MAYO....here we go

Hello out there!!

In order to make it to Minnesota we were going to need some help.  My family would have to pay for airfare and hotel, along with whatever payments we needed to make to insurance.  Entirely too much for a family of four, and a college tuition.  So, without even having to ask, Dan's mom set up a donation for our cause.  It was amazing, to put some word to it, how many people came to help when we needed them.  I could never have imagined!  I think the total raised by Nancy was about $7,000 dollars.  What a relief. I feel horribly for those patients who end up not being able to get treatment because they can't afford it.  What do they do?

We left for MN December 9th; the drive would take a day and a half.  The drive was uneventful considering we only take like 3 main highways to get there.  While driving through Wisconsin, the landscape was beautiful!! It was flat then all of a sudden a big rock would be shooting up from the ground...not a mountain, just a really tall rock, kinda like the grand canyon all by itself in the middle of a field. I would learn later this was the Wisconsin Dells.  Me and mom wanted to take a picture but dad wouldnt turn around. You know me with pictures!!

Once we arrived in Rochester we checked in to the Extended Stay and were starving.  The hotel recommended a place that could have been within walking distance if it wasn't below zero out.  Little did we know that this place they recommended was the BEST bar I have ever been too!!!!  The place is called Whistle Binkies!! Amazing.  The atmosphere is a sportsbar cabin.  They have free popcorn and a bar staff that is like your best friend.  This bar lived up to the standard of "people in Minnesota are the nicest ever". 

Mom and Dad came out with me for this initial visit.  Luckily my Dad was retired by now so he stayed with me the entire month.  Mom had to leave the next week and Dan would be out in a couple weeks.  So it was time to enter the building that is MAYO.  I was shocked and felt out of place. This building was absolutely beautiful...for what a building can be.  Marble everything and lots of beautiful artwork, I felt like I should have dressed up for the occasion.  NIH is so relaxed, doctors just wear white coats; at MAYO the doctors are in suits and ties.    Once I came back to reality I was forced to stand in the long line that was admissions.  For this trip to Minnesota we would have to use insurance for the first time in my cancer treatment.  THANK GOODNESS.  I can not imagine having to use insurance all the time, too many hoops.  Luckily, my sister chose the insurance field and medical billing as her profession, and she could not be more helpful in this situation.

On a side note....Rochester, MN has a Super Target!!!! It was perfect and right across the street practically from our hotel.  In that same shopping center there was a Mega-Digital Screen; whatever that means.  Oh, and it was heaven having my primetime shows be on an hour earlier....I tend to fall asleep pretty early.

We decided that to pass the time between appointments we would go to The Mall of America (there were some days where all I had to do was get a blood draw).  So we set out on our adventure! I have been there once before but my parents had not. Of course it is nothing but a mall that it is realllllyyyy biiiiggg. You don't really want to go there when you have no money because it just keeps throwing it in your face. We saw lego world, which I guess is pretty cool. Of course there is a rollercoaster that costs you $20 per ride, and a movie theatre that we did not check the prices for, and a lot of stores.  Whoever designed this mall and selected the stores was pretty smart, most stores are on every floor.  So for people like us who might only look at one floor, we are sure not to miss there store.  And again be reminded about the fact that we are struggling college students with no money!! Fun.