Mayo Clinic - any recommendations/experiences?

HI.  I have two friends who did all their treatment at Mayo.  I had mine in Eau Claire, WI.  Mayo basically gave the same recommendations for my two friends who had similar diagnoses to me.  I went to Mayo to have reconstruction and am very pleased with the results.  I think it really helpful to go to Mayo-- they have top notch breast cancer research doctors. 

My treatment was bilat MX, chemo,rads,Herceptin.

Hope this helps,

Wendy
 

Just sent a PM

I had my second opinion at initial diagnosis at the Mayo Rochester and all of my treatment there. I liked the team approach and the rapid results to tests. I drove 2 hours each way for all of my appointments and for 25 rad treatments. I was offered a no cost stay at the HOPE Lodge during rads, but was more comfortable going home each time. I continue to go every six months for follow ups.

When I was diagnosed in February my husband asked our doctor what they would do if they had something like this and they said Mayo's that's what we did. It was fast also 4 days after meeting with our docs we had a Monday consult at Mayo's. It's funny I started with just one consult for that Monday morning and by the end of the day one turned into 5. Very pleased with doctor Sandu (BS) and her nurse. Actually everyone there. We had a seven hour drive from the UP.well worth it. Buy a Tom-Tom GPS and stay at the Best Western Soldier Field. WE liked the fact that we get to the hotel and park our car and use the free shuttle for everything. So everyone from the hotel staff to Mayo's GREAT..........

Diagnosis Feb 8, 2010    IDC 1.8  Stage 1C  Grade 2  ER+/PR+  Her2-  0/2 SN 

I was diagnosed on Friday, March 13, 2009 at The Mayo Clinic in Rochestor while out there for their  executive health program where they basically check everything that's currently needed. My husband scheduled his colonoscopy, flight physical, dermatology and I also schedued a sleep study and thyroid study. I thought, might as well get my mammogram while I'm at it, so on my first day there I had my mammogram and got the shock of my lifetime. I had had no palpable lump. No family history.

All of the staff--from the desk clerks, the nurses, the mammogram technicians, the radiologists, the highly skilled surgeon (Dr. Degnim) my counselor Dr. Lonnie and my oncologist were fantastic. I had an anesthesiologist, but my nurse anesthetist was an angel--a real one, I think. The time from diagnosis to core biopsy to surgery was one week. We had returned home to the east coast following my diagnosis on Friday the 13th and we were scheduled to go to Sloan Kettering, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins for consultations after I made some calls on Monday morning. We then realized that plan would have involved about three more weeks of nerve-wracking waiting for all of the appointments and I knew in my heart that I wanted to go back to Mayo. Then a doctor friend suggested that we should return to Mayo, since I was already in the system and they are so good, so that did it for me. My husband and I called The Mayo Clinic that same day and they said that I could see the surgeon on Tuesday--the next day! We hastily packed our bags and got a flight out of Newark to Minnesota that evening. I was in the best of hands at Mayo. I had my surgery on Thursday, within a week from diagnosis. My surgical result was and still is amazing and I was reassured by my oncotype score. I returned home and did the radiation at Sloan Kettering in New Jersey (easy to get to) and my oncologist is at Penn (also not far and I liked him). Sounds complicated, but it works. If I could have done all of my treatment at Mayo I would have, but since I live on the east coast that wasn't practical. I am very lucky they found my tumor, because it was hiding really well and in the words of my oncologist at Penn, "Mayo had to look really hard to find it." Thank God they did. Mayo was a such positive experience for me, despite the diagnosis of breast cancer.  Though I was in shock from the diagnosis, I was supported so well. I highly recommend them. I intend to return for another bone scan. I had a clear mammogram at Sloan Kettering in April 2010.

I was treated at Mayo in Phoenix AZ.  Top notch, well-coordinated and compassionate care.  I wouldn't hesitate to go there.