So mom went with me to meet the surgeon at Mayo Clinic.  We felt Dale was better to stay at home with the kids and work in case I did need more surgery.

We went to my appointment to be met by the PA (physician assistant).  She went over all my records, scans, etc and said she did not think that the surgeons could help me.  She thought that it would be best to first see their GI team, pain team, fibromyalgia specialist, etc….she basically wanted to treat everything but the reason I had gone to Mayo.

I left pissed and by the time we made our way back to the parking garage I was in tears.  It is hard to explain what it feels like to hear a physician tell you that they cannot help you.  I have experienced this more than once in my life.  The sorrow in their face, their quiet voice, the apologies.  You are so young.  You have been through so much.  I know….I have attended every single day.

I couldn’t even speak on the way back to the hotel.  I couldn’t call Dale and the kids.  I felt paralyzed and thought that maybe this was it and from this point would be downhill.  I HATE feeling depressed, feeling sorry for myself and quickly went back to pissed.

I called Dale and then I called the PA back as I had her direct phone number.  I told her that I would like to see the surgeon anyway.  I respected her opinion but I wanted the surgeon to tell me there was nothing more that could be done.  She said she would get it set up for later that day or the next day.  She called back and stated that 3 surgeons had refused my case BUT the head of cardiothoracic surgery had agreed to see me that afternoon.

Dr. Dennis Wigle.  I liked him the minute he walked in the room.  This man seriously has the kindest smile.  He had already reviewed my case and had some questions for me.  We discussed all kinds of options and he felt that the only way to resolve the problems I was having was to get that 10% of stomach back in my abdomen.  He wanted to do some more tests and then if he felt that it was possible he would reconstruct my diaphragm to repair this hole that was now a little larger than a grapefruit.

Tests were done. We had several phone consultations and surgery was scheduled for June 8, 2016.  Scared.  But wait…a teeny, tiny glimmer of hope.

Dale and I traveled to Rochester on June 7th to meet with Dr. Wigle one more time before surgery the next day.