Janice Boobar

If not for Mayo Clinic, Janice Boobar, a retired homemaker and mother of four, might still be in south Texas confined to a wheelchair, facing a difficult diagnosis.

Fortunately, these days Boobar is busy traveling the United States with her husband, and recuperating from a bout of arthritis.

Boobar owes her health to the skills and expertise of Mayo Clinic doctors who helped turn a frustrating medical mess into a happy ending.

"My husband and I were getting ready for our travels north to avoid the hot Texan summers," she explains. "But then a strange weakness in my left leg started, and I felt like it, and I, would crumble.

"I was having a lot of pain and I could no longer get up the stairs or out of a chair or commode, and it was progressively getting worse," she says. "I knew it was time to see a doctor."

Routine blood tests and an MRI of her hip found nothing. Boobar's primary care doctor referred her to a neurologist. After more tests, he found nothing wrong either and recommended she see specialists at a major medical center. After more tests and three months of waiting, doctors at the medical center told her they believed she had a disease in the muscular dystrophy family.

"I was devastated and confused," recalls Boobar. "The doctor who gave the diagnosis failed to return my phone calls. I was left hanging with a new, scary diagnosis, but no further information," she says.

Frustrated, Boobar told her story to her husband's doctor. "Knowing we were headed north to Minnesota, my husband's doctor strongly advised that we call Mayo Clinic for another opinion." Boobar was reluctant. "We were neither rich nor famous, nor had a special, urgent case, and we thought the waiting time would be forever," she says.

However, she called. Within days, she had an appointment. When she arrived, she saw several doctors and underwent a battery of tests. She says she never waited for any test or doctor's appointment. "It all worked like clockwork, and finally, I began to feel like someone actually cared."

Then came good news. Rather than muscular dystrophy, Mayo doctors told Boobar she had arthritis, and that her pain could be resolved through daily exercise and the use of anti-inflammatory medications.

Thrilled with the news, Boobar immediately followed Mayo's instructions, hoping for the best. Within days, her pain was gone, and her leg began to feel normal. She never even needed the anti-inflammatories.

For the first time in years, Boobar's life is now about back to normal. "Traveling with my husband is clearly more fun than learning how to use a wheelchair I never needed," says Boobar. She says she owes her renewed health and leg function to Mayo Clinic. "My time at Mayo has to be the best medical experience I have ever had," she says. "My husband and I could not believe how easy you make it for patients, from the signs which made it easy to find your way around to the promptness of all appointments."

"After months of tests and doctors visits, I was thrilled to find the right disease and the right treatment by providers who actually cared.

"And surprisingly, for a facility that claims to treat more than 3,000 patients per day, it is amazing how they make you feel that you are their only patient," says Boobar, who says she found this type of health care delivery rare and unusual.