January 10, 2021

Today was the first hurdle to accommodating this surgery. We made our way into Rochester and had a COVID test... I gotta say I've been pretty happy with this Mayo patient portal, however today it let me down, but that's why we planned ahead and left early. We were given a map in the patient portal to follow and my wife and daughter dropped me off at the prescribed location. After my wife dropped me off at the doors, it turns out those doors were locked and my wife had already pulled away, but I'm resourceful. I looked through the glass to see that no one was inside, no one at the information booths, no "guards" at the doors for COVID adherence. So, I managed to slide through a door that I probably wasn't supposed to go through, following a man who looked like he might have been a doctor. No worries, I was wearing my N95 mask...thank you Justin! 

Inside there was no one around, this was Sunday after all, but I also knew that Mayo has an extensive underground tunnel system so I started making my way toward the Charlton building through this tunnel system. I found a gentleman at a table who directed me toward the Charlton building and told me I needed to go up a floor when I got there...easy enough. Upon arrival, I was questioned a bit about how I got there without a "Sunday" sticker...I said "walked"...lol. They didn't ask anything else other than the standard COVID questions. Have you had a cough, fever, loss of taste, etcetera, and then gave me a "Sunday" sticker and directed me to COVID testing. This test was in and out, no waiting and the staff were nice and helpful. 

I went ahead and left the building, as I was supposed to do at the Charlton building, and made my way a block south to where my wife was to pick me back up. As I waited, I noticed a few people having the same problem, or at least that's what I assumed. They happened to pull up and ask for directions from another person getting in their car, and another person checked the doors and jumped back in the car before I could ask if they were looking for COVID testing. My wife picked me up and we did a little exploring around Rochester but didn't go inside anywhere, again don't want to risk any chance of COVID. 

Headed back to the hotel for dinner and step two of preparing for surgery! I look an awful lot like my older brother, and I must say...we look good Bubba!