Aa
Latest trip to the VA
Well I finally made the trip up to Nashville VA today. The trip started off pretty good as I saw 8 deer on the up along the trace. Seeing deer always cheers me up, which I haven't seen any for quite a while. The first 6 deer I didn't get a real good look as they were running into the woods along the trace. The last 2 just stood there on the edge of the road so I got a real goor look at them, They looked like maybe yearlings.
First stop at the VA was at the DAV office to get my VA appeal in. The woman in the office expressed disgust that the VA had denied all of my disabilty claim and told me there is a new effort in the works to get Blue Water sailors Agent Orange exposure status. I sure hope they get it through this time as I suspect a good portion of my health problems are from that.
The next stop was at the Patient Advocacy office to complain about my PCP. I told the man there about how my PCP told me to just tell my non-VA neuro about my bladder problems so he looked at my chart on his computer and noticed my PCP didn't even enter anything about my bladder problems in my chart. So he filed the complaint with some doctor that handles this stuff about my PCP ignoring the bladder problem. He said I should hear someing back in 7 to 10 day.
I was also going to check in the Walk-in Clinic (ER) about my ankle (which is still hurting) but when I saw that the waiting area was standing room only I decided not to do it. My friend Dave has an appointment next week at the VA and I'll go with him to have it checked out then as it should not be as busy. But speaking of ankles I did discover something while up there. I AM twisting my ankle. I was walking down of of the many halls there and felt a sharp pain in my ankle and noticed that I was basically standing on the side of my foot instead of the bottom. Dispite this my ankle still feels OK with weight on it and hurts with no weight on it. Very strange! So should I keep my foot elevated and in pain or with weight on it so there is no pain?
I also finally got through to Sceduling at the VA this morning. I now have an Appt with the VA nuero for May 5th. I also scheduled an appt with mental health (March 29th) as I have been feeling pretty down lately, not sleeping good, and kind of anxious about being able to take care of myself. possible cause that I can come up with are:
1) Not seeing any deer.
2) Long cold grey and dreay winter
3) Stress
4) More pain than usual
5) More confusion and stupid things happening.
6) All of the above....
But the main reason I wanted to get into the Mental health clinic is because the other day as I walked past my gun rack, just for a split second, I though of shooting myself. That was a really scary thing to happen to me. I never would so please don't be concerned, but just having that split second though was enough to make me realize that I must be getting depressed and should get some help.
Dennis
First stop at the VA was at the DAV office to get my VA appeal in. The woman in the office expressed disgust that the VA had denied all of my disabilty claim and told me there is a new effort in the works to get Blue Water sailors Agent Orange exposure status. I sure hope they get it through this time as I suspect a good portion of my health problems are from that.
The next stop was at the Patient Advocacy office to complain about my PCP. I told the man there about how my PCP told me to just tell my non-VA neuro about my bladder problems so he looked at my chart on his computer and noticed my PCP didn't even enter anything about my bladder problems in my chart. So he filed the complaint with some doctor that handles this stuff about my PCP ignoring the bladder problem. He said I should hear someing back in 7 to 10 day.
I was also going to check in the Walk-in Clinic (ER) about my ankle (which is still hurting) but when I saw that the waiting area was standing room only I decided not to do it. My friend Dave has an appointment next week at the VA and I'll go with him to have it checked out then as it should not be as busy. But speaking of ankles I did discover something while up there. I AM twisting my ankle. I was walking down of of the many halls there and felt a sharp pain in my ankle and noticed that I was basically standing on the side of my foot instead of the bottom. Dispite this my ankle still feels OK with weight on it and hurts with no weight on it. Very strange! So should I keep my foot elevated and in pain or with weight on it so there is no pain?
I also finally got through to Sceduling at the VA this morning. I now have an Appt with the VA nuero for May 5th. I also scheduled an appt with mental health (March 29th) as I have been feeling pretty down lately, not sleeping good, and kind of anxious about being able to take care of myself. possible cause that I can come up with are:
1) Not seeing any deer.
2) Long cold grey and dreay winter
3) Stress
4) More pain than usual
5) More confusion and stupid things happening.
6) All of the above....
But the main reason I wanted to get into the Mental health clinic is because the other day as I walked past my gun rack, just for a split second, I though of shooting myself. That was a really scary thing to happen to me. I never would so please don't be concerned, but just having that split second though was enough to make me realize that I must be getting depressed and should get some help.
Dennis
Dennis,
>>I have learned that Veys need to stick together in order to get anywhere in the VA.
roger dat & AMEN
>>My friend Dave (Army vet) and I usually go together to the VA and sit in on each others Appts. in order to have proof about what...
that is so wise and you are so lucky. hard for me to find someone but i've sworn for some time to myself, "never again will i go alone to the va". thanks for th remindr.
>>his needed hernia which they kept refusing to do.
see, there it is again, "it isn'at life threatening, take 2 aspirins or see a shrink" attitude they toss at patients. gee, man, hernias can be so bleeping painful it is almost sick funny, ya know?
>>...but not the combination of my overall health.
my neuro pulled the same route with me.
seems the PA is helping you. most docs at the va do not want bad marks on their records via a PA or something. you can see that by how well they write up what they did with the patient although most times they only did a half-arse version. they are so under the gun they are too scared of making waves. but i'm never gonna make an excuse for them - not the one who mistreat vets by not treating them fairly and duely.
i think you and i are the only Navy guys here. we'll protect each other's 6 as best we can and some how get through all this mud
Godspeed
>>I have learned that Veys need to stick together in order to get anywhere in the VA.
roger dat & AMEN
>>My friend Dave (Army vet) and I usually go together to the VA and sit in on each others Appts. in order to have proof about what...
that is so wise and you are so lucky. hard for me to find someone but i've sworn for some time to myself, "never again will i go alone to the va". thanks for th remindr.
>>his needed hernia which they kept refusing to do.
see, there it is again, "it isn'at life threatening, take 2 aspirins or see a shrink" attitude they toss at patients. gee, man, hernias can be so bleeping painful it is almost sick funny, ya know?
>>...but not the combination of my overall health.
my neuro pulled the same route with me.
seems the PA is helping you. most docs at the va do not want bad marks on their records via a PA or something. you can see that by how well they write up what they did with the patient although most times they only did a half-arse version. they are so under the gun they are too scared of making waves. but i'm never gonna make an excuse for them - not the one who mistreat vets by not treating them fairly and duely.
i think you and i are the only Navy guys here. we'll protect each other's 6 as best we can and some how get through all this mud
Godspeed
Mary,
I can't speak for others but as for me I think it is a result of dealling with so many stupid doctors. We learn to assess our physical problems in order to figure out for ourselves what is going on in the hope of finding some help. So it doesn't take much to then apply this to our emotional / mental state.
U2
Of course I'll let you know the results of the PA route with my PCP. I have used the PA route 2 other times at the VA. I have learned that Veys need to stick together in order to get anywhere in the VA. My friend Dave (Army vet) and I usually go together to the VA and sit in on each others Appts. in order to have proof about what the doctors do or say. Dave had been going to see doctors about his needed hernia which they kept refusing to do. But after I sat in on one of his appts with the surgeon they finally agreed that he needed the operation and it was done within 2 weeks.
1 was in getting my annual disabilty forms filled out. That was sort of a mixed bag for results. Iy did get my doctors on the ball to fill out their individual areas of the form, but I still had to through a fit at the VA to get one of the docotrs to fill out the section about my ability to work. They only wanted to deal with their particular area (cardio, neuro, pulmanary, etc) but not the combination of my overall health.
2 was in getting into see a Neurolgist. After seeing the PA I ended up with an appointment at Vanderbilt within 2 weeks.
Dennis
I can't speak for others but as for me I think it is a result of dealling with so many stupid doctors. We learn to assess our physical problems in order to figure out for ourselves what is going on in the hope of finding some help. So it doesn't take much to then apply this to our emotional / mental state.
U2
Of course I'll let you know the results of the PA route with my PCP. I have used the PA route 2 other times at the VA. I have learned that Veys need to stick together in order to get anywhere in the VA. My friend Dave (Army vet) and I usually go together to the VA and sit in on each others Appts. in order to have proof about what the doctors do or say. Dave had been going to see doctors about his needed hernia which they kept refusing to do. But after I sat in on one of his appts with the surgeon they finally agreed that he needed the operation and it was done within 2 weeks.
1 was in getting my annual disabilty forms filled out. That was sort of a mixed bag for results. Iy did get my doctors on the ball to fill out their individual areas of the form, but I still had to through a fit at the VA to get one of the docotrs to fill out the section about my ability to work. They only wanted to deal with their particular area (cardio, neuro, pulmanary, etc) but not the combination of my overall health.
2 was in getting into see a Neurolgist. After seeing the PA I ended up with an appointment at Vanderbilt within 2 weeks.
Dennis
>>The next stop was at the Patient Advocacy office to complain about my PCP.
if you wouldn't mind Dennis I would like to know the outcome of PA effort.
my request is based on, due to my numerous letters to VA, Congress, Senate, WH, about the doctors ..." PCP didn't even enter anything about my"...
you and I do not know each other so if you don't want to let me know not a problem.
one of my anger issues (out of X...+1) is when seeing a VA doctor and mentioning why i'm there and what's happening and i get the "glazed eye return look", like they don't know hat i'm talking about.
it wasn't until not having a job and spending a lot of time going over records and getting things in order. you know, move to a new town, got time on my hands, so let's clean out the file cabinet and moving boxes. so i started going over old navy records and va med records to see what to keep or throw away.
that is when i saw [why] i would get those glazed stares. i'd been lied to for years and the doctors cheery picked what they wrote. combine that with the "shredd gate" and i started to see a pattern i was not aware of before.
so, i would just be interested to see how you make out with the PA. that is, does your VA experience get better or worse or stay the same?
i have a wonderful aa friend, former Marine, i hung out with. he and his wife have a neat house in the Sierra mountains in between Reno and Sacramento. every morning i would get up, there was this deer family just taking it easy and feeding. such beauty and peace.
u hang in there ...
I told the man there about how my PCP told me to just tell my non-VA neuro about my bladder problems so he looked at my chart on his computer and noticed my PCP didn't even enter anything about my bladder problems in my chart. So he filed the complaint with some doctor that handles this stuff about my PCP ignoring the bladder problem. He said I should hear someing back in 7 to 10 day.
if you wouldn't mind Dennis I would like to know the outcome of PA effort.
my request is based on, due to my numerous letters to VA, Congress, Senate, WH, about the doctors ..." PCP didn't even enter anything about my"...
you and I do not know each other so if you don't want to let me know not a problem.
one of my anger issues (out of X...+1) is when seeing a VA doctor and mentioning why i'm there and what's happening and i get the "glazed eye return look", like they don't know hat i'm talking about.
it wasn't until not having a job and spending a lot of time going over records and getting things in order. you know, move to a new town, got time on my hands, so let's clean out the file cabinet and moving boxes. so i started going over old navy records and va med records to see what to keep or throw away.
that is when i saw [why] i would get those glazed stares. i'd been lied to for years and the doctors cheery picked what they wrote. combine that with the "shredd gate" and i started to see a pattern i was not aware of before.
so, i would just be interested to see how you make out with the PA. that is, does your VA experience get better or worse or stay the same?
i have a wonderful aa friend, former Marine, i hung out with. he and his wife have a neat house in the Sierra mountains in between Reno and Sacramento. every morning i would get up, there was this deer family just taking it easy and feeding. such beauty and peace.
u hang in there ...
I told the man there about how my PCP told me to just tell my non-VA neuro about my bladder problems so he looked at my chart on his computer and noticed my PCP didn't even enter anything about my bladder problems in my chart. So he filed the complaint with some doctor that handles this stuff about my PCP ignoring the bladder problem. He said I should hear someing back in 7 to 10 day.
I'm glad to hear you made this appointment but sorry you have to wait another whole month. It's been years since I had to deal with depression and any thoughts of self destruction. I do remember that those impulsive thoughts were the most unsettling. Afraid I wouldn't talk myself out of it I guess.
It is so good to see how self aware people here are about their emotional and mental health and not just getting all caught up in the physical alone. I wish all the docs could be as supportive as this community. Good going all.
Hang in there Sailor. We're pulling for you.
Mary
It is so good to see how self aware people here are about their emotional and mental health and not just getting all caught up in the physical alone. I wish all the docs could be as supportive as this community. Good going all.
Hang in there Sailor. We're pulling for you.
Mary
There was a deer in my backyard (suburban not rural) last week that made me late for work. I just had to stand and watch and it was in no hurry to pass on through. Yes, I know about lyme disease, but I still get a thrill when I see them. There is a threesome in the area that I see quite often - and then there are the loners like the one in my yard. I like them all except when they eat my tulips and hostas in the spring.
The mental health visit is a great idea - you have been through so much I would be amazed if you weren't depressed. So good to hear you know this problem won't go away on its own. I understand the fleeting thought concept - about a year or so ago I was in bed, not being able to sleep. Out of nowhere my brain flashed on how easy it would be to take a bottle full of sleeping pills like I have in my bathroom and just stay asleep. Just realizing I had that thought gave me a shock.
As far as I know I have never had a sui cidal thought in my life.
I trust that more sunlight and more frequent deer sightings will improve both of our spirits.
hang in there,
L
The mental health visit is a great idea - you have been through so much I would be amazed if you weren't depressed. So good to hear you know this problem won't go away on its own. I understand the fleeting thought concept - about a year or so ago I was in bed, not being able to sleep. Out of nowhere my brain flashed on how easy it would be to take a bottle full of sleeping pills like I have in my bathroom and just stay asleep. Just realizing I had that thought gave me a shock.
As far as I know I have never had a sui cidal thought in my life.
I trust that more sunlight and more frequent deer sightings will improve both of our spirits.
hang in there,
L
I'd agree some help should help, Dennis. Shame the help you've had hasn't helped more, but we will pray it does soon.
Reminds me of an "Old Yiddish proverb" that someone passed on to me many years ago. Goes something like this: "The Lord will provide. Oh, but if only He would until He does!"
Not many deer here since I lost my job. Well, there might be, but since I'm online all day now...
Hey, sir, I just want to take a minute to say thanks, and to salute you for helping to keep us free. God bless you.
Reminds me of an "Old Yiddish proverb" that someone passed on to me many years ago. Goes something like this: "The Lord will provide. Oh, but if only He would until He does!"
Not many deer here since I lost my job. Well, there might be, but since I'm online all day now...
Hey, sir, I just want to take a minute to say thanks, and to salute you for helping to keep us free. God bless you.
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