My VA hospital stay is over. I am recovering from surgery well.

[broncovet]

I really never spent much time at my VA..went there for appointments, had a knee replacement, which was only one nite stay, and that was it.  

This time, I was in about a week. 

I got pancreatitis, which is very, very painful.  IN part, it was related to my gall bladder, which was ultimately removed.  

I figured I would "review the hospital", rather than bore you with details about my health.

   Overall rating:  5 stars.  the best.  

VA hospital Pros: (many)

1.  Nurses were (mostly excellent).  I did draw "the wicked witch" one nite, who goes around complaining about patients not wearing masks and ridicules me if I forget.  Gee, I did not know "good memory" was a requirement for admittance at VAMC.  Many would not cut the grade.   But the others were all fabulous.  Spent time with me, did not complain when I turned on the nurse light, even if it was something I could do.  (But felt poorly so I elected not to). 

2.  Doctors..Also very good.  But almost all were 25 years old.  They went in teams of 2 or 3 docs, so I knew there was training going on.  Im ok with that, at least one was 28 and seemed to know more than the others.  I understand docs need to be trainied..so I dont mind if I am seen by a trainee.  

3.  Surgery.  Went well.  The HHIC (head honcho in charge) was experienced, and supervised a slightly less experienced team which did the work.  VA has a very hard time hiring and keeping experienced surgeons when they can make 10x the money in private practice.  The problem is with the pay scale.  

    The max VA can pay is about 167k or so per year.  Well, Im glad they got that cap, on those administrators who would love to make more.  But a surgeon, who is paying 2million in student loans, does not want to work for 167k.  Fix:  Pay surgeons, doctors more an no GS15 bs, for surgeons, and experienced doctors.    The va can afford it, but no matter how many billions congress gives em, they cant raise docs pay.  

    Cons:  Not many.  But will give those also.    VA, like other places has shortages.  So soap to take a shower a cap ful of VO5, not real shower soap because of shortages of the good stuff.  

    And, the wicked nite witch nurse, of course, cant be fired because of union rules.  GRRRRR.  No matter how bad she does.  GRRRR.  Many good people at VA, but I always seem to find the bad ones. 

    Hospital food was good, but I couldnt even "look" at food for days, without pancreatitis pain reminding me to look away at food.  

    Anyway, gall bladder out, hernia fixed, and recovering in only moderate pain today.  Im sure that was the problem.  

     These CONS can be fixed:  

1.  Poor communication between departments.  

     Why is it they did not do a gall bladder scan 3 years ago, when I complained of similar abdominal pain back then?  They did a coloscopy and said, "no, your colon is fine and does not show anything that would cause pain".  That pain was probably also  my gall bladder stones..they had been there a while.  So, the "GI" department cant seem to communicate with the "internal organs" department, and tell them where there is abdominal pain, do a gall bladder scan?  Why did I have to live with this, mostly, for 3years, altho at a lesser degree???  Worse, what other medical care is being neglected when VA cant get this right, either?  

      I had something similar happen about 10 years ago.  I went into the hosptial (VA was full and not accepting patients so I went to an outside hospital).  I had chest pain.  The doc comes in my room and says "you have sleep apnea".  

      No I dont!   

      Well, yea, you do.  The right side of your heart is enlarged and that is due to your heart not getting enough oxygen at nite while sleeping because of sleep apnea.  

       The doc recomended my heart was fine, but I needed a sleep study done.  

       What if I dont do that?

       The doc said, its your life, but your right side of the heart will increase until you go into afib and die.  Its up to you.  Get a study done, or have more heart problems.  

       I had been going to the VA for decades...all departments.  Why did it take an outside doc to figure this out?   

        Well, my wife is a nurse and she took me to the heart hospital where she worked and they knew their stuff, and I dont mean maybe.  

        The big reason too many vets fall between the cracks:

1.  Poor communication between VA, and the Veteran.  We cant call a rater and ask him why they did this or that.  They wont give his number, or even name.   (anymore..they used to be signed by a human..not anymore). 

2.  Poor communication between VA departments.  

3.  Not enough pay for top level docs, while too much pay for many administrators.  

      I may write congressman and tell him he should pass a bill for Veterans which:

1.  Mandates VA pay enough for top quality doctors.  

2.  The va install ONE: 

"VA master problem solver" available to Vets by phone, per VARO, and per VAMC. 

No, the VSO can not do this.   

      We used to have a gal here (she must have retired).  You had a problem at VA, and she knew who to call to fix it and did it NOW.  We need that more.  

         

[Vync]

@broncovetGlad you are recovering well and I wish you the best towards getting back to normal.

A friend of mine had pancreatitis and said it was like he had swallowed a nightmare because the pain meds barely made a dent. 

Get well soon!

[Carl the Engineer]

Good to hear from you,

Get well,

Hamslice

 

[blahsaysme2u]

my experience with Salem VA medical center in roanoke is also very nice. so glad things went smoothly for you. i hate hearing when vets get treated poorly in the hospital. its one thing for the VA to screw around with our money, its a totally tragic thing to mess with our health. 

get rest and heal up brother!!

[ArNG11]

Heh Hamslice, long time.  I hope you have a speedy recovery brother.  Take care.

 

[GBArmy]

Broncovet Good to hear you are doing better now. I agree with your comments regarding VA Heath Care. Pretty much the same experiences; mostly younger medical staff with a lot of ojt, mostly nice careing professionals. Once in a while a bad apple, but nothing like it was 10-15 years ago. Wish you speedy recover brother.