After pushing hard to cover the 1,050 miles between Mission, Texas and Tucson, Arizona, I made it to the V.A. hospital yesterday only to spend four hours getting almost nothing accomplished. Hurry up and wait.
I had to go to the lab and get blood work done before anything else could happen, and the place was packed. I took a number and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally they called my number, did their thing, and sent me upstairs to the clinic where my doctor is located.
She wasn’t available, and they said it would be the end of April before I could get in. So much for scheduling. Meanwhile, I’m out of all of my medications, and can’t get prescriptions refilled until the doctor authorizes them. I’m supposed to call back today to see if she had a chance to go over the lab reports and where I stand on that.
Meanwhile, I have some other issues that need addressed, but that can’t happen until my doctor speaks to me and authorizes them. And I have no idea when that will happen. Grrr… frustrating!
While I was gone, Miss Terry took advantage of the time to give our motorhome a thorough cleaning. Last year the good folks at Dyson sent us a DC31 handheld rechargeable vacuum to evaluate, and Miss Terry loves it. For quick cleanups around the RV, it can’t be beat. It’s small, powerful, and does the job very well. But to clean the whole carpet required getting on her hands and knees.
A while back she spotted a Dyson C35 Multi-floor cordless vacuum, which seems to be a similar product, with a wand and floor brush, and I bought it for her. Terry says it’s another hit, and I doubt very much if she will ever use the central vac built into our Ultimate Advantage again. The pair of Dysons are her new tools of choice.
About 5 p.m. we drove over to my cousin Bev’s apartment to visit with her for a while, and had dinner at Lucky Wishbone, my favorite fast food restaurant of all time. Famous for their chicken, steak fingers, and shrimp, Lucky Wishbone has been a Tucson tradition since 1952.
Back at Bev’s place, we visited for a while, but my eyes were getting heavy and I was finding it difficult to keep up my end of the conversation, so about 8 p.m. we said our goodbyes and headed back to the fairgrounds. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV and I got the blog written, and then I was ready to head for bed.
Hopefully today I’ll at least get the prescription problem handled, and with any luck at all, maybe at least get to speak to my doctor for a moment. Unless the V.A. schedules something for me before then, we plan to leave Tucson tomorrow and go to Apache Junction, where I’ll finish the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, and Terry can have some time with her parents and sisters, before we leave for Yuma for our rally.
Thought For The Day – Nobody on their deathbed ever said “Gee, I wish I had worked more overtime.”
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Hi Nick….welcome to Arizona. We are loving the weather over here so don’t you come messing it up! 🙂 Tell Miss Terry that I have 4 Dyson vacuums… a D25 Animal Floor vacuum (for the house at North Ranch), a DC 23 Canister vacuum for the motorhome and the cabin in Custer and 2 DC 16 Handheld vacuums to clean up after Megabyte and Mike. 🙂 I love all of them!!! Hope you get all your medical stuff taken care of. If you get close to North Ranch, stop by to see us. Hugs…………Pat
VA is so overloaded I don’t know what they are going to do. My suggestion is to outsourse to local Doc’s. Gainesville has huge facility but the 2 times he needed surgery they outsourced him. Even with clinics there is so much inefficiency. Sorry you are off to a rough start.
Just finished Big Lake last night. I loved it! (And I usually read Christian and Amish Romance novels) I read each night, at bedtime. I finished it in 3 nights LOL. Can’t wait on your next book.
I know what Terry means about her vacuum. We got a Bissell Power Groom because we have a Golden Retriever who showers the RV with her hair. Our built in just didn’t seem to have enough suction. The Bissell works like a dream. The plus side of this…I got rid of the built in vacuum freeing up valuable cupboard space. Now, I can have my beloved Kitchen Aide with me all the time.??? My husband knows which side his bread is buttered on…pun intended!
Nick, When you are here in Yuma for your rally, you may want to check out the Yuma VA clinic. As a snowbird, I have used them for 10 years and very seldom have had to wait more then a few minutes past the scheduled time. A very well run clinic in my experience.
If you have a directly related problem in regard to your service in the military than you are entitled to VA care without a doubt. I served in the military as have many of my neighbors. Many of the individuals use the VA because it saves them money – I do not. With all the recent combat veterans of recent conflict who truly need the VA it amazes me the number of people who could use a local doctor instead of complaining about poor service – many could easily afford to do so.
Everyone complains about government spending and how we need to do something as long as it does not cost them anything. My neighbor should sacrifice but not me. Here is a prime example of many ex military clogging the VA system just to save their dollars while preventing veterans who are in dire need from obtaining medical care.
I have no idea if this is Nick’s situation but perhaps between your chinese buffets you should evaluate if you can in any way assist the VA. Especially if you do not have a real need caused by your service and absorbing the cost personally, if you are financially able.
VA hospitals and clinics are a perfect example of a government run, bureaucratic health care system yet millions of people actually WANT the government to be in charge of it all.
I have a dyson dc24 and its great. our rig came with a dirt devil central vac and it was terrible!! The Dyson does a great job on all things dog. expensive but worth it.
Jean
Hope you get your RXs taken care of today and thank you for your service to our country…whenever it was. You deserve our thanks and continuing care for your medical needs – you earned that the hard way.
Just finished Big Lake Lynching – when’s your next book coming out (tee-hee!) I sure enjoyed both books. Seems we all have a “Chet” or two in our lives and it’s fun to hear the Sheriff tell his Chet what many of us would like to be able to say to our own personal “Chets”. You did a great job in presenting both sides of some current social issues as well. No pressure but did I ask you yet when your next book is coming out….