Do you want some "Mayo" on that?

Well, today we scheduled a consult and full workup at the Mayo clinic in Rochester Minnesota. We fly out on next Wednesday evening and they need us to stay for five working days so we will have to be gone until the following Wednesday. They will perform all the biopsies, labs and necessary radiographs and most importantly gather all the specialists together to discuss how best to manage our case. It is out of network for our insurance but we believe that we have some strong arguments for why the insurance should allow us to leave the IHC network. It will be nice to finally have a biopsy to confirm the radiographic diagnosis. Huntsman wanted to perform the biopsy. We were going to do it here but after talking to the doctors at Mayo they had a few concerns so we decided that we would rather just wait and do it once and not risk the biopsy being taken in the wrong place and having to have it redone. Dr. Jeff Youngquist has been so nice to come in and cover my patients when I have to be gone. What an answer to prayers he has been.

I should mention, last Tuesday my Dad came down to the office and was just kind of hanging around watching while I was working. He kept asking me what I was doing and why. When I finally had a break where we could talk he said, "Eric, I just wanted you to know that I would be willing to come down and work for free for you while you are gone. I'm not too fast anymore but I'm sure I could do something." It was a very kind gesture. He is 82 years old and struggles with his eyesight but his heart is in the right place. He also told me that he had offered to God to "Take me in Eric's stead" I love my dad. He's not perfect, none of us are, but I love him.

It was nice to get back to work today. I love being a dentist. What a blessing it is to have a job that you love to go to each day. I have a lot to be grateful for. I only cried twice today. I am grateful for that as well.

Last night I received a letter from Bryan Bird, one of the YM that I worked with years ago here in the ward. It had been a hard day and his kind words truly lifted my spirits. Those young men were like sons to me. I loved being a part of their lives. Bryan is now the YM president in his own ward and I am sure blessing the lives of many youth. Isn't it a wonderful how God allows us to to love and serve one another and how much better our lives are because of it all.