Hi readers. Thanks for coming by for a read.
I finally got to see a primary care physician in that KC VA Medical Center.
I arrived early and put my defibrillator to the test carrying a 20# daypack 150 yards across that parking lot, up the hill to the entrance, and a quarter-mile of heroesque hallways. Registered and waited around a comfy area filled with old vets.
At which point life became a hoot.
Jeeze we veterans are a bunch of liars! And we all know it, but remain silent on the issue so’s when our turn comes all the the others will nod sagely and pretend we aren’t just blowing pure unmitigated horse manure back and forth at one another.
So here in this Hero Hall you’ve got close to a hundred of us, maybe a third wearing VIETNAM VET, or some other VETERAN nuanced headgear. And roughly a third of those are talking in loudmouthed indignation about something a first sergeant did or said forty years ago in a different country.
Meanwhile the other 2/3 wearing the Veteran caps nod and wait patiently for that vocally active third to finish or pause for a breath so’s they can cut in and tell what some first sergeant did or said to THEM forty years ago in some foreign land.
Those of us not wearing Veteran headgear listen deadpan, saying nothing, doing nothing to break the spell of dramatic fantasies, of young men who never existed prowling through the jungles of our imaginary youths doing and saying courageous things for the betterment of mankind and Freedom.
“Hell man,” I muttered to the guy sitting next to me, “I must be the only person here who wandered Asia trying to get a dose of clap, never met a hero. Never sacrificed a damned thing in the service of this country. I can’t recall a first sergeant ever knowing I was alive.”
The guy smiled at me. “Not me. I was an Air Force Sniper working out of the finance office in Danang. Spent the whole time killing zipperheads except when I was in an office doing payrolls.”
About then a nurse called my name and I trekked breathlessly back to see a physician. He hadn’t received all my med records from the recent hospital stay, so we’re starting all over. Got an EKG, Lab [blood] work, complete stomach sonogram, and XRays to get out of the way brand spanking new before I can be seen by a VA cardiologist. He says they can’t get the records from the Olathe Medical Center work because the VA computer is connected to the National Defense computer system, which might be compromised if they allowed outside data to be transmitted into it.
So they’ll just have to do it all again. Though if I go over to Olathe Med Ctr. and get them to photocopy everything and carry it along when I see the cardiologist he figures the specialist might look through it if I provide it that method and that context. Maybe.
So at least I’ve got some things I can do to improve my health this week, picking up those records at Olathe Med, going over to KC MO VA for all that expensive medical testing I’ve donealready had, getting it again so’s to be able to see a cardiologist.
Confidence raising, being able to do something uncharacteristically positive.
Somehow it’s vaguely reminescent of back when I was an infantry point man and sniper in the US Army in a country I never had the pleasure to visit.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 
Yep! Hurry up and wait. Reminds me of when I ….. 🙂
Tim; Mayabe it was the hurry-up part where we went wrong, should have done a lot more waiting. Godot would have approved, anyway. jack
Jules you have not learned the secret yet. When checking in and they ask you how you are, Just tell them that on the way walking up to the entrance from the parking lot you had to use your NITRO, they will put you right to the top of th list. They will put you on a gurney and wheel you in and do some blood work and go through all the records and tests. I discovered this accidently, but it also works at Hospitals, just tell them you have some chest pain and watch them go to work, Great Service.
I remember my service also.
Life Liberty and the Happeness of Pursuit,
Wayne
Thanks Wayne. I’ll probably put that to active use one day. Yesterday I just let Jeanne drop me off at the door. I staggered into the reception waiting area and hung out with the other hard breathers until she parked and joined me snugly inside the harbor of refuge. Gracias, Jack
Does the crap never stop?
Tess: When it seems to it ain’t because it stopped. It’s because we’re too dead to notice it anymore. j
;-P
Sounds like the Army keeps up its tradition of making you dig a hole, then filling it back in so you can dig it again. Now it’s in the form of testing that has to be repeated over and over. Someone needs to get their act together as there are more important things to do than the same thing over and over.
Hi Gypsy Bev. Thanks for coming by. i reckons the US military has been doing the same things over and over since it all started, maybe earlier. Just doing the same things over and over to different people and by a line of gene pool consequencers marching out of an economic driven reason for existence. Gracias, J
Yours and my tax dollars hard at work.
Momlady: Might well be among the least harmful things tax dollars do in the US all things considered. Gracias, j
“I must be the only person here who wandered Asia trying to get a dose of clap, never met a hero. Never sacrificed a damned thing in the service of this country. I can’t recall a first sergeant ever knowing I was alive.”
Great big grin plastered right across my face!
Hi elroyjones: My grin reciprocates. Gracias, J
Thanks for the chuckles. Reminds me of my visits with my patients to the Res hospital and even the one in town, sometimes. And that is true about getting to the top of the line. Blessings and have fun getting the records. Mary
Hi Mary: Thanks and good seeing you. J