Two weeks ago Manyu and I spent three days at the Mayo Clinic. The purpose of our trip was to put Manyu through a battery of tests to figure out why she has double vision. As it turned out, I was the one more in need of medical attention.
After Manyu’s second medical test (an orbital MRI to assess the thickness of the muscles around her eyes), she returned to the waiting area to find me. When I saw her come out of the examination rooms, I stood up to meet her. I did not know it, but my left foot had fallen asleep. When I put weight on that foot, I expected to feel the floor, but never did. The sensation was like going down a step that I didn’t know was there. My ankle twisted sideways, and I fell over backwards. The Birkenstock sandal on my right foot flew off in one direction, my eyeglasses in another. I hit the back of my head on the arm of the chair I’d been sitting on.
In theory, there should be no better place in the world to take a fall than the Mayo Clinic. I can both agree and disagree with that assessment. On the plus side, the staff was on me with a wheelchair before I had a chance to sit up. On the negative side, they were ready to send me to the emergency room before I had a chance to explain my condition. A trip to the emergency room would have included a ride in an ambulance, as the Clinic itself has no emergency facilities. The nearest emergency room is a mile away at St. Mary’s Hospital.
I objected to going to the emergency room, and a doctor and a pair of nurses finally relented when I convinced them that 1) I didn’t fall out of dizziness and 2) my head, but for a small abrasion on my bald spot, felt fine. I didn’t mention that my ankle hurt, as I was sure that they’d ship me off to X-ray if they knew.
I escaped the Clinic without any medical tests. Two days later I felt fine, but I did call the triage nurse at my local clinic (also a Mayo facility) to make sure I was taking proper precautions. After she asked me a series of questions about blurred vision, vomiting, and headaches, she told me to watch for any changes in my condition and to go to emergency if I suddenly felt worse.
I want to point out that I do not have an aversion to doctors. It is just that had I fallen anywhere other than a medical facility, I would chided myself for being clumsy and gone on with my day. As to our original reason for going to Mayo, the various tests eliminated all but one potential reason for Manyu’s double vision. As we’d already suspected, it is due to her Grave’s disease. Now that we know for certain what the problem is, the next step is appointments with endocrinology here in La Crosse to come up with a treatment plan.
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