Surgery time
Well today is the day. I just checked in and ready for surgery. For those of you who follow along, this isn’t the first surgery I’ve had. I’ve had two surgeries a year for the past four years. It’s a lot, but each one offers the promise of a slightly better life.
While waiting to be called back for pre-surgical prep, a sort of halfway point to the surgical floor, I get stuck in a waiting room and just hang out until it’s time.
I’m a few hours from my scheduled time, but I’ve never had surgery when it was scheduled, they always run behind schedule and it can be anxiety inducing. Not because I’m nervous about the surgery, I’m not. Instead it’s just the pressure to get it done and get out of this place I hate so much.
I’ve made my feelings about the VA healthcare system known before, but it never hurts to say it again. The VA is more a slow moving slaughterhouse than it is a hospital. Partly due to the people they hire, partly due to the high workload and lower pay. Some do it to help vets, some do it because it’s hard to be fired, and some do it because no one else would hire them.
It’s the lack of funding. The VA isn’t funded well…. at all. It’s the closest we get to socialized medicine here in the US and it could be a glowing example of what that could look like if it were expanded to everyone. Instead there are senators who use the horror stories of the VA as a way to keep healthcare for all a distant dream. If that sounds like a conflict of interest, that’s because it is.
I acknowledge that crap care is better than no care at all. I’m lucky to have care period, I am aware and grateful that I have access to any sort of care at all. But the point is it shouldn’t be a choice between bad care or no care. The VA shouldn’t be used as a cautionary tale for why socialized medicine is a bad idea by the people who caused the problem.
All that said, I have a surgery to wait for so that’s what I’m going to do. The point of today’s post is simple, healthcare should be free for all and the VA is not an example of why that’s a bad idea, it’s actually one reason it’s needed.
Lunatic Laboratories 
I won’t give rebuttal to your post, but I could, ad nauseum. Wishing you a speedy recovery 🙂
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October 6, 2020 at 9:51 am
Thanks! There were some complications to surgery, but I’m home now after saying the night. You could voice your opinion if you want I don’t mind!
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October 7, 2020 at 1:51 pm
Ouch! Glad that you made it through your surgery and were able to respond 🙂 Gotta look for the positives, right? I at one time was a surgical tech and did my schooling in Glendale, CA and my surgical rotation was at MLk Jr in Los Angeles, South Central. This was in 1996. The many overflow from the VA came to that hospital. It was sad. Men that had signed up and served their country and were now being treated like second class citizens and drug addicts. I used to cry almost every day. During my clinical rotation at Good Samaritan in Los Angeles, I had to take a bus after my 3p-11p shift and often many of the street people took care of me and I got to know them and hear about the VA horror stories and I used to sneak out bandages and such to treat people on the street if I saw an infected cut and such. Many of these men that lived on the streets still proudly wore there fatigues and had there dog tags. I know there are two sides to every story and the VA admin claims that the help is there people just need to get to it. Again, sorry, just the fact that the big cheese got all that free care that could have saved 100s of men and women that afford care and that served the USA under the flag that he so staunchly defends and then claims he is now cured…
Anyhow, sorry, my fingers and brain got away with me. Glad you are doing well. Hopefully this surgery will get you some needed relief. I have had spine surgery, not sure if that is what you are going through. Be well 🙂
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October 8, 2020 at 9:41 am
Thank you for sharing! I really appreciate it. I have plenty of horror stories of the VA myself. You’re right, there are two sides to every story, but the truth is the VA is super badly funded and government waste is just as bad at the VA as it is with other military run services. If the funding was there, the horror stories wouldn’t be, I can almost promise that. Unfortunately, the VA attracts people who couldn’t find work elsewhere even though they typically pay less than a normal hospital and it’s really hard to be fired, so you can be terrible at your job and still not have to worry about job security. Some people want to be there to help and are good at their jobs, I’ve encountered a few myself, but they always leave for better employment because they are good at what they do.
Anyway that was longer than I was expecting! It was spinal surgery, but just some scar tissue around the roots, it wasn’t too bad for me aside from the nausea from the meds they gave me. Thank you again! I hope you’re staying safe and what not with everything going on!
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October 8, 2020 at 10:33 am
You are welcome. I often refrain from sharing as I can get long winded and go nowhere…the smoking pot for pain…sorry. Yeah, there are definitely two sides and I hate that I have seen the bad side.
Hope they got everything and that you will get some relief. Make ice packs your best friend! They work for me 🙂 Take care and thanks for responding even after your surgery.
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October 8, 2020 at 11:20 am