Getting the Medical Appointments Done at the Mayo…

The main reason we booked our stay here in the Mesa area was to be close to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale Arizona. We are less than 30 minutes away from one of the best medical facilities in the United States. We have mentioned in previous blogs how great the Mayo Clinics are for fulltimers since there are 3 large facilities in the corners of the USA. One here in Scottsdale meets our needs when we are out west and the Jacksonville Florida location meets our needs when we are out east.

The original Mayo is in Rochester, Minnesota and is the only one we haven't been to but it is nice knowing if we need to be at one up north we can always go there. Fulltimers who want to use the Mayo Clinics should first call one to see if they accept your insurance. We are on Blue Cross/Blue Shield and are sure happy they accept it. They do request you have your own physician as they are not a cold  or flu clinic.  Apparently some insurance companies require patients be referred to the Mayo Clinics by their primary care doctor.  We just called and got right in.

We feel these clinics cater to travelers and strive to ensure all appointments are completed in as short a time as possible. I was able to complete all my lab work and appointments including my final consultation in two consecutive days but Sharon still has an two appointments scheduled next week.

As we are both cancer survivors we don’t look forward to these appointments at all and are always happy to have them behind us. My visits with the doctors here went well and I have a clean bill of health at least until my visit with the Mayo next year. Sharon, as a breast cancer survivor, passed her biggest worry since she had a clear mammogram but her dermatologist found a likely basal cell carcinoma on her nose that may require surgical removal before we leave here. A forthcoming biopsy in 7-10 days will let us know for sure.

My dermatologist cleared me of any concerns which relieves me greatly after the Mayo in Jacksonville a year ago first found an in situ melanoma on my chest and removed it. Being a year removed is a good sign of it not likely recurring.

The Mayo really has the customer at the forefront. Everyone is mostly polite and friendly and wait times are minimal. Best of all is hen there are long waits between appointments they will try to get you in early. But if you can’t get in early they have a wonderful nature hike just outside the clinic. Not only did we take the nature trail but we found out that in the Concourse level, at varying times throughout the day, that they play live music. One day we were there they had an exquisite brother duo with one on the guitar and the other on the sax… they were really good!

So with a few more appointments in Sharon’s future we are glad we booked a month in Mesa in order to get it all done before figuring out where we will go from here. We are booked to the 25th of February but I am already getting the itch to move on and really looking forward to Spring…