how all major medical centers manage patients, not just Mayo. Mayo does a good job of efficient scheduling even after you get there and are referred to other specialists. Please don't be upset with the people at Mayo who are doing their best to help and being honest with you about scheduling.

I would have waited about 3 months to get into Mayo as I was told when I applied. They do assign priority on basis of medical need. If I had been in a situation where paralysis or loss of bladder/bowel function was imminent, they would have prioritized my case. As it turned out, there was a cancellation after 6 weeks if I could get there in 5 days or continue to wait. I took the appointment, and I traveled to get there. I was told scheduling for surgery would be perhaps 4 to 6 weeks later and I returned home. The nurse does this in groups of patients to be efficient with her time and her schedule of patient care. I was scheduled for surgery 5 weeks later. There was a cancellation, and I could have had surgery 2 weeks after my consults, but I wasn't ready at home with my planning for my recovery, so I waited. It all worked out fine.

It is best to go into surgery calm and prepared, not anxious and rushed. A surgeon is not obligated to perform surgery, and they can decline for any number of reasons including a patient's attitude or lack of cooperation. I cannot speak for Mayo, but I have watched conferences online where non-Mayo surgeons discuss reasons to refuse surgery to patients such as emotional or mental instability because they will never be able to please the patient. They are putting their reputation on the line every time they operate, and no surgeon wants a procedure to fail because of a patient who will not follow their advice. Surgeons have to make sure they are doing the right thing for their patients and they do not want to be pressured. It is a high stress job already, and the best surgeons welcome the challenges of solving difficult problems. Treat them with your utmost respect.

I understand that you may have some challenges, and you'll need to figure out how to manage things on your end. I say this to you as a Mayo patient from my experience, and I was seen by 5 other surgeons who wasted my time and misdiagnosed my case before I came to Mayo. In spite of waiting 2 years and being badly treated by 5 surgeons who didn't get it, I'm still glad it worked out this way, because the Mayo surgeon was the best of all who saw me clinically. Not all surgeons are gifted, and I can tell you that my results from my spine surgery were worth waiting for.

In one of your other posts, I noticed that you live in Georgia. Would it be easier for you to seek care at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida?