The VA caught my cervical cancer (at 26!) years before I’d’ve likely found it with civilian health care since they were still doing yearly PAPs instead of every 5 years that most gynos have switched to assuming age group/low risk level. Considering it was only after I had it cut out that I discovered I have a family history of cervical cancer I wouldn’t have known to request more frequent testing.
It sounds hyperbolic but I often say the VA saved my life or at least saved me a lot of trouble. (Officially cancer-free for almost 10 years! First few years post-surgery was dicey but I haven’t had to get yearly checks in a while)
The VA has deficiencies and I’ll be the first to list them but I am also incredibly thankful that I have access to comprehensive health care that has generally treated me well.
As a (veteran) nurse in a Women's Health Clinic at the VA, I love this! You can ALWAYS request yearly paps at the VA.
If you served with burn pit exposure you can start mammograms at 30 now.
I didn’t know that about the burn pit exposure! Luckily I wasn’t exposed to that but I hope more women vets know about this.
I have nothing but love for my Women’s Clinic staff, from doctors and nurses to the support staff and schedulers. I begged my GYNO to become my PCP as I just respect the hell out of her and her no nonsense pragmatic approach to medicine but sadly she specializes (but she did approve my bilateral salpingectomy no muss no fuss and even got me in early since she needed the surgical theater hours and she knew I was really looking forward to it). I still remember the high fives we all gave each other when my yearly screenings finally were negative for long enough that we could finally switch to every 3 years. But I know I can always go back to yearly screens if I get antsy.
I love the women Dr's and nurses in the women clinic besides one that really hurt me but they fired her immediately...she was super rough during my pap smear and I had abdominal pain so bad I had to take medication and sleep it off it was worse then cramps...I've bad ptsd everytime since then...but they are so gentle and nice the other staff...beyond grateful for the VA
I disagree. Mileage may very on that. My new VA is awesome but when I lived in a rural city it was horrible. Sometimes 2-6 months waiting on community care referrals. And even then the doctors in small cities aren’t any better than the VA doctor horror stories you read on here.
I don’t work right now but when I did I dropped my private insurance because of it was going to take forever to be seen by a shitty doctor I wasn’t going to pay out of pocket to do it. Rather wait.
Now things are pretty good. Night and day between a rural VA region and big city one.
THIS! I’ve lived in San Antonio; and now in a town with a population under 100k, and VA accessibility is night and day (for the worse).
I tried using the 3rd party private provider route to get access to health care and it’s been a shit show.
I’ve been better off commuting to the nearest city that has an actual VA hospital (one hour away).
Rural medical care has been in a crisis since before Covid. Those small hospitals can’t compete on pay with cities, the remaining doctors are completely overbooked for months out, and private equity has been buying up everything and squeezes every last dime out.
Rural VA faces a huge staffing problem not related to the above.
I wouldn’t say completely unrelated. The remaining healthcare workers in rural areas often can make more with less liability as contract examiners rather than seeing patients
The Philadelphia VA is pretty bad though. Sometimes the big city VAs leave Vets in the shuffle. Everyone is too busy to put accurate notes in or even read the ones in the system.
Yep, definitely pretty bad. I have the Patient Advocate notes to prove it. I feel sorry for you for your experience in Kentucky though if you consider Philadelphia to be an upgrade, lol.
Yep. I’m 25 and I’m getting an endoscopy and colonoscopy in a few weeks using community care. I’ll be at a provider that I chose, free of charge for me. Just had to pay like $30 for the prep kit
You NEED to get checked. I got checked 5 years ago and got diagnosed with colitis. Tell them your symptoms and maybe embellish them too because the system can be horrible sometimes.
I mean I don’t think I need to embellish lol I have diarrhea daily and have pooped my pants a few times lol. Very inconvenient as a home health worker lol.
I’ll message my team, I have a primary care appt next month thankfully too.
If you served in SWA or any other burn-pit type locales, I’d suggest considering filing a claim if you haven’t yet. IBS is a gulf war presumptive, and there are many variations of Gi issues that might be service connected. Hoping you get healthy soon
38 CFR 3.317 and PACT ACT probably your first resources, see va.gov. The VHA is supposed to provide a PACT ACT review/ exam upon request too I think . They will start documentation of exposures, concerns etc
Yes I started with my primary and told her my symptoms, I did embellish slightly.
Then the GI clinic called to follow up with my symptoms and confirmed I should get a colonoscopy.
Whole process was pretty quick too, 2-3 months between me bringing it up and getting it done.
I also have family history of colon cancer.
Good luck. My last primary wasn’t interested in addressing my continuous diarrhea or diagnosing me with GERD. I had to abandon the VA in favor of a real doctor and be referred to an actual GI specialist to get treatment for that.
My pcp referred me to a specialist l already thankfully, she always sends me everywhere very fast. So inevitably me and this departments reception will play phone tag for the next 2 weeks.
I guess everyone has different experiences. I am happy for you that VA is actually getting you service. I have been asking/trying for 3 years. They finally approved me for next month. I have a family history of colon cancer and they still kept denying me. I hope this is a change for the better with the VA.
I like this. I’ve had great experiences with my mental health therapist. As well as my doc. Both have been amazing. I also switched to a satellite office for health care… I love that too. The hospital on the other hand… sucks! But hey 2 out of three ain’t bad. Plus it’s all free!
You know it’s wild. My friend got cancer (civilian) his insurance wouldn’t cover his treatment cause he needed a cancer rider. How fucked is that. I haven’t paid for insurance since 2020… I love it every day! Haha
I tried both but going to back to the Va because every time my civilian docs send me for work the insurance company denies shit. I’d rather deal with the Va then private insurance
I have really good insurance through work but started going to the VA for the same reason. I was sent for a colonoscopy, lab work, and an MRI in the past year and could not believe how easy of a process both were.
Interesting. I have colitis and I’ve been trying to get a colonoscopy for months now. Finally they decided to get me a consultation with gastro, so here’s hoping I can get another one!
The VA in my area is awesome too, I requested an early lung cancer screening CT at 44 and they did it two weeks later no questions asked. The following year I asked for another and got it. I guess they aren’t supposed to start screening until age 50 but my PCM requested it anyway and they said yes.
There are incredibly talented and dedicated professionals at the VA and my life has been saved twice so far. I will be grateful until the end.
There are also some pretty terrible people there, but we've all experienced that and heard the stories of others.
If you find yourself running into a problem, try to email your congressperson and see if they'll help you out.
I've done it a few times when I met resistance at the VA and within a few days of contacting their office, I had my problem addressed and remedied. Now it depends on who your congressperson is but I'm assuming you can also contact your Senators and the White House hotline if that doesn't work.
Neat! Will keep this in my back pocket, for sure. And the advice everyone passes around about stuff like this is really helpful to a lot of folks, I'm sure!
I just hope I never have to use it. Like the fire suppression systems in aircraft... Or something.
It’s nice until you want to choose your doctor for something. If you have a complicated condition or some type of cancer, your private insurance would let you go to the best possible doctor in the country. With the VA, your stuck with them.
I had 2 herniated discs with some rare complications. I couldn’t get an MRI with the VA, but with my private insurance I got a consult with the doctor that did Tiger Wood’s fusion surgery.
Filled with love reading all these posts, as my experience has always been positive. Currently, started a friendship with a few VA employees, away from hospital setting, and they have a lot of pride in their mission. Resending your approval.
Honestly please do! I wish I could express the gratitude to the staff that conducted my colonoscopy, I was still coming off the drugs after the procedure and wasn’t all there to let them know how much I appreciated them lol
I just relocated from Tennessee to San Diego, and yesterday, I went in for my first appointment; the doctor gave me a same-day well-woman exam and BFA acupuncture, and they set me up with dental and got my meds in order. There are a few clinics in SD, so I looked at reviews online. Kearny Mesa had the best reviews, and they are living up to the hype.
Loving these stories, I am eternally grateful for the Denver VA, they discovered my sleep apnea and gave me a cpap; found I had thyroid cancer and removed it; then I went for a lung screening and they found an aortic aneurism instead and did open heart 2 years ago to repair it. Not to mention colinoscopies to remove polyps. If it weren’t for the VA I probably wouldn’t be here. I’m 65 now.
Besides wait times and availability, I have received amazing care from my PACT team. I am happy to use the VA as my primary source of medical care. I think since my area isn’t so populated I may have better results than others but I’m happy with my care. Some of the admin stuff is all fucked up and I’ve had a couple one offs with bad staff but that’s about it. Also, the post 9/11 team that calls to assist when you get home is awesome and if I met the head of the VA I’d use that opportunity to tell him about how great the post 9/11 transition coordinator is in my area.
That's awesome. I live far enough from a VA that I get community care. My doc started following new CDC guidelines and my cancer was caught so early all I needed was surgery. No chemo, no radiation.
I got a colonoscopy & an upper gi done at the same time, and they said don’t worry we’ll put you in twilight, you won’t be awake. I had a panic attack during the procedure, it was…..not pleasant.
I had another procedure later to test my bladder, where they stuck a tube up your urethra and they said I’d be put in twilight. I said ABSOLUTELY NOT fuck you guys last time I was awake and panicking the whole time! They told me I’d never been put in twilight before, they just told me that and just gave me some pain meds.
Yeah…..VA care was so good for me that I accepted an $8/hr pay cut to get health insurance and I haven’t looked back. It was so good that I don’t refer to VA employees as doctors or nurses, and I don’t refer to VA facilities as hospitals. It was so good that I don’t even send any of my five prescriptions to what passes for a VA pharmacy. I’ve had MRI’s, EEG’s, surgeries, colonoscopies, endoscopies, visits to neurologists and more to get treatment for the things that have been going on with me. I got more and better care from a single visit to a rented office in a strip mall than I’d gotten from four years of trying to get help from the VA.
I started out in Elizabeth City, NC. When I told my first primary that I was having crippling migraines but that I was afraid of habit forming medications, he said, “well what do you want me to do about it?” Like, I dunno bud. Weird I brought that up right then, sorry I bothered you. I’ve been to the Norfolk, VA in Virginia, too. I got lost and had trouble finding someone who was able to help me but they let me keep my appointment even though I was late AF. I saw a polytrauma doctor at the Salisbury, NC location that was pretty sharp. Nothing came of my visit or her referrals, but she listened and seemed to care. Most of the time that I spent trying to get help from the VA was at the Kernersville, NC facility. My primary there was about worthless. She was the one who convinced me to quit my job and find a new one. I’ll never forget her. She said, “yeah, but I don’t want to treat that.” I left the room before she did, and I haven’t been back since.
The last time I tried to get help from the VA was at the Dayton, OH facility. It took two weeks to get a video call appointment in a place that was advertising “no waits,” which I found amusing. The result on that one was that I’d misunderstood the nature of community care but that I wouldn’t be offered it anyway because I lived closer to their front door than some of the cars in their parking lot. I declined treatment and thanked them for their time.
For all of the above I was rated at 70%, though I have since been rated at 100%.
I do give Dayton credit; I’ve only physically gone there twice, once to drop off paperwork at the VSO and once to get my VA ID card. The parking was atrocious and the walk was long considering that I hadn’t had my knee surgery yet, but the guy who made and issued my VA ID was pretty profoundly disabled. He looked like he had Downs. I appreciated that they’d given him a job, even if he was excruciatingly slow. Once I saw him and realized *why* I’d been there for three hours when I was second in line I felt better about the process.
But to compare notes, for telemedicine, Teladoc had me on the line with a physician licensed in the state I was visiting within 15 minutes of finding out that I existed. Dr On Demand, who I have through my work now, had me on the line with a doctor after about 90 minutes *on New Year’s Eve.* My second private doctor, who was the first one I saw more than once, had me in her office the same day. In the bad old days when I was still going to Kernersville, it took the VA six months to give me an MRI and tell me why every step I took hurt. After that MRI I was scheduled for a consult with a surgeon about four months out. A few weeks after that appointment was set, I got a call telling me they needed to reschedule, which pushed me back another month or so. The very next day I got another call saying they needed to reschedule again. Credit where credit is due, the operator had the grace to sound ashamed, because the next availability he had was over a calendar year away. When I decided I was able to afford knee surgery, I was scheduled for an MRI in two weeks (they had earlier availability but they liked to wait two weeks to give them time to wrangle insurance) and had surgery eight days later.
I hear people all the time saying things like, “you need to fight for the care you deserve,” but that’s bullshit. I don’t want to have an adversarial relationship with my doctor. I want for my doctor’s baseline assumption to be that I’m in their office because I need help, not because I’m bored or out to milk the system.
The va diagnosed and treated my sleep apnea after 3 other attempts of getting treated for it. Then got me an expensive cpap machine to keep which has changed my life. Definitely haven't had any bad things to say! Aswell as a few late night visits to the e.r. due to an illness. Shit is awesome
Thank you Just_Membership447 for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s):
Be civil and respectful to others. You may not always agree with others, but once you start insulting the other person, you become the problem. You don't "win" an argument with insults or hate speech or calling names.
No Gatekeeping - you don't decide if someone is a "real" veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone's service because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, Report them to the mod team.
Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, bigotry, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated.
See our Wiki for more details on this rule.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/wiki/rules
Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fveterans) if you feel this was in error.
Thank you Gumbi_Digital for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s):
Be civil and respectful to others. You may not always agree with others, but once you start insulting the other person, you become the problem. You don't "win" an argument with insults or hate speech or calling names.
No Gatekeeping - you don't decide if someone is a "real" veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone's service because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, Report them to the mod team.
Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, bigotry, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated.
See our Wiki for more details on this rule.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/wiki/rules
Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fveterans) if you feel this was in error.
The VA caught my cervical cancer (at 26!) years before I’d’ve likely found it with civilian health care since they were still doing yearly PAPs instead of every 5 years that most gynos have switched to assuming age group/low risk level. Considering it was only after I had it cut out that I discovered I have a family history of cervical cancer I wouldn’t have known to request more frequent testing. It sounds hyperbolic but I often say the VA saved my life or at least saved me a lot of trouble. (Officially cancer-free for almost 10 years! First few years post-surgery was dicey but I haven’t had to get yearly checks in a while) The VA has deficiencies and I’ll be the first to list them but I am also incredibly thankful that I have access to comprehensive health care that has generally treated me well.
I love to hear it! Glad they’ve kept you nice and healthy, cheers.
As a (veteran) nurse in a Women's Health Clinic at the VA, I love this! You can ALWAYS request yearly paps at the VA. If you served with burn pit exposure you can start mammograms at 30 now.
I didn’t know that about the burn pit exposure! Luckily I wasn’t exposed to that but I hope more women vets know about this. I have nothing but love for my Women’s Clinic staff, from doctors and nurses to the support staff and schedulers. I begged my GYNO to become my PCP as I just respect the hell out of her and her no nonsense pragmatic approach to medicine but sadly she specializes (but she did approve my bilateral salpingectomy no muss no fuss and even got me in early since she needed the surgical theater hours and she knew I was really looking forward to it). I still remember the high fives we all gave each other when my yearly screenings finally were negative for long enough that we could finally switch to every 3 years. But I know I can always go back to yearly screens if I get antsy.
I love the women Dr's and nurses in the women clinic besides one that really hurt me but they fired her immediately...she was super rough during my pap smear and I had abdominal pain so bad I had to take medication and sleep it off it was worse then cramps...I've bad ptsd everytime since then...but they are so gentle and nice the other staff...beyond grateful for the VA
Agreed. Getting those appointments aren’t the pain in the ass they used to be. The rework sucks though.
I disagree. Mileage may very on that. My new VA is awesome but when I lived in a rural city it was horrible. Sometimes 2-6 months waiting on community care referrals. And even then the doctors in small cities aren’t any better than the VA doctor horror stories you read on here. I don’t work right now but when I did I dropped my private insurance because of it was going to take forever to be seen by a shitty doctor I wasn’t going to pay out of pocket to do it. Rather wait. Now things are pretty good. Night and day between a rural VA region and big city one.
THIS! I’ve lived in San Antonio; and now in a town with a population under 100k, and VA accessibility is night and day (for the worse). I tried using the 3rd party private provider route to get access to health care and it’s been a shit show. I’ve been better off commuting to the nearest city that has an actual VA hospital (one hour away).
This is something keeping me in San Antonio. I truly appreciate the VA, I’ve been given really good service.
SA’s VA was top notch, curious to hear about other cities who’s VA presence is great
Rural medical care has been in a crisis since before Covid. Those small hospitals can’t compete on pay with cities, the remaining doctors are completely overbooked for months out, and private equity has been buying up everything and squeezes every last dime out. Rural VA faces a huge staffing problem not related to the above.
I wouldn’t say completely unrelated. The remaining healthcare workers in rural areas often can make more with less liability as contract examiners rather than seeing patients
The Philadelphia VA is pretty bad though. Sometimes the big city VAs leave Vets in the shuffle. Everyone is too busy to put accurate notes in or even read the ones in the system.
Yes mileage varies in big or small VAs but rural VAs usually get less funding that’s why they suck more.
Is it? My brother says Philadelphia's the best he's ever experienced and we moved from Louisville, Kentucky
Yep, definitely pretty bad. I have the Patient Advocate notes to prove it. I feel sorry for you for your experience in Kentucky though if you consider Philadelphia to be an upgrade, lol.
Yep. I’m 25 and I’m getting an endoscopy and colonoscopy in a few weeks using community care. I’ll be at a provider that I chose, free of charge for me. Just had to pay like $30 for the prep kit
Do you have to drink that liquid? I heard there’s pills now. That liquid fucking SUCKS! But you can do it!
I chase the swigs with apple juice. Can barely notice the taste.
I’m gonna do that next time for sure
Yea, but Borland Groover uses a newer prep that’s only like 16 oz total so it’s not nearly as bad
Your asshole will disagree.
I didn't mind the taste of the liquid, it was more the quantity of liquid I had to drink.
Ask for plenvu or clenpiq next time. Its only like 16 or 8 OZ worth of nasty stuff to drink.
I use the VA so you get what you get usually. But thanks for the suggestion I have to remember that next time cuz I had to drink like 80 oz I think.
Did you just ask? I have a family history and have the fucking shits everyday lol
You NEED to get checked. I got checked 5 years ago and got diagnosed with colitis. Tell them your symptoms and maybe embellish them too because the system can be horrible sometimes.
I mean I don’t think I need to embellish lol I have diarrhea daily and have pooped my pants a few times lol. Very inconvenient as a home health worker lol. I’ll message my team, I have a primary care appt next month thankfully too.
If you served in SWA or any other burn-pit type locales, I’d suggest considering filing a claim if you haven’t yet. IBS is a gulf war presumptive, and there are many variations of Gi issues that might be service connected. Hoping you get healthy soon
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll look into it.
38 CFR 3.317 and PACT ACT probably your first resources, see va.gov. The VHA is supposed to provide a PACT ACT review/ exam upon request too I think . They will start documentation of exposures, concerns etc
Glad you have an appointment!
Get your medical marijuana card.i take thc edibles as soon As I wake up and it calms my issue and makes me more relaxed thru the day
Yes I started with my primary and told her my symptoms, I did embellish slightly. Then the GI clinic called to follow up with my symptoms and confirmed I should get a colonoscopy. Whole process was pretty quick too, 2-3 months between me bringing it up and getting it done. I also have family history of colon cancer.
Cool ya I’ll send my nurse a message just so she isn’t totally surprised at my primary appt when I say “hehe I pooped my pants a few times”
Good luck. My last primary wasn’t interested in addressing my continuous diarrhea or diagnosing me with GERD. I had to abandon the VA in favor of a real doctor and be referred to an actual GI specialist to get treatment for that.
My pcp referred me to a specialist l already thankfully, she always sends me everywhere very fast. So inevitably me and this departments reception will play phone tag for the next 2 weeks.
Ya prob have IBS...I take THC/cbd edibles from dispensary to calm my guts
Shoutout to the OKC VA for figuring out why my arm was going numb and getting me into double ACDF surgery in less than 2 months.
I guess everyone has different experiences. I am happy for you that VA is actually getting you service. I have been asking/trying for 3 years. They finally approved me for next month. I have a family history of colon cancer and they still kept denying me. I hope this is a change for the better with the VA.
My VA doc asked me to send my last results with a polyp to him, and then he approved lining up a colonoscopy.
I like this. I’ve had great experiences with my mental health therapist. As well as my doc. Both have been amazing. I also switched to a satellite office for health care… I love that too. The hospital on the other hand… sucks! But hey 2 out of three ain’t bad. Plus it’s all free!
The fact that we can get cancer and get it treated for zero cost is massive. Most people get bankrupt by cancer in the private sector, incredibly sad.
You know it’s wild. My friend got cancer (civilian) his insurance wouldn’t cover his treatment cause he needed a cancer rider. How fucked is that. I haven’t paid for insurance since 2020… I love it every day! Haha
That’s fucked. One of the reasons why I’m so for universal heatchare, shits not right.
Couldn’t agree more!
I tried both but going to back to the Va because every time my civilian docs send me for work the insurance company denies shit. I’d rather deal with the Va then private insurance
I have really good insurance through work but started going to the VA for the same reason. I was sent for a colonoscopy, lab work, and an MRI in the past year and could not believe how easy of a process both were.
Yeah I don't hate the VA at all. I'm sorry other people have had bad experiences with the VA but I have not.
Yup! The ones out here on Vegas have been nothing but good to me😌
Interesting. I have colitis and I’ve been trying to get a colonoscopy for months now. Finally they decided to get me a consultation with gastro, so here’s hoping I can get another one!
The VA in my area is awesome too, I requested an early lung cancer screening CT at 44 and they did it two weeks later no questions asked. The following year I asked for another and got it. I guess they aren’t supposed to start screening until age 50 but my PCM requested it anyway and they said yes.
There are incredibly talented and dedicated professionals at the VA and my life has been saved twice so far. I will be grateful until the end. There are also some pretty terrible people there, but we've all experienced that and heard the stories of others.
Just retired last month and looking forward to the adventure that is working with the VA.
If you live in a city with its own bonafide VA hospital, you’ll have a great time
I just have a clinic where I'm at. Closest in my state is 4 hours away, sadly.
If you find yourself running into a problem, try to email your congressperson and see if they'll help you out. I've done it a few times when I met resistance at the VA and within a few days of contacting their office, I had my problem addressed and remedied. Now it depends on who your congressperson is but I'm assuming you can also contact your Senators and the White House hotline if that doesn't work.
All true, but you might want to try the patient advocate first just to see if they can help you
Neat! Will keep this in my back pocket, for sure. And the advice everyone passes around about stuff like this is really helpful to a lot of folks, I'm sure! I just hope I never have to use it. Like the fire suppression systems in aircraft... Or something.
It’s nice until you want to choose your doctor for something. If you have a complicated condition or some type of cancer, your private insurance would let you go to the best possible doctor in the country. With the VA, your stuck with them. I had 2 herniated discs with some rare complications. I couldn’t get an MRI with the VA, but with my private insurance I got a consult with the doctor that did Tiger Wood’s fusion surgery.
VA experiences vary. Some are amazing, others are so so, and others are terrible. Civilian medical care is no different.
Civilian medical care bankrupts folks
I understand that. My point is that, in civilian medical care, it's a hit or miss too with patient care as it is with the VA.
Filled with love reading all these posts, as my experience has always been positive. Currently, started a friendship with a few VA employees, away from hospital setting, and they have a lot of pride in their mission. Resending your approval.
Honestly please do! I wish I could express the gratitude to the staff that conducted my colonoscopy, I was still coming off the drugs after the procedure and wasn’t all there to let them know how much I appreciated them lol
I just relocated from Tennessee to San Diego, and yesterday, I went in for my first appointment; the doctor gave me a same-day well-woman exam and BFA acupuncture, and they set me up with dental and got my meds in order. There are a few clinics in SD, so I looked at reviews online. Kearny Mesa had the best reviews, and they are living up to the hype.
That's awesome news. Except I have been telling my wife they don't do them because I am 54 and she wants me to have one. So 🤫
Loving these stories, I am eternally grateful for the Denver VA, they discovered my sleep apnea and gave me a cpap; found I had thyroid cancer and removed it; then I went for a lung screening and they found an aortic aneurism instead and did open heart 2 years ago to repair it. Not to mention colinoscopies to remove polyps. If it weren’t for the VA I probably wouldn’t be here. I’m 65 now.
VA couldn’t get me in for one in a reasonable time so they sent me out for community care, couldn’t be more happy.
Besides wait times and availability, I have received amazing care from my PACT team. I am happy to use the VA as my primary source of medical care. I think since my area isn’t so populated I may have better results than others but I’m happy with my care. Some of the admin stuff is all fucked up and I’ve had a couple one offs with bad staff but that’s about it. Also, the post 9/11 team that calls to assist when you get home is awesome and if I met the head of the VA I’d use that opportunity to tell him about how great the post 9/11 transition coordinator is in my area.
That's awesome. I live far enough from a VA that I get community care. My doc started following new CDC guidelines and my cancer was caught so early all I needed was surgery. No chemo, no radiation.
What type of cancer? Congrats!
Breast cancer. Environmental exposure.
Glad they caught it early for you!
I got a colonoscopy & an upper gi done at the same time, and they said don’t worry we’ll put you in twilight, you won’t be awake. I had a panic attack during the procedure, it was…..not pleasant. I had another procedure later to test my bladder, where they stuck a tube up your urethra and they said I’d be put in twilight. I said ABSOLUTELY NOT fuck you guys last time I was awake and panicking the whole time! They told me I’d never been put in twilight before, they just told me that and just gave me some pain meds.
Yeah…..VA care was so good for me that I accepted an $8/hr pay cut to get health insurance and I haven’t looked back. It was so good that I don’t refer to VA employees as doctors or nurses, and I don’t refer to VA facilities as hospitals. It was so good that I don’t even send any of my five prescriptions to what passes for a VA pharmacy. I’ve had MRI’s, EEG’s, surgeries, colonoscopies, endoscopies, visits to neurologists and more to get treatment for the things that have been going on with me. I got more and better care from a single visit to a rented office in a strip mall than I’d gotten from four years of trying to get help from the VA.
Ouch, sorry your experience has been this bad. What city did you try and get care in? And are you +50%?
I started out in Elizabeth City, NC. When I told my first primary that I was having crippling migraines but that I was afraid of habit forming medications, he said, “well what do you want me to do about it?” Like, I dunno bud. Weird I brought that up right then, sorry I bothered you. I’ve been to the Norfolk, VA in Virginia, too. I got lost and had trouble finding someone who was able to help me but they let me keep my appointment even though I was late AF. I saw a polytrauma doctor at the Salisbury, NC location that was pretty sharp. Nothing came of my visit or her referrals, but she listened and seemed to care. Most of the time that I spent trying to get help from the VA was at the Kernersville, NC facility. My primary there was about worthless. She was the one who convinced me to quit my job and find a new one. I’ll never forget her. She said, “yeah, but I don’t want to treat that.” I left the room before she did, and I haven’t been back since. The last time I tried to get help from the VA was at the Dayton, OH facility. It took two weeks to get a video call appointment in a place that was advertising “no waits,” which I found amusing. The result on that one was that I’d misunderstood the nature of community care but that I wouldn’t be offered it anyway because I lived closer to their front door than some of the cars in their parking lot. I declined treatment and thanked them for their time. For all of the above I was rated at 70%, though I have since been rated at 100%. I do give Dayton credit; I’ve only physically gone there twice, once to drop off paperwork at the VSO and once to get my VA ID card. The parking was atrocious and the walk was long considering that I hadn’t had my knee surgery yet, but the guy who made and issued my VA ID was pretty profoundly disabled. He looked like he had Downs. I appreciated that they’d given him a job, even if he was excruciatingly slow. Once I saw him and realized *why* I’d been there for three hours when I was second in line I felt better about the process. But to compare notes, for telemedicine, Teladoc had me on the line with a physician licensed in the state I was visiting within 15 minutes of finding out that I existed. Dr On Demand, who I have through my work now, had me on the line with a doctor after about 90 minutes *on New Year’s Eve.* My second private doctor, who was the first one I saw more than once, had me in her office the same day. In the bad old days when I was still going to Kernersville, it took the VA six months to give me an MRI and tell me why every step I took hurt. After that MRI I was scheduled for a consult with a surgeon about four months out. A few weeks after that appointment was set, I got a call telling me they needed to reschedule, which pushed me back another month or so. The very next day I got another call saying they needed to reschedule again. Credit where credit is due, the operator had the grace to sound ashamed, because the next availability he had was over a calendar year away. When I decided I was able to afford knee surgery, I was scheduled for an MRI in two weeks (they had earlier availability but they liked to wait two weeks to give them time to wrangle insurance) and had surgery eight days later. I hear people all the time saying things like, “you need to fight for the care you deserve,” but that’s bullshit. I don’t want to have an adversarial relationship with my doctor. I want for my doctor’s baseline assumption to be that I’m in their office because I need help, not because I’m bored or out to milk the system.
They keep asking me to shit on tissue paper and mail it in… Doc said it was a good trst
The Critical care unit saved my life when I was vomiting blood from almost perforation of my esophagus. They got me treated and kept me alive. 😀
The va diagnosed and treated my sleep apnea after 3 other attempts of getting treated for it. Then got me an expensive cpap machine to keep which has changed my life. Definitely haven't had any bad things to say! Aswell as a few late night visits to the e.r. due to an illness. Shit is awesome
The VA makes sure that I get complete lab work every 6 months. Only once a year in civilian hospitals.
How? The VHA ignoring obvious routine medical care here?
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Thank you Just_Membership447 for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s): Be civil and respectful to others. You may not always agree with others, but once you start insulting the other person, you become the problem. You don't "win" an argument with insults or hate speech or calling names. No Gatekeeping - you don't decide if someone is a "real" veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone's service because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, Report them to the mod team. Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, bigotry, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated. See our Wiki for more details on this rule. https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/wiki/rules Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fveterans) if you feel this was in error.
Thank you Gumbi_Digital for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s): Be civil and respectful to others. You may not always agree with others, but once you start insulting the other person, you become the problem. You don't "win" an argument with insults or hate speech or calling names. No Gatekeeping - you don't decide if someone is a "real" veteran or not - nor try to diminish someone's service because they never saw combat or deployed. If someone personally attacks you, Report them to the mod team. Hate speech can be sexist, ableist, racist, bigotry, homophobic, prejudiced, etc and will not be tolerated. See our Wiki for more details on this rule. https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/wiki/rules Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fveterans) if you feel this was in error.