The VA

[skuff]

^^^ Sucks to have issues but it sounds like the issues are getting the attention they need, well done ^^^

[MTT]

Today at the VA I had an upper endoscopy. I feel fine. Getting knocked out for an hour felt kinda nice. I guess the doctor says nothing horrible. He wants to check the muscle in my asophugus. And will most likely cut the muscle between it and stomach. It's too tight blocking things from going down smooth.

I Have vascular surgery next Thursday. Angioplasty and most likely a stint in my aorta. He sees significant blockage and where the split is to go Left and right. Nothing goes left. Can't even pick up a pulse in my left groin. It's sounds like a tire leak on an ultrasound.
I guess when they get done with me I am going to feel instantly much better.

And. I really have to quit smoking or it will just plug right back up. Dam. I don't smoke much but no drinking plus no cig with coffee. Rough. But better than living like this. Not really living

[ill-advised strategy]

Nice...this is all great news!

[old goat]

Glad to hear you're getting things taken care of. I would think you could continue to get VA care even if you had insurance through work, unless the rules have changed since I retired. I've seen patients at Kaiser who were also going to the VA for some stuff. Better to get all your care in one place though, so every doc that sees you can see all your records. As of now there's no access to records between health care systems AFAIK. Good luck with the angioplasty and stent.

I did once make a housecall in Verdi though. Someone I operated on at South Sacramento Kaiser who had somehow managed to keep his Kaiser even though he lived in NV. He was due for a routine post op check up and I was on vacation in Truckee on my way to pick up my cousin at the Reno airport, so I stopped in to see the guy, who was doing fine. He was certainly surprised when I called him to tell him I could see him at home and save him a trip to Sacto.

[MTT]

Another update.
I just got home from an angiogram procedure. I cannot lift stuff or bend much for 2 days. No running,biking, swimming sitting in water for two weeks. Don't cross legs don't let the cat lay on my legs or lap.
I have another pill to take. Clopidogrel bisulfate. To prevent clotting in the two stints installed on each side of my groin.

Vascular surgeon spent about 2.5 hours on me.
Explored everything. Did angioplasty in aorta multiple places above and below "The Split".
Then inserted stints in the main arteries? On each side of my groin below the split.

I have a nice hole on each side and a cork plug in each hole.

Anyway the doctor was very happy with his work.

I can sort of tell I'm better. But too soon to know how much better.

And on to the next thing.

This happened all since October 20th?
VA hell yeah.

[MTT]

Oh my. The local anisthetic is wearing off. It hurts deep inside. Now it feels like someone punched big holes in my groin and stuck cables way up inside me

Yea. Wow

[old goat]

Oh my. The local anisthetic is wearing off. It hurts deep inside. Now it feels like someone punched big holes in my groin and stuck cables way up inside me

Yea. Wow

Well yeah, it feels that way because that's what they did to you, as you know. How ya doing now?

[skuff]

Oh my. The local anisthetic is wearing off. It hurts deep inside. Now it feels like someone punched big holes in my groin and stuck cables way up inside me

Yea. Wow

Hope the discomfort from the other day has subsided and that you're feeling better currently

[MTT]

Hope the discomfort from the other day has subsided and that you're feeling better currently

I do feel better. No excess bruising, no pain. I am taking it really easy. Today I went to the grocery store. I walked in got a cart shopped checked out. No pain. First time I have been in the save mart in the past year without riding one of the electric cart's around the store. I can't wait to start exercising and see how much I can recover

[skuff]

Boss!

[old goat]

Great to hear.

[MTT]

Just back from the VA. To start they picked me up at my house and drove me home afterwards. DAV service.

Check in with my primary care physician.
My AIC is now 6.2. She was happy to see that.
Down from 8.7 in October when I walked in the door.
All 3 of my lower appendages are coming back strong after the double stints installed.
I am taking two new drugs for the issue with blockage in my asophigus.
Tommorow morning I get my first covid-19 vaccine. Don't know what vaccine. But it's on of the two shot variety. Oppointment was made today for tommorow and 4-21 for the second shot. That works out good because I have a follow up with the vascular surgeon on the same day.

Doc also gave me a script for the patch. Smoking session. This will show up in my mailbox like all my other perscriptions.

Happy with the VA.

Also start a new job next month. Decent pay. 100% remote like my last job.

[old goat]

Good to hear that they're getting you tuned up.
The VA is honest medicine, which is saying something these days.

[MTT]

Good to hear that they're getting you tuned up.
The VA is honest medicine, which is saying something these days.

Yes, Saint Mary's should have done this for me 3 years ago when I started complaining about it. All it takes is for a doctor to listen to you and refer you to the right specialists. There was no need for me to have issues with my job get fired and go completely lame.

[MTT]

FYI. My primary care physician is a Brazilian woman. Who also works out of St Mary's.

Seems that is how the VA staff's. Same Dr,s. Nurse's specialists that work out of the other medical systems in the area. I you live in Incline and see a doctor who works through Renown and you switched to Northern Sierra VA. You would probably have the same doctor. Just a better medical center. FYI. VA is loading up medical records to the DoD database. So all the doctors have access to your records regardless of location. Tracked with SSN. Good or bad that's how it works. They pulled all my St. Mary's records and loaded them in. They know everything going back at least 6 years

[old goat]

I'm glad to hear about the medical record thing. I hope it works both ways. One of the big issues people were having getting initial VA appointments was that the VA couldn't see DoD medical records. It didn't help treatment either, especially for stuff like PTSF and traumatic brain injury. Also glad to hear about St. Mary's records being loaded into your VA record. One of the problem with Kaiser's EMR had been that they didn't try to load all the stuff in the paper MR into the EMR, so especially at first you had to send for old paper charts that were in storage at the north pole or someplace as hard to access. It's been long enough that the old records are less relevant now but it still would be nice to have all that in the EMR.

I didn't know about VA docs also working in private hospitals. It wasn't that way at any of the VA's I worked at but that was a long time ago. I wonder if it's a local thing or if the VA is doing that across the board. Back when VA problems were in the news one of the issues was not enough docs--maybe they decided to hire private docs to work part time to increase staffing, or maybe they decided to let VA docs moonlight in private hospitals to make the job more financially appealing to improve hiring. (The military does that.) Either way, from your experience it sounds like the access problems are improved. (I wouldn't mind having a Brazilian woman doc.)

Whatever, vets deserve the best.

[Kailua_Boys]

So your saying that federally operated medical facilities are fast, efficient, and generally well liked?

But Fox News said that was socialism.

Funny story about that:

Few weeks ago I suffered a tear in my ear drum. I was in a lot of pain and had to go to the Tripler ER. For those that don't know, Triple is a Army hospital on Oahu and the main healthcare provider for most active military on island.

I arrive and walk to the front desk. The clerk behind the counter points at a sign. It says please go to check in station. I walk over there and no one is there. So I walk back and he just stares at me before saying to wait at the check in station. I walk back over and a nurse comes out to take my info then tells me to walk back to the original clerk. He then points at the person next to him without saying anything. I shuffle over two feet and she starts asking for my information. She quickly grows annoyed at me because I keep asking her to repeat everything. I had to explain to her that I can't hear out of my left ear. That's why I'm here. I eventually get told to sit down and wait.

I sit and wait for two hours. No one is getting called back for treatment. The check in nurse could see that I was growing agitated and says she will check to see why I'm not being seen. A new LPN comes out and calls for someone named LT xxxx with xxxx being my first name. I ask do you mean me? He's says no LT xxxx. I say ok and he walks back behind the doors. Comes out 5 minutes later and is like "oh my bad sir I meant LT insertlastname" and he takes me back.

The PA comes over to assist and apologizes for the wait. Turns out the IT system shut down. lol. I can't escape the military dysfunction and incompetence even at the ER.

The treatment was great though. The PA even called down to ENT and was able to get me seen right away. I came back to see the PA to check out and she had to handwrite my discharge paperwork on a piece of paper. Fun times.

[old goat]

FWIW the VA and the military health care system are completely separate. But VA, military, university, Kaiser--when the IT goes down it is no fun for anyone. One downside (one of the few) of the electronic medical record.
In a swanky private hospital someone might have told you sooner what was going on.

A guy I worked with was an ex AF doc. Pilot comes into the ER with a pretty sick kid and the NCO at the desk are giving him shit. My friend comes out, takes the pilot back, takes care of the kid right away. Turns out the pilot flew medical transport flights and would often go to places like Hawaii, Italy, etc. and usually laid over there a few days before returning with the patient. And every time he flew someplace nice he took my friend with him as "flight surgeon".