Renee's Mayo Clinic Expense

My wife started her medical nightmare back in 2006. After suffering with, what we thought was, heartburn, she went through an endoscopy. It wasn't heartburn as she went straight to pre-open for immediate emergency surgery. Her entire stomach had to be removed due to a mass of polyps, engulfing 90 percent of what was her stomach. Imagine losing your stomach at the age of 36. This turned out to be the start of her never ending battle. Shortly after recovering, the doctor wanted to do a colonoscopy since we determined that polyps ran in her family. More polyps were found in her colon. They removed all that they found but unfortunately one removal ruptured within 24 hours sending her back for another major surgery. After recovering from this, she developed uncontrollable hypoglycemia, which caused her to have to stop working, after a lengthy career. Her health was taking a turn, as losing her stomach was starting to affect other things. About 2 1/2 years ago, after rushing her to the hospital, it was determined that she had an elevated ammonia level. After testing and a number of specialists getting involved, none have been able to determine the root cause. Most patients that suffer with this are typically battling liver disease, which she is not. Not long after, she started getting severe headaches, which are similar to severe migraines. The problem is that they haven't found a medication that prevents or eliminates them. The headaches seem to be directly related to the ammonia level rise, which has been uncontrollable. She has been in and out of the hospital for the past 2 years with no end in sight. Each time the ammonia elevates, her brain is being attacked, causing irreparable damage. Her doctors finally determined that her best option was to refer her to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. She has to report for June 6th, 2016. Her medical bills have already taken a toll on us, and we expect more from her treatment and testing at Mayo, along with the travel expenses. We just hope and pray that they can figure this out and help her to lead a better quality of life. Renee is the sweetest and kindest person I have ever met and I will do anything I have to to help her get through this nightmare. I hate to think of life without her.