Sharing Mayo Clinic - March 2012 Archives

Ron Boyle has had atrial fibrillation for twelve years.  He recalls, “When I was in a-fib most of the time, getting upstairs was a problem.  ...

It began with a headache in 2007. That was followed by weakness on his left side, a slight slurring of his speech and tremors. Doctors thought Wayne Puckett, then 42 and a father of five, had suffered a stroke. But over the next two years, the headaches persisted. Complicated migraine was the new diagnosis. But the tremors worsened and Puckett, previously an active man, began to have trouble walking. “Our local doctors couldn’t figure out what was happening. Our family doctor said it would be best to go to Mayo Clinic,” recalls Puckett, who lives outside Orlando, Fla.

To celebrate his “first birthday” after treatment for esophageal cancer, Ricky Rinehart, 54, rode his bike to Mayo Clinic — 213 miles across the desert from his home in Yuma to Phoenix, Ariz. Thirteen friends, family and co-workers joined him for the two-day ride last October. They delivered more than $10,000 in donations for cancer research.

“Couldn’t breathe, gasping for air,” is how Bobbie Sofia describes the first sign that something was wrong. In 2007, Bobbie Sofia and her husband, Sam, traveled to San Antonio, Texas from their home of almost forty years in Lake Havasu City, Arizona to attend their daughter, Ashley's, graduation from Air Force Basic Training. While enjoying the sights on the River Walk, Bobbie suddenly began gasping for breath. She recovered after a short while, but in the back of her mind, she knew that it was time to see her doctor at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine -Thunderbird. Her physician ordered a series of tests including a chest x-ray, echocardiogram, lab tests, and electrocardiogram. Bobbie had battled her weight for most of her life but otherwise had no serious medical problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes. Nothing could have prepared her for the diagnosis - heart failure.

Amanda Mattheisen has endured chronic back pain since a car accident thirteen years ago. At times, the pain was so bad it controlled her life. Surgeries and drug treatments brought no relief. Eventually, Mattheisen turned to Mayo Clinic’s two-day Pain Rehabilitation Program, a program designed to help people whose pain cannot be cured to learn how to improve their lives despite the pain. Mattheisen arrived to the program on Feb. 13 with her boyfriend Charles Buggs along for support, and during a stretching exercise on the second day of the program, Mattheisen’s boyfriend became her fiancé.

Esophageal cancer took Jorge Rivera, 47, by surprise. An auto loan manager and a father of three, he had a full life and a passion for performing sacred music with his family. Rivera, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, had “the usual” heartburn symptoms from what he describes as a typical Puerto Rican diet. But a routine endoscopy showed precancerous cells in the esophagus. Cancer cells were found in the sphincter (valve between esophagus and stomach) and in the stomach. Suddenly, Rivera needed to make decisions about major surgery and cancer treatment.