Sharing Mayo Clinic - November 2011 Archives

Below is an except from a blogpost written by Karon Hanson on the Healing As A Sacred Path blog. "[He] received more rounds of chemo earlier ...

Marshall Curtis was diagnosed in 2009 with end stage liver failure and cirrhosis secondary to Alpha1 Antitrypsin deficiency. Obesity and encephalopathy were additional challenges confronting ...

                                                                                                                                                 Karl and Eileen Rauschert of Bushnell, Ill., have been coming to Mayo Clinic in Florida for 23 years. Their experiences have been anything but routine. A visit in 2009 is a perfect example. Just as Mrs. Rauschert was about to undergo a colonoscopy, her husband, who was along for moral support, experienced a racing heartbeat. “I mentioned it to a person at the front desk,” recalls Mr. Rauschert. “About three seconds later, I was in cardiology, and they were taking care of me.”

The below excerpts come from a USA Today article: Chris Norton, a sophomore football player at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) who suffered a catrostrophic injury in ...

New imaging technology helps determine cause, treatment for heart symptoms Many surfers fear sharks. But not Mike Politowicz, 45, a seasoned surfer with 30 years of experience. “Surfing is a form of relaxation,” he says. Relaxation, that is, mixed with a little adrenalin and heart-pounding anticipation of a good ride. But on Aug. 7, 2010, as Politowicz paddled out for a wave on a Florida beach, his heart sensation was something else altogether. He began feeling sick to his stomach. He tried to paddle through it but soon realized something was terribly wrong.

Mayo Clinic began because of a military connection and our commitment to servicemen and women has never faltered. As we celebrate Veteran’s Day this year, we salute the many Mayo Clinic staff members and patients who are veterans, helping to protect our freedoms. It is in their honor that we share this story about a Florida man’s long journey to healing. **** Eventually, something’s gonna kill you.  It’s just life. What we usually don’t know is if what that something will be.  A car accident? Cancer? It could be a falling coconut.  Some suffer.  Others go quickly.  Some see their end coming.  Many don’t. As we think about the meaning of Veteran’s Day, we salute our heroes who fought wars at home and abroad –  who most likely  thought about their mortality and wondering if they will make it to their next birthday. Dodging bullets is a way of life, literally for these men and women. “It was always in the back of your mind,” recalls Jacksonville, Fla., resident and Mayo Clinic volunteer Stanley Rozycki, a WWII Polish Army veteran. Rozycki, who was born in 1927, spent three years in the Underground Army as well as four years in the Polish Army under British command. But he also had the misfortune of being a prisoner of war and spent nine months in three different German POW camps. He often wondered if he’d make it to 84. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0aOdX2XImg

On June 14, 2011, after a 107-day wait in the hospital at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Kirk Watson, 44, received the news he’d been waiting for — a heart, liver and kidney were available for him. He would be the fourth person to receive a triple transplant at Mayo Clinic and only the 11th in the United States. The organs for transplant didn’t arrive without a glitch. A storm delayed their arrival via plane for a few hours. Watson and his wife, Rita, watched the thunder and lightning from the window of the hospital room while they waited.

My story began almost 4 years ago with the birth of my husband's and my first son, Aidan, born September 2007.  Mayo Clinic became involved with my story when they delivered our second son in July 2010.  This beautiful child, Liam, was born almost 2 years after learning I would never carry another pregnancy and had only gestational surrogacy as an option to complete our genetic family. After reaching out to family and friends with my story, I found an angel in my friend from childhood, Jessica Flotterud, who agreed to become our gestational surrogate.  Jessica has two children of her own with her husband and since working at Mayo Clinic as an OB nurse, has seen first hand the struggles some families have to get to the point of having their genetic child.  She and her husband told us that they knew if they were in the same situation, they would have the same needs we did.

When Mackenzie Chicos, an active 8-year-old from Owatonna, Minn., woke up for school one morning seeing spots in her left eye, her family didn’t suspect that anything could be seriously wrong. It was — and her vision was at risk. On that day in September 2010, Mackenzie went to school as usual. She mentioned the spotty vision to her teacher, who sent her to see the school nurse. The nurse performed a vision test, which was normal, and sent Mackenzie home with a note alerting her parents about the eye screening.

I went to Mayo Clinic for heart valve replacement surgery on October 13th, was released on the 18th, and can only say excellent things about ...

We scurried like mice across the street under the cover of darkness, hugging the side of the St. Mary building when we reached it to block the wind as it gusted at 22 below zero. The light from the entrance door called like a beacon, and when we reached it all I could do was give thanks. I stomped the snow off my boots and pushed back the hood of my coat, looking around for some Kleenex. My mom and dad followed behind me as I walked to the check in desk. Five am. One hour til surgery.

Austin Adamson, 19, was a day away from having heart surgery that would require a median sternotomy – “cracking open” the sternum (breastbone) to reach the heart – when he learned he was a candidate for a less-invasive procedure at Mayo Clinic. Adamson, who lives in Wilmer, Minn., had an atrial septal defect, a congenital heart condition in which a hole exists in the wall between the two upper heart chambers. The defect was detected in a routine pre-college physical exam. When listening to Adamson’s heart through a stethoscope, the physician heard a “whooshing” sound — a common sign of atrial septal defect. Over time, atrial septal defect would enlarge and weaken the right side of the heart. Adamson had sought care and planned to have surgery at another medical center. Then a nurse acquaintance of his stepmother, Lisa Adamson, mentioned that Mayo Clinic offered a minimally invasive procedure. The family scheduled a consultation with Harold Burkhart, M.D., a cardiovascular surgeon at Mayo Clinic, who determined that Adamson was a good candidate for minimally invasive open heart surgery.