so don't ask if you don't want to know
Posts tagged VA
Annoying little beaurocrats
Feb 25th
I completely understand one mustn’t bitch about services one gets for free. Tough shit.
Over the years that I’ve been going to the VA hospital here in Phoenix things have majorly improved. There’s no longer throngs of smelly homeless vets with their missing body parts. I dunno where they went, whether they were helped or shipped out, but they are gone. Let’s hope they were helped out and are all better off now. Anyway, the smell of the place has improved. Also, the speed of service has greatly improved! Where you used to expect to spend the entire day down there waiting to see a doctor or get x-rays done, now you can be in and out in an hour. And because of that the parking has gotten better too.
But – the pharmacy services suck giant permanently flaccid dick. Seriously.
If you get a new prescription, you wait at least an hour. So unless I need it to keep me alive I have it mailed. You can order refills online to be mailed, so I guess that’s an improvement.
But – when your refills are running out, you have to wait until they’ve shipped the last refill before you can request more refills. And for some-odd reason I have three “in process”, three more that have ONE more available refill, and two I can order and yet I can’t just call and have them ask the doctor to give me another year on them all. They have to keep bugging him, he has to remember to allow, and THEN they’ll send them to me. No fucking wonder it takes them so long. It’s not like I take amphetamines or anything, these are asthma and high blood pressure meds. No big deal.
Originally, you could set your appointments up a year in advance. I’m required to come in for a yearly update with my primary care doctor and another yearly appointment with my Gyno every April. I used to set those appointments up yearly and get a reminder letter and it worked fine. Now you have to remember a year later to set up your own appointment (which doesn‘t coincide with when my medication refills run out dontchaknow) and now I have to remember to make an appointment in May.
My memory sucks. I’m assuming it’s an issue with years of not getting enough oxygen with my asthma or maybe the years of steroid use. I used to have a fantastic memory and I’m not old enough for it to be senility, so I’m blaming health issues. Whatever.
AND THE HOLD MUSIC! This deserves an OH MY GOD. The same crappy jazzish song over and over for. ev. er. We hates it yes we does. I really wish I could record it and share. After being forced to listen you’ll have that shit looping in your head for days.
Okay, bitching done. I feel better now.
The VA has mailed all their mail to me today.
Apr 21st
Not quite a jackpot, though.
Letter #1 was authorization to go to the fancy shmancy Laura Drier Breast Center for my next mammogram instead of the hole-in-the-colon gross disgusting place I’ve had to go to before. This new place has a more spa-like atmosphere complete with soft music and terry cloth robes. I thought that arrangement was only temporary last time but I guess I lucked out.
Letter #2 was notification that because it took them so long to process the paperwork I sent in when I got divorced, they overpaid me an extra month and will withhold the amount from my July check. Swell. Enclosed was a Financial Status Report form for no apparent reason. And of course I opened the letter five minutes after the phone lines closed for the day. Form letters are so confusing sometimes.
I’m having my boobs fondled AND getting screwed over by the VA. Not the kind of sex I’ve been hoping for.
Dribbles and drabbles.
Apr 7th
Well, it’s official. They’re lowering my monthly allotment because I was honest and filled out the proper paperwork about the divorce. $149 less. Apparently that’s all he was worth to me. Sounds about right.
I got my Dragon*Con postcard in the mail today. Yay!
I have another new tire for my POS car. Next month I’ll get the fourth for a complete set. And then something else will take a shit. Actually, there’s some whooshy whooshy sound coming up from underneath now that sounds like I need grease somewhere. Fucker.
This new phone is great except for one thing. Every twenty minutes or so it makes this beeping noise. Even when it’s plugged in so I don’t think it’s a low battery indicator. No warning pop-up to identify what it is. Dunno why. And the
Ginnie and I picked out various colors from the Home Depot oops paint shelf. Two gallon cans for $5 each and I got three little cans for $1 each to paint my bathroom. We’s gonna have some fun.
There was a preview of a movie that looked interesting before Shanghai Kiss (from Netflix) and I jotted down what I thought was the title onto a pad of paper. It had one of those sequences where they put descriptive words on the screen and then more preview and more words and you’re left to assume the final words are the actual title. Guess not. Premise: Something happens on a country road and people are stuck there until it’s cleared and there’s conversation and family and growth and confrontation and I can’t for the life of me remember three days later the names of any of the familiar actors that are in it so I can’t look it up. “Fifteen Travelers” doesn’t come up anywhere on the ‘net.
Also watched “Marie Antoinette” and Kirsten Dunst sucks as an actress. She’s always the same, and she has no inflection in her voice. She must have attended the Kevin Costner School of Wooden Acting. Probably an honor student.
Old and bitchy
Feb 15th
They finally called me that my fracking car is done. We’ll see. I can’t pick it up til Monday as I didn’t have the complete amount together when he called at 4:00. Their stupid rental car is tying up money in my checking account that I need to pay them off. Someone at that end is going to have to figure out how to release that hold.
I have The Screech overnight and boy is she screechy. I’m making her take an extra nap right now so I don’t have to kill her.
I appreciate and enjoy everything about my free VA health care except for one thing. Sitting on hold for the “help” line for 33 minutes to get a prescription refill approval sent to my doctor. Regular refills I can do online now! Great. The Phoenix VA Hospital is clean and the service I’ve received in just about every department has been exemplary, except the pharmacy. Why can’t I just send an email to my doctor or someone in that clinic for him to approve the prescriptions I’ve been taking for years and years? And the HOLD music is horrendous!
It’s been raining all day and I hate cold rainy days.
I need WI3D tomorrow. Seriously.
I tried reading back over my LJ to figure out the last time I had sex. Around a year ago. I can’t find the entry but that time frame really sucked. Not a good read for a cold rainy day.
Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps podcast novel is done (loved it, BTW) and now I need to go back and restart Scott Sigler’s Nocturnal. Those two stories were just way too different to listen to simultaneously and now I don’t remember how Scott’s started. Probably with blood and bizarre deaths.
Darn. Must go wake up The Screech now if I expect her to sleep through the night. I did get a few nice pictures after her bath – which she need after wearing most of her gelatin at dinner. I’ll post later.
I need a tooth pulled.
Dec 11th
I’ve confessed to a dental phobia before. I know I have. I firmly believe, for myself anyway, if a tooth becomes a problem beyond a simple filling – yank the fucker out. I’m too cheap to spend an excessive amount of cash on bridges and root canals and shit.
Tooth hurt, tooth get filled or pulled. Period.
Anyway, I have this one tooth lower back right side that is so loose that it’s laying over on the side most of the time. I can’t seem to leave it alone. You know how old toothless people are constantly chewing on nothing? Yeah, now I know why. It’s like an OCD thing. STOP BITING DOWN ON THE LOOSE TOOTH STUPID. It isn’t painful just a pain in the ass. I want to pull it. I want to pull it but I know it will hurt. Weeks and weeks of this stupid loose tooth.
Someone just punch me in the jaw so it will fall out and I can be done with it. I can’t make myself yank it and I really don’t want to go all the way to the VA to have it pulled.
I’m such a gorram sissy.
End of the month blues
Nov 29th
It’s a good thing I took a shower this morning. They shut my water off about an hour ago. S’okay, tomorrow is payday. I’d kinda thought my luck would hold but I guess not. Now let’s all hope the electric company is too busy to come by.
Stupid rental car ended up costing more than I thought and I bounced both utility payments. So I’ve been slammed with fees up the yin-yang. Totally my fault, but still. Alright already! I know! You’ll get your frakking money as soon as I do. Plus fees. So this upcoming month will be tight as hell again. I just can’t seem to get ahead!
I got a letter in the mail yesterday from the VA. First time they’ve ever sent this particular form. I had to fill out and verify a list of my dependents. So now I’m wondering if/how they know about the pending divorce action. They never sent me a form when either of the boys turned 18, they just stopped sending a portion of my check. Hmmph. So anyway, I filled out that I was indeed still married at this time and I still have one child at home but if they sent me another form without the 30-day deadline I would inform them when my divorce was official. And that my daughter has another year before she’s 18 and then another year of school beyond that. I have no intention of cheating anyone.
I’m caught up on all three of my friend’s podcast books:
Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps. Mur’s apparently been hanging out with Scott and JC too much as her story has gotten decidedly savage in this last episode.
Scott Sigler’s Nocturnal. Speaking of savage, Scott’s (Otherwise known as Soupbone) permanent tag line is “Lots and Lots of Violence.” He should get that tattooed on his ass.
And last but certainly not least, J.C. Hutchins’ 7th Son Book Three is winding down. I’m gonna miss those clones.
VA Women Veteran's Seminar
Oct 5th
First, I left the house with plenty of time and then Ginnie called when I was 10 miles from home and made me come back. She’d left her backpack (with PE clothes) in the car. Butthead.
So no time for a pre-breakfast and I had to make do with their warm orange juice and stale pastry choices. Yippie.
Minor deposits of thought
Sep 16th
Am I crazy or is there a direct correlation between the amount of Mountain Dew someone drinks and the rottenness of their teeth? Just sayin’.
I just got finished watching Quigley Down Under, again. I love this movie but I never seem to think of it when asked about my favorite movies. Its just there.
Even after dissing George Hrab’s podcast months ago, I still listen every time.
I wish my son would call me. I seems so long since I heard his voice. He hasn’t called anyone in a couple of weeks. It just about killed me to walk through Atlanta’s airport with all those people in uniform. I was so tired and everywhere I looked there were groups in BDUs. I just wanted to hug every one of them but some teary woman grabbing soldiers at the airport might have freaked them out, not to mention those people I was traveling with. Boy was I teary. Kind of like now. Shit.
Wingin’ It was just okay yesterday. And now they’re taking a couple of weeks off. WTF am I going to do with my weekends now?
Oh yeah, the visit to the surgeon Friday! We decided that because what was left over after the last infection is so small, we’ll just wait until the next time it gunks up and then remove the rest. Whatever. At least its on their computer that I have an open as-needed appointment so I don’t have to jump through so many hoops next time.
I need to have a conversation with girlchild to remind her how lucky she is and that she better not give me shit when I ask for a little cash for gas. She’s the only one of her girlfriends that is even allowed to drive much less have as much freedom with a car. If she wants the right to snark she needs to pay for it. I’ve been too nice again. She made some snide comment about me not being about to pay for her dentist appointment and how that’s a parent’s responsibility. Well, technically it is . . . but since her father isn’t paying any child support (yet) maybe she should BITCH AT HIM instead.
Today's (grody) update.
Jul 27th
Ginnie and I got up to the VA around 8 so I went to the Lab first to get the nutritionist’s lab request done first. Then we ventured across the entire hospital to the ENT Clinic where I found out they’d made an appointment for 9:45 without telling me.
So much for walk-in.
Went out for breakfast (literally breaking my fast) and came back to see Jr. Surgeon, Student Surgeon, and Official Surgeon. Official Surgeon decided to tell Jr. Surgeon to clean it out and get a biopsy. And when the infection is gone, they’ll actually remove the whole sebaceous cyst. So first the needles, then the numb, then the knife and finally the packing and bandaging.
Packing. Ugh.
Ends up I have to take care of this twice a day and go back next Friday and then we’ll schedule the real surgery. Great. There seems to be a sense of urgency from the Surgeons so I’m thinking I should play along. I mentioned my trip Labor Day weekend and waiting until after that for the actual surgery and Official Surgeon sighed and said “we really should get that out of there before then.” Crap. The nurse suggested wearing a scarf. Right. In Atlanta late summer I’ll be the fat chick the the scarf on.
So, nobody is allowed to make comments about the giant bandages on my neck or I’m gonna make you look at it.
So there.
But when I got home I had a message that I was approved for the apartment! Yay! Finances are gonna be tight for a while until I get everything worked out but I’m not canceling D*C. I’d rather not have TV and Internet until then. I can watch DVDs and go to the library to get online.
What. A. Drag.
Jul 26th
I’m home, finally. I got to the VA hospital around 11:30 and got right in for my nutritionist appointment. And although I’m trying hard, I’ve only lost 4 lbs since April. So another pep talk and more hand-outs and I need some labs done to see if there’s any improvement in my cholesterol and potassium numbers.
Then they smushed me in to see my doctor. Who, I swear to Vader, said, “Wow, that’s really bizarre!” How comforting. This blister or infection or boil or whatever you call it popped this morning (super ewww grossity) so it wasn’t quite as agonizing to touch but he felt the need to squeeze and poke it while assuring me he wasn’t trying to hurt me on purpose. He really is a sweet man. Being clueless, he decided I needed to have a surgical consult from ENT. Nice fella with his tag-a-long student was a bit gentler and asked me a bunch of questions and decided it is probably a cyst and that I need to come back in tomorrow to see a real surgeon and schedule the removal. And he prescribed a antibiotic so hopefully this will heal faster than last time.
Waited for the ENT guy for an hour. And that waiting room stunk like pee so bad I almost choked. That’s the problem with the VA, all the unfortunate homeless vets who practically live in the waiting rooms. And then I had to wait another hour for the prescription to make its way slowly through the computers and finally get filled.
So tomorrow I get to drive the 30 miles back to the hospital and get my labs done and walk-in the ENT department to consult with a real surgeon and hopefully I’ll never have to do this crap again.
