Despite what non-veterans may believe, the Veterans Administration does not provide good, quality, wholesome and timely medical care though they do prescribe a massive number of medications indiscriminately. I developed a fungal infection on my toes. It took three primary care appointments before I convinced the Indian doctor to either treat it or I would seek treatment outside the VA. She prescribed some medication that I would take daily. Doing as instructed and receiving refills monthly, I kept taking the medication, and the fungal infection did go away. The doctor instructed me to, "Keep on taking your medication so it will not come back".
I caught a cold, and it would have taken me at least two weeks to get a primary care appointment at the VA. I went to a local doctor at Scott & White Clinic. Reviewing my prescriptions, he asked what month of fungal infection medication I was on. I replied, "Well, I believe I'm on my ninth month". He stopped writing and asked me, "Seriously ? You've been taking it for nine months?"
"Yes, doctor. The VA prescribed it for me, and I am to take it till they tell me to stop."
"Nooooo," he said. "That's not the way it works. You cannot take it for more than three months. More than that, it will damage your liver. Tell that crazy VA doctor you will not take it anymore!" I did as told and fired my VA primary care Indian doctor. Unfortunately, the primary care doctor assigned to provide my future medical services turned out to be another Indian.
Having sustained a serious knee injury in Vietnam, I received 100% disability from the Veterans Administration. I was retrieving a box of documents from an upper shelf at home. As I backed away from the shelf, my right knee gave out on me, and I fell backward with the heavy box of documents on my chest. The fall caused me two broken vertebrae. Come morning, my wife took me to the VA clinic in Austin. Without even taking X-rays or MRI, my VA Indian primary care doctor could not see me but instructed his nurse to prescribe muscle relaxers and oxycodine for my pain.
I suffered severely for seven days and just could not find a comfortable position to sleep or sit. Come morning of the eighth day, my wife took me to the emergency room at Scott & White hospital. I was sent for an MRI. The emergency room doctor informed me, "You have a broken back! That's why you're hurting so much." She gave me an injection of morphine and made the whole pain go from a pain level of ten to a pain level of one. I was put on oxycodine until my broken vertebrae were fused some days later at a non-VA hospital. I again fired the VA primary care Indian doctor.
My right knee kept bothering me terribly. My new primary care doctor, an Ethiopian lady doctor, referred me to the Temple VA hospital where I started receiving Synvisc injections. Though the effective period of pain control lasted no more than four to six weeks, my new doctor seemed to be providing the level of service I much needed. Some weeks after becoming my primary care doctor, she was transferred to the Women's Care Clinic. My next doctor appointed to provide me primary care was another Indian. I went to him for an itchy, scaly spot I had in back of my right year. He looked at it and said, "Well, it's nothing to be concerned about. It's just dry skin." He prescribed me some lotion to put on it twice a day. A month later, there was no improvement, so I went back to my Indian doctor.
"I'll prescribe some other medication to put on it," he said.
"No, doctor, it's not just dry skin. I need a referral to a dermatologist," I said.
"No, I can't do that," replied my Indian doctor. "VA doesn't like us to make too many referrals. I'll give you a different medication."
"Doctor, I am referring myself to a dermatologist," I said then got up and walked out.
I went to the VA Patient Advocate to register a complaint. The Patient Advocate did not seem too promising. "Let me work on this and get back to you," he said. I gave up on the referral. The following week I received a letter advising me of my referral to a dermatologist. The area behind my ear turned out to be carcinoma about the size of a small almond. It was removed by a retired U.S. Navy American doctor.
My Indian primary care VA doctor prescribed insulin injections which I felt were unwarranted. "Now, you have to understand that this is the last means of controlling your diabetes," he warned. "If this doesn't work for you, you have no other alternatives." When a serious reaction occurred, I asked for a Pharmacologist who could not understand why I was taking insulin injections. She immediately canceled the insulin injections and put me back on less serious diabetes meds. I fired my primary care Indian doctor. My new primary care doctor is now a Chinese lady who seems to respond well to my medical needs.
I would drive to the VA hospital in Temple, Texas, every six months to get Synvisc1 injections for my right knee which sustained a serious injury in Vietnam when a light pole dislodged in a mortar attack fell across my knees. I received a total knee replacement on my left knee. The male nurse who provided my injections got distracted by my VA-provided walking cane. He grabbed the cane away from me and said, "Lemme show you the way you walk." then proceeded to ridicule my way of walking. "Give me my cane back NOW!!!" I demanded. He seemed stunned at my command and quickly gave me my cane back then proceeded to give me the Synvisc injection. He seemed still nervous at my shouting at him for my cane and missed the targeted Bursa. The Synvisc began draining down of the syringe onto the outside of my knee. He made another attempt but still missed the Bursa. "What are you doing?" I asked sternly. He said he would have to get another dose of Synvisc, "But I don't know that I can get it since it would seem I would be giving you a double dose."
"Well, then, let's just forget about this. Seems things are just not going my way today," I stated.
"No, no. Let me see if I can sign for another dose," he said.
He returned some twenty minutes later, apologized for the wait and stated he had to explain to the attending Orthopedic why he needed a second dose for the same patient. This episode took place nearly three years ago. Despite needing these injections every six months, I have not returned to the Temple VA hospital for more injections. The benefit gain has not been worth the trouble and ridicule.
I had planned on filing a complaint with the Patient Advocate but decided against it when I saw several veterans at the Patient Advocate's waiting area waiting to address their complaints.
I was once asked by a Veterans Administration mental health therapist what it was that kept taking me back to Vietnam. After explaining to her that only one year was spent voluntarily and that I could not come up with a sensible answer other than the additional combat pay. I also know that it had nothing to do with patriotism or support for Johnson's cruel, senseless war. My VA therapist once suggested that perhaps I had a death wish since my four years in combat assignments started from a safe administrative job as Stenographer then got exceedingly more perilous with each succeeding assignment from Psychological Warfare flights to Infantry Guard to covert operations in the Kingdom of Laos. When I disagreed, she replied, Well, work on an answer and let me know when you figure it out.
"Uhh... Wait, now," I stammered. "I thought it was you that was supposed to figure these things out!"
My MegaStar VA therapist was a thirty-plus-year-old Indian or Pakistani who (by her own admission) honed her PTSD therapy skills by reading WWII and Vietnam combat veteran interviews. She would begin my session by asking a single question then spend the rest of the thirty-minute session opinionating on my response.
"I know all about PTSD," she once said. "I've spent hundreds of hours reading and analyzing interviews from World War II and Vietnam combat veterans and their issues and adjustment problems, so I can be of great help to you." That's when she lost me. I never returned for any following appointments.
The older I get, however, the more I'm inclined to accept MegaStar's suggestion about a death wish, and that weighs on me until my focus shifts to the loss of my twelve San Benito brothers who were tragically lost to the enemy in their prime. May you forever rest in peace, Brothers.
I was prescribed a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) for my sleep apnea. I was unable to get used to it and stopped using it after two days. The Austin, Texas, VA Pulmonary Clinic asked me to come in for a CPAP reevaluation. The lady nurse sternly cautioned me that because I had been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was not using my CPAP, I stood the chance of certain death without the CPAP.
"Well, now, I am NOT going to be using your CPAP, and as for the dying bit, that's something I would certainly welcome!" I replied.
"You mean you would welcome death over the CPAP?" she asked.
"Yes, I would," I replied and got up to leave.
"But we're not done yet."
"Yes, we are," I replied and proceeded on towards the door.
I was still walking to my car when I received a call from a Pulmonary Clinic Indian doctor who asked me if I was alright and asked me to come back for a talk. I declined and thanked him for his call then hung up.
I was already driving some fifteen minutes later when I received a call from a Mental Health Clinic nurse who asked me if I could come to the Mental Health Clinic for a session with a mental health professional. I declined.
About an hour after I left the clinic I received a call from Austin VA Clinic Patient Advocate who wanted to know just what was going on. "When I find out what's going on, I'll call you and let you know," I promised him and hung up.
I wondered why all of a sudden these folks seemed so interested in my well-being. I then realized that just a week prior, a veteran totally dissatisfied with the clinic's mental health services shot and killed himself2 right there at the Austin, Texas, VA Clinic waiting area. Strange how a lone-wolf veteran's shooting himself weighs so heavily on another veteran's innocent response. It took only a brief statement about preferring death over the CPAC to set off the firestorm. But I still won't use the CPAP. It's still collecting dust somewhere in my storeroom.
In fairness to the Veterans Administration health care system, I do note that under President Trump the VA system underwent a transformation which now provides an enormously improved health care for the veteran. President Trump was making great progress in improving the system, but when President Trump's successor took over, his successor shifted the focus elsewhere eroding President Trump's marked improvements which had tremendously benefited the veteran.
1 The injection contains a gel-like mixture made from a substance that comes from rooster combs.
2 A Vietnam veteran pulled out a gun and killed himself in the Austin, Texas, VA clinic waiting room on April 9, 2019.
We must ensure that our veterans are given the care and support they so richly deserve. That is our unwavering commitment to those who served under the flag of the United States.- President Donald J. Trump
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