I now live 2 1/2 hours away from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. I started the process of getting an appointment. I filled out one form, spoke to a person about my general medical issues and then filled out an in-depth questionnaire about my symptoms etc. I should hear back in 7 to 10 days to see if I’m accepted. If I do go, it would be sometime after mid November. I don’t know what I’m getting myself into or if going is even a good idea. I have new neurological symptoms that are a concern to me. It will cost me a lot of money having to stay in a hotel. If anyone has been there or has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Freedom - of course everything has its bells & whistles and it may depend upon who you see.
But it seems a great chance and from what you’ve been experiencing & how it does seem to be just the right thing to maybe get more of a handle on the neurological stuff, at least a 2nd opinion! I’m not sure whether hope or wary skepticism is best for you, best both I spose.
For how long will you have to stay there?
I wish you all the best - that you are accepted and will be worth it all along!
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Call the Red Cross they might have an idea of a place where you can stay free of charge or for a quarter of the price of a motel sometimes those people around the hospital will take you in as part of a a a hospice sort of deal you might even want to check into maybe there is a Ronald McDonald house someplace close that can be affiliated with the hospital and give you a place to stay and give you food to eat in a bed to sleep in and also just some suggestions maybe from this you can think of more call the hospital and ask them they should be able to give you some answers good luck with your visit there I’ll be thinking of you and sayingA prayer for you best wishes Ginger
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Try the Nazarene Wellhouse. They have rooms for families, patients getting treatment at the Mayo Clinic. My aunt and uncle started it and are still involved.
47 13 1/2 St NW, Rochester, MN 55901
Phone- 507-282-6792
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Thanks everyone. But Mayo Clinic rejected my request to be seen by their doctors. 
Guess it wasn’t meant to be.
Don’t give up! Keep applying.
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Yes, keep applying. It can’t hurt. Someone will notice you.
It’s really hard to keep trying sometimes. I was reviewing labs that were drawn in May, 2021. My ANA screen with reflex was positive and my ANA titter/ pattern was 320. It said norm. < 80. I’m confused. My rheumatologist told me I don’t have an autoimmune disorder.
Hi Freedom, sorry to hear you’re down. Praying you’ll get some booster soon.
I’ve looked up ANA titer/pattern on several sites. “The norm is 1:80” doesn’t actually mean much. An ANA titer is only part of a testing. Even if it is 1:320 as in your case, you may be healthy, it may just be an unimportant inflammation, it may be meds, or you might develop something autoimmune sometime later, but for it to be autoimmune now, other autoantibodies need to be found, which they obviously haven’t in your case. So if your rheum. said you don’t have an autoimmune disorder, you can believe that and can ignore the ANA pattern.
“ANA is an antibody directed towards the nucleus of a cell.” “Every lab has different cut off values, but in general, an ANA of 1:80 is typically considered positive. Whether it’s clinically significant, is a whole different question. This is where the art of medicine comes into play.” “It’s important to take ANA patterns with a grain of salt because interpretation highly depends on experience.” “…it is most likely false positive” if there are no other autoantibodies.
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