Mayo Clinic or University of Iowa? Deciding on Mayo & local care

Hi @whudup1 Having a second opinion is never a bad idea. Mayo Clinic doctors have a reputation for working collaboratively and often do what they can to help patients receive followup treatments at a clinic or facility nearer the patient’s hometown. You may not lose your current doctor even if you have the surgery at Mayo.
Having a second opinion is your right as a patient and it would confirm your diagnosis and treatment options, maybe making you more comfortable with the decision to go with the closer doctor.

If you’d like to make an appointment at Mayo Rochester, here’s a link to get your started.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/appointments
How soon do you need the surgery?

Thanks,
I did make a Appointment at Mayo for consultation
Appreciate the Info.

Whudup1 - You are in a very similar situation geographically as I was. It is 4.25 hours to Mayo-Rochester and 45 minutes to the University of Iowa. I looked at both and decided to go with Mayo-Rochester.
From the research I did, surgery success (cancer removal/containment, post-surgery side effects, etc.) are directly correlated with the doctor and surgical center staff competence. Both the University of Iowa and Mayo-Rochester are excellent facilities. I chose Mayo-Rochester for several reasons - The most important being my doctor (Dr. Igor Frank), he was focused on prostate and bladder cancer, versus other doctors that specialized in a wider variety of cancers/illnesses/surgeries. Also, Dr. Frank had performed the robotic radical prostatectomy for over 15 years, which gave me a lot of confidence in his ability to make competent decisions throughout the surgery (nerve sparring, lymph node removal evaluation, etc.

My wife and I decided to stay in Rochester for two weeks following the surgery. One week would have been fine (post catheter removal), but we wanted to be close to Mayo in case there were any complications. The cancer team at Mayo has a list of great rentals at a reduced rate. We were able to get one within 4 blocks of the Methodist surgical center.

Best of luck with your decision,

Jim

We are from Des Moines and I do not think there is any comparison between the U of I and Mayo Rochester. My husband had his removal with Dr. Tollefson at Mayo Rochester in October of 2022. Everything was fantastic. It is world class.

Thank You so much, Very Informative
Helps a lot.

If you have not had any experience from either hospital, I do not see how comparisons can be made. I had my prostatectomy combined with the removal of a large bladder diverticula, and everything went well. I do suffer from some of the side effects, but that has nothing to do with the team that cared for me. The U of I is a highly respected hospital. I am also seeing them for heart failure.

My husband is a Gleason 9, with spread to 1lymph node. We had a phone conversation with U of I and Rochester. The U of I was basically doom and gloom. We will need to take the nerve bundles on one side, we will need to do radiation and ADT right away.

Mayo was we have got this! He had removal early October and has been continent since the catheter was removed. His nerves were spared. His 3month PSA was undetectable. We know it will most likely come back but this has been a gift.

Good evening. I was hoping to gain some additional perspective on Dr Tollefson. I have surgery scheduled with him this month. Any information would be wonderful. Thank you

Had prostatectomy 3 years ago localized cancer undetected for 3 years now psa going up from 0.09 to undetected then 6 months later 0.22 check again in 1 month had a Gleason 7 should I worry

We live in Des Moines, decided to go with mayo. Told our Dr. in Des Moines and he was very supportive of 2nd opinion. My husband had removal in June of 2022 with Dr. Tollefson. Fantastic experience from start to finish.