The healthcare the VA offers it's veterans has been in the media lately. With the backlogs and secret wait lists and other things happening. I heard one veteran say they don't understand what all the hubbub is about, they get great care. Well you, sir, are lucky. This is the VA Healthcare I know.
I had my annual well women's exam in 2012 and then went about life as usual. I just found out the beginning of this year that that exam came back with abnormal cells. I didn't find this out because the VA told me. I found out because I happened to be viewing my medical records online for something else and came across it. I had to call the VA and tell them the results. The end scenario? I took cancer treatments for about 10 weeks.
Since 2001, about 6 months after my active duty enlistment, I felt excruciating pain while running. Pain you couldn't imagine. It honestly felt like my legs were going to snap in half from the pressure I was feeling. It also felt like someone was holding a blow torch up to the bottom of my feet. This has continued since then. It is the reason I can't run any longer.
I went to the podiatry clinic at the George E. Wahlen VA hospital in Salt Lake City for about two years. Every single time I went there I waited AT LEAST 3 hours past my appointment time. I also didn't meet with a podiatrist. I met with a medical student. Every time. So I never got a firm diagnosis. Every time I went in there I had to repeat what my issue was and redo the imaging studies. Every single time. Well I ended up going to the VA hospital in San Antonio (Frank Tejada) and was finally diagnosed with tarsal tunnel this year as well as tendonopathy and recurring stress fractures in my feet. They wanted to do a surgery to release the nerves they thought were trapped in my ankles causing the severe pain in my feet. We moved out of the San Antonio area a week before the surgery. The hospital then refused to treat me and do the surgery. They said I would have to start over with the nearest VA hospital with a new podiatrist. Well, 6 months later I am still waiting for that consult to see that podiatrist.
We moved to the Dallas area in September. A few days after getting here I was experiencing some chest pains. I waited about 12 hours before going to the emergency room because I knew I was far too young for it to be a heart attack and my grandfather had just passed away a couple days ago so I thought it was an anxiety attack. I ended up going to a private hospital where they did an ultrasound. They found some gallstones and a mass on my liver. That was September 21st. They said I would need to have my gallbladder out and to see my primary care physician to have that done ASAP. They also said I would need an MRI to get a better look at the liver mass and see if it was cancerous. I went 6 hours later to the the local VA clinic where they made those appointments. When I met with my primary care physician the next morning I took my paperwork from the emergency room. He stated the VA would have to do their own ultrasound to look for gallstones and to confirm the liver mass before they would proceed. Why? Why would another facility lie about what was seen on the ultrasound? It's a mass conspiracy by the private healthcare field to lie about what is found so that I can have surgery to have an organ removed that wouldn't actually benefit me in any way. It's not like they said I need a tummy tuck or a breast augmentation.
The ultrasound was last week. I won't have an MRI to look at my liver until November 21st. 2 MONTHS after the mass was found. Call me crazy but if this is cancer doesn't that give it an extra two months to grow and wreak havoc? Not to mention the anxiety it causes me. I would think that any person told a mass was found would automatically worry about cancer. So I called private MRI companies in the DFW area and they all told me I could get in within a day or two. So I requested to be sent into the private sector to have this done. Well, they have never gotten back to me. I call and ask to speak to someone and they literally NEVER answer my phone and they have no voicemail set up. (Don't believe me? Call 817-335-2202. Press 0 for operator and ask to speak to radiology.) I have even left a handwritten note with them to have the supervisor call me. He never does. I called private companies in the DFW area that provide MRI's and they all said they could get me in within a day or two. Make the same calls yourselves.
And to have my gallbladder removed? That still hasn't been scheduled. Anybody that has had gallstones blocking the duct can speak to the level of pain, nausea, and other issues that come with it.
So I read my ultrasound results from the VA on Monday. They hold those results for 3 days online so that your doctor has time to call you and discuss them and you don't get the shock of reading them online. When I was called I was only told of the gallstones and that a surgery consult would be put in. So much to my HUGE surprise when I read my results. My spleen is teetering on the edge of being too small. And my liver? It's what we say in the military as "tore up from the floor up". I have what google tells me is an enlarged liver. It's too large. And I either have some kind of "liver condition" or I have cancerous tissue. That's shocking to read. There is even a mention of what google calls a "fatty liver". So I called my PCP to discuss the results and am told that she isn't actually my PCP and to contact the previous doctor I saw. So I sent him the VA version of an email and said I wanted to discuss the issues with my liver etc etc. I got a response back from his nurse that he isn't my PCP and to contact the other people who also said they aren't my PCP even though I told this doctor the new PCP wasn't my PCP and wasn't accepting new patients. Confused yet? I am!! All of this happening while my new well women's exam came back saying "abnormal cells" and waiting to see a specialist. Well the specialist won't see me until I get clearance from mental health for PTSD. Since when does it matter if I have PTSD to get a consultation for cervical cancer? Why would they make me wait?
When I call for questions for test results I get bounced around. Each doctor's nurse tells me that I am not their patient and the other is my primary care provider. Leaving me in an infinite loop. Nobody accepting me as their patient or helping me.
THIS is the VA healthcare that I know. This is why they are horrible. This is why we should all be given private healthcare similar to medicaid. They don't actually care about us. We are a paycheck. Pawns in a political game. THIS is why I have taken on a lawyer to sue the VA. It's unacceptable.
