On Friday I got a letter from the VA, requesting I make an appointment for my yearly checkup. Monday I called the phone number in the letter, spoke to a real person, (not an automated voice)and made an appointment for next week to see my primary care physician. I was also instructed to show up at my convenience for a blood test (no appointment required) so my physician would have the results when I came in. I went in this morning, took a number and sat down in a waiting room with about 40 other old guys, until my number was called. I was called about a half hour later, blood was pulled out of my arm, I pissed in a cup and I was soon on my way.

There isn’t anything unusual about any of this, its pretty much the same drill I go through every year to make sure I am still in the system and the computers haven’t lost my records. I will get my checkup and I get a referral for my yearly eye exam. I am enrolled in Medicare/Humana, but I prefer the VA’s eye doctors, appointments are easier to get, the glasses are ready in just a few days, and they don’t try to sell me any extras like titanium designer frames. I kind of prefer the plain brown GI issue plastic frames anyway.

I bring this up because there has been so much in the news lately about the VA that I wanted to let you know that it hasn’t affected me here in my clinic. I’m not saying the VA doesn’t have problems, just that if it wasn’t for the news I wouldn’t know anything about them.

For a big bureaucracy, the Florida VA does seem to handle routine things like appointments, specialist referrals, and prescriptions with a lot less drama and confusion than my private doctor. The waiting rooms are always crowded, but I rarely spend more than an hour in them. I get most of my prescriptions from Humana, but I still get my medicated dandruff shampoo from the VA telephone pharmacy. Its killer stuff that does a great job on my scalp mung, and has the additional benefit of keeping my file open and active. The staff is friendly and helpful, and there are a lot of volunteers working there, mostly vets, that make you feel at home. There’s even a snack bar concession run by Starbuck’s there, and a kiosk where I can purchase a baseball cap embroidered with the history of the units I served in, my awards and decorations, and the campaigns where I participated.

Most of the guys I see there are old-timers, like myself. Vietnam and Korea vets, and even a few WWII guys. A lot of old guys on crutches and walkers and wheel chairs, and a few amputees. There appear to be very few young ones from the Gulf Wars. I saw one old gent there today with a horribly scarred face, it was fully healed, but it had obviously been a terrible injury. I’m not even sure it was the result of his wartime service, for all I know he had been in an accident long after he was discharged.

Nonetheless, it reminded me how lucky I was.

I hope the changes that are no doubt being contemplated for this agency don’t change my VA too much.