Around 1910 (date) - My grandfather went to Mayo

Posted by bakerwise @bakerwise, Oct 16, 2018

My grandfather was a physician back then - and had a lump sticking out of neck near throat. Of course - those were known to "do anything" - (my mother once read the Merck Manual and thought she had cancer but it was just a pimple inside her nose). They removed the lump, found it was a thyroid nodule, and - back then there were no medications for any thyroid problems - but Mayo knew about and placed him on a beef derived (read cows extra parts from slaughter house) thyroid preparation. I have had thyroid problems (runs in families at times) - so I found it fascinating. I wrote Mayo Clinic a few years ago and they had records (legally in Texas adult medical records only. have to be kept ten years) - a typed two sentence report on his resected lump. I found "my grandfather's story" fascinating - went to a medical library - and found that "way back" - "before lab tests" - doctors used behavioral traits to make diagnosis - from my mother's recollections - his behavior fit the "typical hypothyroid personality". Medicine has a strange history - forty years ago most people with "fatigue" got a B12 shot. If you read about diagnosis of B12 problems today - in a big thick book with a big thick chapter on it - you sometimes wonder why they (and also know why) they do not do this now. "Tip of ice burg" sort of thing -

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Hi @bakerwise that is incredibly interesting! Thank you for sharing this story about your grandfather and his trip to Mayo back in 1910. It's fascinating how medicine has progressed and changed since that time.

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@bakerwise Thanks for sharing. That is an interesting story. It reminded me of an episode of Forensic Files where they talked about the Mayo brothers doing thyroid surgeries in 1922 and after diets improved, the thyroid problems went away. They showed a bit of historic film of the Mayo brothers about 10 minutes into the show. The show is about how they discovered why certain towns had multiple cases of thyroid problems. It's interesting from your story that the Mayo Clinic knew the answer years earlier. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11g9RJ5lcmo&feature=youtu.be

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