- Joined
- Jul 26, 2012
- Messages
- 92
I have had UC that is been in remission for years -- however, I recently have had bouts of acute abdominal pain that no one has been able to figure out yet. So, I decide to make an appointment with a GI doc at the MAYO clinic in Jacksonville, FL. I stayed in a room at “The Inn at the MAYO Clinic” run by Marriott. I was also alone and that was the only place that I could stay if I needed a procedure that required anesthesia because it was connected to the hospital. Otherwise, I would have needed someone else there to drive me around. I arrived on a Monday night, my appointment with the GI doctor was at 8am on Tuesday, I was told to be at registration no later than 7am.
The abdominal pain that I have been having seemed to be induced by vigorous exercise, among other things. I went to bed early and woke up at 4:30 am to go to the gym at the hotel to work out for 2 hours before I saw the doctor. I am half-asleep when I take two steps out the door before I realized that I left all the gear that I need to workout in my room. I turn around to open the door and the room key doesn’t work. So, I go to the front desk and get another key, that one doesn’t work either. I go back to the front desk again and this time, the assistant manager resets the lock from his computer. I try my key again, still nothing.
By now, it’s just after 5am. The assistant manager then brings his master key and after trying several times, he can’t get in either. He starts futzing with the lock to remove the cover plate but can’t. He disappears and returns a few minutes later with a screwdriver, but to no avail, he still can open the door. Then he makes a phone call and brings some kind of electronic contraption over that has a wireless remote key that is supposed to reset the lock. He futzes with that for about 15 or 20 minutes but that doesn’t work. After all that, he calls maintenance and says that they will be there in 20 minutes.
By 6am, I started to get a little worried that I wasn’t going to have enough time to work out long enough to reproduce the symptoms I was having that I was there to see the doctor about.
A little after 6am the assistant manager apologizes that he is having trouble and that he is doing everything he can to take care the situation. He gets on the phone again and brings the electronic contraption back to the room door. After 20-30 more minutes of walking through instructions on the phone, he finally gives up. He says that there is nothing that he can do short of breaking the window to get in. I asked him to grab a rock and smash it, I need to get back in my room, forget my gym gear, I was running out of time, all my paperwork, id, insurance card etc… is in that room, I can’t register or see the doctor for that matter without that stuff. Then he says that he will have to ask the manager before he can break the window, otherwise I might be charged for it. I decided to be a little more patient, I didn’t want to break the window but if he did it would have been fine by me.
7am comes and goes maintenance still hasn’t shown up yet but the manager of the hotel walks in. She tries every method she knows to open the lock but can’t. I tell here that I needed to be at registration 15 min ago but I haven’t even gotten in the shower yet. So she offers me another room to shower in, I was grateful, however, all my clothes were still my room so unless I was going to walk through the hospital wrapped towel, a shower was pointless. I realize now, that I am going to be late for my doctor’s appointment, I can’t register, I can’t do anything unless I get back in my room. At about 7:30am the manager finally offers up the option to break the window so that I can get in the room. Just then, the maintenance person walks in the door. While he is working on the lock, I take a shower in a nearby room, the door is open by the time I am done the shower, I get dressed grab my things, register and am only 15 minutes late to see the doctor.
The doctor spent a considerable amount of time with me and he ordered a colonoscopy, upper gi, cat scan, blood work, urine collection, ultrasound and a few other tests. He mentions that the differential diagnosis for my symptoms is wide. He emphasized that although he wants to be thorough, that he also agreed that my symptoms suspiciously pointed to porphyria. I am given an itinerary for the next few days and sent off for the various test.
The colonoscopy was scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 3pm, I was to drink ½ a gallon of Golytely (believe me there is nothing “light” about it) on Wednesday night and finish the other ½ on Thursday morning at least 3 hours prior to the procedure.
After I start drinking the prep on Wednesday, I notice a piece of paper with the hotel letterhead was slipped under my door, I thought it was the bill for the hotel room and didn’t pay much attention to it. Thursday morning I started drinking the rest of the prep around 9am and grabbed the bill off the floor. When I read it, I was shocked! It was not my hotel bill, it was a notice from the hotel stating that they were replacing the boiler on Thursday and that all water will be shut off from 10am until approximately 2pm that day, so people should plan their showers accordingly. I run to the phone to get a hold of the manager, and the clerk at the desk tells me that there is nothing they can do because this had been well planned out to coincide with training they had for the maids since they couldn’t work when the water was off. The clerk seemed apathetic, and said that there was no way they could reschedule that. When I finally get a hold of the manager, she offers to put me up at the other Marriott on the other side of campus to finish my prep, I expected no less than that. However, it was a little unnerving while I waited for the shuttle to take me over to the other hotel in the middle of a colonoscopy prep but I managed to make it without incident.
After the procedure, on my way back to my old room I greeted the maintenance person that had fixed my lock hanging around at in the lobby. Apparently, the water was never turned off because the crew that was supposed to change the boiler didn’t show up.
The 4 days that I spent at MAYO were not ideal, but I admit that the doctors I dealt with there were fantastic, even though I am still no closer to finding out what else besides UC is causing my abdominal pain. Some of my friends think I am crazy, but the next time I go back to the Jacksonville MAYO, I will probably stay at the same hotel.
The abdominal pain that I have been having seemed to be induced by vigorous exercise, among other things. I went to bed early and woke up at 4:30 am to go to the gym at the hotel to work out for 2 hours before I saw the doctor. I am half-asleep when I take two steps out the door before I realized that I left all the gear that I need to workout in my room. I turn around to open the door and the room key doesn’t work. So, I go to the front desk and get another key, that one doesn’t work either. I go back to the front desk again and this time, the assistant manager resets the lock from his computer. I try my key again, still nothing.
By now, it’s just after 5am. The assistant manager then brings his master key and after trying several times, he can’t get in either. He starts futzing with the lock to remove the cover plate but can’t. He disappears and returns a few minutes later with a screwdriver, but to no avail, he still can open the door. Then he makes a phone call and brings some kind of electronic contraption over that has a wireless remote key that is supposed to reset the lock. He futzes with that for about 15 or 20 minutes but that doesn’t work. After all that, he calls maintenance and says that they will be there in 20 minutes.
By 6am, I started to get a little worried that I wasn’t going to have enough time to work out long enough to reproduce the symptoms I was having that I was there to see the doctor about.
A little after 6am the assistant manager apologizes that he is having trouble and that he is doing everything he can to take care the situation. He gets on the phone again and brings the electronic contraption back to the room door. After 20-30 more minutes of walking through instructions on the phone, he finally gives up. He says that there is nothing that he can do short of breaking the window to get in. I asked him to grab a rock and smash it, I need to get back in my room, forget my gym gear, I was running out of time, all my paperwork, id, insurance card etc… is in that room, I can’t register or see the doctor for that matter without that stuff. Then he says that he will have to ask the manager before he can break the window, otherwise I might be charged for it. I decided to be a little more patient, I didn’t want to break the window but if he did it would have been fine by me.
7am comes and goes maintenance still hasn’t shown up yet but the manager of the hotel walks in. She tries every method she knows to open the lock but can’t. I tell here that I needed to be at registration 15 min ago but I haven’t even gotten in the shower yet. So she offers me another room to shower in, I was grateful, however, all my clothes were still my room so unless I was going to walk through the hospital wrapped towel, a shower was pointless. I realize now, that I am going to be late for my doctor’s appointment, I can’t register, I can’t do anything unless I get back in my room. At about 7:30am the manager finally offers up the option to break the window so that I can get in the room. Just then, the maintenance person walks in the door. While he is working on the lock, I take a shower in a nearby room, the door is open by the time I am done the shower, I get dressed grab my things, register and am only 15 minutes late to see the doctor.
The doctor spent a considerable amount of time with me and he ordered a colonoscopy, upper gi, cat scan, blood work, urine collection, ultrasound and a few other tests. He mentions that the differential diagnosis for my symptoms is wide. He emphasized that although he wants to be thorough, that he also agreed that my symptoms suspiciously pointed to porphyria. I am given an itinerary for the next few days and sent off for the various test.
The colonoscopy was scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 3pm, I was to drink ½ a gallon of Golytely (believe me there is nothing “light” about it) on Wednesday night and finish the other ½ on Thursday morning at least 3 hours prior to the procedure.
After I start drinking the prep on Wednesday, I notice a piece of paper with the hotel letterhead was slipped under my door, I thought it was the bill for the hotel room and didn’t pay much attention to it. Thursday morning I started drinking the rest of the prep around 9am and grabbed the bill off the floor. When I read it, I was shocked! It was not my hotel bill, it was a notice from the hotel stating that they were replacing the boiler on Thursday and that all water will be shut off from 10am until approximately 2pm that day, so people should plan their showers accordingly. I run to the phone to get a hold of the manager, and the clerk at the desk tells me that there is nothing they can do because this had been well planned out to coincide with training they had for the maids since they couldn’t work when the water was off. The clerk seemed apathetic, and said that there was no way they could reschedule that. When I finally get a hold of the manager, she offers to put me up at the other Marriott on the other side of campus to finish my prep, I expected no less than that. However, it was a little unnerving while I waited for the shuttle to take me over to the other hotel in the middle of a colonoscopy prep but I managed to make it without incident.
After the procedure, on my way back to my old room I greeted the maintenance person that had fixed my lock hanging around at in the lobby. Apparently, the water was never turned off because the crew that was supposed to change the boiler didn’t show up.
The 4 days that I spent at MAYO were not ideal, but I admit that the doctors I dealt with there were fantastic, even though I am still no closer to finding out what else besides UC is causing my abdominal pain. Some of my friends think I am crazy, but the next time I go back to the Jacksonville MAYO, I will probably stay at the same hotel.
