Amazement

Good Morning lovely friends and family. I am once again chasing my ghost but this time I took a giant leap. I have chased a couple of ghosts, but this one has tormented me for over 7 years. My ghost has been poking, prodding and leaving me exhausted for years. My ghost has progressively become more and more aggressive.
My regular medical physician had put me through so many tests that he had no idea what else to test for. Several specialist before him tried to find something but inevitably ended up sending me to another specialist in a different field.
So this year my M.D. referred me to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. My anxiety about the trip hit an incredible high once the plane took off. There were so many things that I found overwhelming mainly the not knowing what I was going to find once I got here.
Upon arriving the next day I found a building, rather many buildings, that were huge and intimidating. Come to find out the clinic employs more people than the entire population of the town that I live. Inside was the most welcoming experience.
The clinic prides itself on many things, but in one posting it seems that health and the progress of science are their main focus. They wish to maintain several elements for their patients. One element was the atmosphere. We were met by art, a warm environment with soothing non-elevator music, and many people smiling and happy to help. It was fantastic to hear pianos being played life on a couple of the floors.
Although I can hardly say that this was a vacation of any sort I can also say that it was one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had while traveling. At one point as I was slowing making my way along, a smiley woman called me to the information desk. She offered a wheelchair, explained how the wheelchair process worked and happily gave us some history on their wheelchairs. Of that information one that I found especially interesting was how the clinic owns around 1700 wheelchairs and each night those are collected and wiped down. I cannot imagine the army of people it would take to do just that.
Running into volunteers who happily pointed you in the right direction was incredible knowing that they are apart of their own army. Many of these volunteers were happy just to say and and visit with you for a brief moment. One of those was a lovely woman in the cafeteria in the subway. She organized, cleaned and even filled the plastic ware. She made certain to stop by and say hello. I got to hear her story and in a way meet her husband. She painted a lovely picture of traveling which took you away from the busy introvert struggle that was consuming in every direction.
I did not know it was possible to meet so many kind and friendly people in one place. I did not know that coming here would be so good to me. I came afraid that I would continue to run in the same medical nightmare I’ve been living for the past 10 years. I came holding onto the disappointment of having doctor after doctor and specialist after specialist tell me that they want me to go see someone else. Openly and honestly I couldn’t have been more wrong. I am somewhat ashamed of my inhibitions about a place that is world renowned for their care and for finding stubborn problems in the human body.
I certainly was not prepared for the bright building that invited me in more like a museum than a health care institute. The ability to find things you need for what was described as the Mayo Marathon, even if it was just your choice of many different styles and brands of coffee all the way to fine art and of course antihistamine (a story best kept for another time). Bright lighting and a fresh air environment certainly helped the time go by much faster than you would suspect it could be, despite spending hour after hour each day walking, waiting and sitting.
I am not writing this as an advertisement for Mayo Clinic although I would have no problem doing so. Rather I am please to say that I was wrong. While my fears were valid I was wrong to assume that my past experiences had the right to cloud moving forward. In a way the relief of finding one bit of information in the puzzle was enough to show me how much my holding onto that did not allow me to move forward in many things.
While receiving this brilliant care does not fundamentally change the challenges I am facing, it does change my outlook going forward. It changes my perspective on there being hope in finding ways to be more comfortable in life. It changes my understanding of what the medical community can be and it has shown me some of the strongest people on the planet. I have met people from many states, I have seen those wheelchair bound, people and children fighting cancer, family battling through to help their loved ones get the support they need, and most importantly I saw a community come together for the betterment of everyone.