Thinking outside of the box

The day before yesterday, my mom fell and broke her femur.  She and my dad are 88 years old and living out in Palm Springs, CA.  She simply got up, took a couple of steps, lost her balance, and fell.  She was taken to the hospital, where she underwent surgery.  A rod was implanted, along with various supporting hardware, and would you believe they had her putting weight on it that same day?  It's truly amazing!  Now, don't get me wrong, she has a few weeks of painful recovery ahead of her, and she can use all of your prayers for a speedy recovery, but, I'm still amazed at what has become normal in modern medicine.  If you're reading this, mom, I love you, and will call you later today.

I spoke to Dr. Lee's office on Tuesday about the insurance company denying the PET scan and how it might effect the referral to Mayo Clinic.  He agreed to submit the referral anyway, and get the ball rolling.  To my surprise, I received a phone call from Mayo Clinic Admissions Department yesterday.

Don't get too excited, it is just a preliminary review to see if I fit the criteria of what their program offers.  Dan, the extremely professional admissions person must have asked at least 30 questions (or so it seemed) regarding, what was wrong, what types of treatment I was willing to have, and what are my expectations.  If his responses to my answers are any indication as to my acceptance (He would say, "Excellent", "Very good", or "I love that" after every answer.), I might just have a chance to get in.

I was also given a patient I.D. number, which bids well for me, and transferred to the Oncology Department to talk with Lisa, a nurse in the department.

Lisa asked more clinical questions, such as, do I have a power injectable chemo port installed?  I do.  Am I willing to have Mayo's team re-evaluate everything, which would include all new testing and imaging?  That seems prudent to me.  Would I be interested in clinical trials? Absolutely.  She asked that if the team feels the best course of treatment is a multi-tiered approach (I.E. Surgery, Radiation, and Chemo), would I be in agreement.  Yes, I would.

Now please listen; I don't want any of you to think for a second that I am giving up hope, or my natural positive attitude is waning in the slightest.  I need you all to understand that I am approaching this in the same manner that I have approached every other issue in my life - realistically.  

The reality is that, barring divine intervention, and by that I mean a full blown miracle, I will most likely not recover from this, at least not 100%.  I will be left with some serious physical ailments and limitations.

With that said, my feeling is that I will hold nothing back.  If I can't benefit from this treatment, I want someone in the future to be able to benefit from it.

I've taught over 100 guys the art of troubleshooting problems on various machines.  "Don't focus on the obvious, look outside the box.", they must have heard me say 1000 times.  I want out-of-the-box thinkers on my team.  I want the guy that says, "Why don't we get with Ophthalmology, and have them remove and preserve the left eye?  That way, we can use radiation to kill the tumor, and have the eye re-inserted later."  That's the guy I want on my team!  If we're going to do this, let's not pussy-foot around.  

I was probably 11 or 12 years old when my brother Marty crashed on his dirt bike and broke his Tibia (lower leg bone).  They had him in a cast for, I don't know how many weeks, that went from his toes to his hip.  I remember that his recovery was long and painful.  More so, it seemed forever before he was back on the soccer field, kicking the ball again.

Today, my mom is recovering from a break that is as, if not more, serious than Marty's break 47 years ago.  At some point in time between now and then, some doctor said to his colleagues, "Why don't we insert a titanium rod down the center of the bone to stabilize it while it heals, so that we can get the patient into rehab sooner?"  That one simple question started the process of years of developing different materials and techniques that made my mom's surgery the norm today.

How awesome would it be if one of my doctors took a calculated risk that may not benefit me, but could benefit my grandkids, or great-grandkids?  Isn't that just as important as personal gain?  

Dan and Lisa said that I should hear back from Mayo Clinic by the end of this week.  

Will my insurance company approve it?  We'll see...