If you’re reading this, it’s already too late.

How’s that for a spooky title? Normally I write my posts the same day you all get to read them. It’s a nice system that keeps me just stressed enough to keep going. I’m only semi-joking. This post however was written yesterday, or today for me. The reason is simple, if you’re reading this then I’ve already been whisked off to surgery again. Not that this wasn’t a planned thing, but I didn’t want to make a big fuss about it since I have two surgeries every year as it stands. This year it’s just one so I hold out hope that means the six month shuffle of something new being painful/swollen/etc. is slowly coming to an end.

As with most of my surgeries, this time it’s a minor correction to a previous surgery. My body hates me and routinely ties to do weird things with itself, this time is no different and so even though two years ago this surgery was going to fix a lot of things for me, I’m left back at square one. I mean not exactly square one, but close enough to warrant another surgery while there’s a pandemic going on.

As always this surgery is brought to you by the lovely VA hospital. If you’re not a veteran or don’t know a lot about veterans, the VA is short for veterans affairs, and the VA hospital is the place I go to when I need healthcare because the miltiary admits they jacked me up bad enough to warrant such care. You only need something like 10% disability to enroll in the VA system, but I am at a 100% rating since I’m an overachiever like that.

It’s no secret that I hate the VA. While I am thankful that I can get care at all, the VA is horribly underfunded and that’s intentional. The GOP likes to keep it that way so they can point to it and say you don’t want government providing you with healthcare. Trust me when I say that even crappy underfunded care is better than no care at all (if you’re in the no care at all boat you probably agree). Still I’m not a huge fan of the VA and not just because it’s used as a cautionary example.

I hate the VA because, in the general sense, it attracts the worst people and forces the best people out. You may be a bright eyed new doctor coming into the VA system excited to help veterans and give back to the community, but either you’ll burn out incredibly fast, or you’ll leave. Anyone who can leave typically does leave, I’ve seen it first hand. I mean that isn’t always the case, I’ve had surprisingly good care from a handful of people, but those are the exception and not the rule unfortunately. I think of the VA hospital like less of a hospital and more like a slow moving slaughterhouse. They do just enough to not feel guilty when we die.

Anyway point being, I hate the VA so I’m not exactly thrilled about this whole thing. Still, the hope for some relief is making me do it. Which means I’m going to be out for at least a few days and I need to get my affairs in order for the downtime. So I’ve been running around like a crazy person the last few days trying to get things in order. Which I think I have about as much done as possible, including (but not limited to) writing this! Who says I’m not on the ball?

With that, it’s late (at least when I’m writing this!) so I’m going to call it a night and hopefully tomorrow (as in the day after this post) you’ll get to hear how it all went. If the headache and leg pains I’m dealing with right now are any indication, things are not going to be fun.

Wish me luck and I’ll see you all on the other side… wait that sounds ominous, let’s just go with I’ll update you tomorrow.