1. < Pancreatic Cancer

How to get admitted by Mayo Clinic without delay?

Posted by sma5802 @sma5802, Dec 22, 2023

Hi there, I have been diagnosed with Pancreas cancer a few days ago after the ERCP exam. I live in Columbus Ohio, wanted to go to Mayo Clinic for treatment. I was told to get all the medical records faxed to Mayo Clinic before I can get the appointment. So I need to wait for not sure how long the process will take.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get admitted earlier without all those existing records?

Thank you so much!

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collenp | @collenp | Dec 24, 2023

My Heart goes out to you.
I will be saying lots of prayers for you. Get all your records Obtain the CD-ROMS OF ALL DIAGNOSTIC TESTS. GET ON A PLANE AND GO TO MAYO CLINIC IN ROCHESTER MINNESOTA
Go through the Emergency Department. You will receive the care you deserve.
I was a patient in 2019.
MAYO IS THE VERY BEST HOSPITAL IN THE WORLD.
GOD BLESS YOU
HANG IN THERE
Colleen P

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1 reply
sma5802 | @sma5802 | Dec 25, 2023
In reply to @collenp "My Heart goes out to you. I will be saying lots of prayers for you. Get..." + (show)
@collenp

My Heart goes out to you.
I will be saying lots of prayers for you. Get all your records Obtain the CD-ROMS OF ALL DIAGNOSTIC TESTS. GET ON A PLANE AND GO TO MAYO CLINIC IN ROCHESTER MINNESOTA
Go through the Emergency Department. You will receive the care you deserve.
I was a patient in 2019.
MAYO IS THE VERY BEST HOSPITAL IN THE WORLD.
GOD BLESS YOU
HANG IN THERE
Colleen P

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Thank you so much @collenp , I am still gathering all the images due to the holiday season. Happy Holidays!

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sma5802 | @sma5802 | Dec 25, 2023
In reply to @sma5802 "@ markymarkfl, thank you so much for taking your time to respond, you have been extremely..." + (show)
@sma5802

@ markymarkfl, thank you so much for taking your time to respond, you have been extremely helpful with all the information you provided. I will give Cleveland clinic a try since it is closer to home.

Thanks again!

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@markymarkfl, I checked out your profile, learned about your journey. I am new to this whole thing, I feel like I can learn so much more from you. Could you share your contact information via private message? I would love to get in touch with you more. Thank you so much!

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hbtb2356 | @hbtb2356 | Dec 25, 2023
In reply to @markymarkfl "@sma5802 , very sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Are you able to obtain the most..." + (show)
@markymarkfl

@sma5802 , very sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

Are you able to obtain the most relevant records yourself, and hand-deliver them, FedEx them, or download them from your current doctors' patient portal and email them directly to Mayo?

Mayo shouldn't need to get your entire life's history in order to start; mainly just the ERCP report plus recent blood tests and imaging discs since you became symptomatic.

Some insurance companies and concierge medical service memberships (MDVIP, SignatureMD, etc) have expedited referral pathways to specialists like Mayo, and expedited collection of records. That may be another option to explore.

I don't know what stage you were diagnosed at or if your local docs have recommended chemo as a first treatment, but that would be a very common plan. If that is the case, I assume there would be no harm in getting a chemo port placed locally to have that out of the way (NOTE: I am not a medical professional and say that with zero expertise other than my own experience with PDAC.).

I was extremely frustrated trying to get my dad into Mayo for treatment with his cancer. The local docs and labs diagnosing him knew he had malignant cells in tissue and fluid samples but kept bungling the tests, unsure whether it was mesothelioma or a lung cancer. We hoped we could just get into Mayo ASAP and have them sort it out, but they're so specialized no doc there would see him until the local docs pinned it down exactly.

Since they've narrowed your case down to the pancreas, I doubt it matters as much, but Mayo might want to assign you a different oncologist based on exactly what type of pancreatic cancer it is (PDAC, Acinar Cell Carcinoma, etc).

Cleveland Clinic is also listed by the NPF as a pancreatic cancer center of excellence. I've not been treated by them, but did have one consultation with them earlier in my journey, and was fairly impressed they could have done a good job. I'm not sure if that's a viable option for you. Depending on the stage and treatment you need, a good center closer to home might be appropriate. A lot depends on how often you would have to travel to Minnesota (or Florida or Arizona) and how feasible that is. Some doctor visits that could easily be done by video teleconference are not "legal" when done across state lines -- a very unnecessary complication, but a real issue to consider.

I wish you the best with everything!

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When my husband was diagnosed in Oct we were able to begin treatment immediately through cancer specialist of North Florida. We are about 10 minutes away from Mayo Jacksonville but We did not want to wait any longer for treatment. We have not contacted Mayo but we will if CT scan in January shows little progress. We just wanted to start Chemo immediately. He is on Gem/abrax treatment. He will have his 10th infusion tomorrow . Did not want to waste 1 minute of time trying to get into Mayo because I know it’s time consuming and time was not on our side. I would begin treatment immediately at closest cancer center while you are trying to get into Mayo.

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markymarkfl | @markymarkfl | Dec 25, 2023

@sma5802 , Welcome to the forums. I am flattered, but must begin by reminding you and everyone that I'm an engineer with zero medical training beyond basic first aid and AED.

And I'll also ask @colleenyoung to remove your email address from the above post, as it's generally not a good idea to share personal information of that sort in a public post. 🙂 (Sad the world is that way, but it is...)

I see you just joined Mayo Connect this week, so I'll share the following:

1) There is a delay after joining before you can post URLs (web links). It prevents robots from joining automatically and spamming everyone from the get-go.

2) The "at" sign (@) has the special meaning in this forum that it thinks indicates a username immediately follows it. This causes the forum to alert a user via numbers over the little bell icon in the top right corner of the screen that someone has mentioned them directly (among other alerts).

3) There's a "private message" option (basically email, but fully contained within the Mayo Connect domain) by which you can communicate directly and privately with other users. It's accessed by clicking on the little envelope icon to the right of the bell icon (top right corner). It's supposed to work as soon as you join, but I've experienced a few hiccups in communicating with new members.

With all that said, I'm happy to talk directly by phone with any PC patient or caregiver here. I've sent you ( @sma5802 ) a private message with my contact info.

I hope to help as many people in as many ways as I can, but I'm not the most efficient when communicating via keyboard.

I also have to repeat the opening disclaimer -- I have zero medical training! I can only regurgitate what I've learned (and minimally attempted to verify) here and a from few other internet resources. My journey is my own experience, but I am just a statistically irrelevant sample of one. 🙂

Best wishes to you and to everyone!

--mm

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