VA apt nearly a years wait canceled by VA

[gomer]

My MS doc at the VA wanted me to get a sleep study a year ago. It took many months just to get a date/appointment. Today I got a notice in the mail that my mid Jan sleep clinic apt had been canceled and a number to call to re-schedule.

That apt was at the Detroit VA twice as far away as my Ann Arbor VAMC. I was not thrilled about them wanting it done in Detroit instead of AA, they do do sleep studies there as well, I asked.

No surprise, waiting many months only to have an apt canceled is a common occurrence here.

For change, this time I am glad they canceled it, saves me the trouble of calling and canceling. I was able to get the sleep study done at the local hospital. They also found another unrelated issue from the study beside OSA that the local doc wants me to bring up with my MS doc at the VA. I also need to get a copy of the APAP script & study note (from sleep doc about PLM) for my MS doc.

Gomer Sir Falls-a-lot (on FLAT LEVEL surfaces)
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[Scooter24]

Gomer - I have one question, if you had it done already why hadn't you cancelled the VA appointment once you had the other appointment, My VA averages 18% of missed appointments, makes no sense to me to complain about having to wait a long time for an appointment and then when you don't need it you don't cancel it. Someone else could have used that appointment, I know you are going to say it was cancelled anyway but if it hadn't been someone else could have had it. To me this is just common courtesy to the other vets using the same facility. I know you have made statements before that it takes so long to get an appointment, maybe it was because other people that have appointments and not using them aren't cancelling thiers.

[gomer]

I DID TRY to cancel the sleep clinic apt. Getting hold of someone at the VA during the holidays is not easy here. I even went to the local little VA clinic but they had gone for the holiday weekend early.

Actually I told the VA, via two emails (secure messg), months ago I DID NOT want to go to Detroit for a sleep study.

That is WHY I was GLAD THEY sent me a cancellation, it ended my quest to cancel it. The cancelation notice did not note a reason and might have been in response to MY attempts to cancel it.

I had also told BOTH my MS neuro & VA GP months ago that I would try and get the study done locally.

The Detroit VAMC is NOT in a better part of town. Bad things happen there despite the fortress like facility w/guards. I have ventured to the area in DAYLIGHT, but even then I avoid fueling my car even in surrounding subs in the daytime. I top off my car's tank enroute well before going in the area.

I have a monthly photo club meeting in Livonia and only get in/out of my car AT the meeting with a other people and a police & fire station next door. With my mobility issues that makes me an even easier target, and that is based on personal experience!

NO I do not (at least never have) leave VA appointments hanging scheduled till days before hand. I agree with making them available to someone else ASAP, but only after I know for sure I am not going to keep it. I did wait till AFTER I was able to get the study & titration etc done locally. (glitches also happen outside the VA).

When I have my next MS clinic apt, I need to bring up an issue that showed up in my local sleep study. The local doc did not want to Rx anything for it and advised me my MS doc should handle it.

[Scooter24]

OK you left out that part about trying to cancel it, yes that is probably why they did cancel it, that all puts a much different light on the whole post.

[gomer]

The sleep clinic in AA is not on secure messaging in my list, neither is the Detroit clinic, so I could not message either. MY small local clinic closed early for Christmas. I got my APAP the Thurs before Christmas and that's when I started trying to outright cancel in earnest. The local VA clinic is nice but one has to make appointments weeks ahead even for a simple routine blood draw.

With my diabetes (on MDI/insulin) and kidney disease, I NEED medical care available WHEN/WHERE I may need it.
When I fell and broke 5 ribs last Jan the ONLY option with the ambulance was the local hospital ER, they do not haul people 40 miles away unless its a transfer from the local hosp to another one.

I also had a kidney issue last year that showed on routine labs. The lab called the doc & local doc ordered me to ER right away and NOT to drive, again not practical to get someone to drive me to a VA 40 miles away on such short notice. The local VA does NOT do/take walk-ins, so even minor things that may need prompt medical attention is not a local VA option either. The quickest one can get into the local VA clinic is about 2 weeks, often more.

[Sailors Song]

Gomer,

Looks like my VA is trying to keep up with yours in the lack of care department. I just went on to ebenefits and checked my up coming appointments. yep my appointment for urodynamic testing was just cancled by the clinic.

It took me over a year to just get a referal to urology for my bladder problems and then when I saw the NP in that department they scheduled the urodynamic testing for 6 months later. I only had another 2 months to go before the test and now they cancled it.

[Ga dancer]

I hate to keep singing the praises of the Atlanta VA, but my reason is to let you guys know that it is better elsewhere. Sometimes, if you just nicely say that you know someone who is treated in Atlanta and has not had this problem (fill in the problem).

I was worked up by Pulmonary for shortness of breath that arose quite suddenly in 2010 and continues. All tests are normal except pulmonary function test(s) showing severe restriction and poor diffusion, reason still unknown. I had a cardiopulmonary exercise test which showed good function and the diagnosis was that it takes so much energy to walk that I feel short of breath. The pulmonary function tests were done sitting down.

Well, out of the blue I got a call to come in to have a sleep study in November, which I did not even know was scheduled. They did not wake me for a trial of CPAP so I just thought I passed the test. No, I got a letter to go to Pulmonary, but it was just a class to learn the machine. I got the report from medical records and there were only 3 obstructive events, but 47 low oxygen events, as low as 81%. I was given the more expensive APAP, automatically adjusts itself, but I don't understand how room air will help me if it is more of a central sleep disorder rather than obstructive.

Gomer, I want to let you know that I am getting better and faster care than you are. I hope you tell your neurologist about my experience so he can help with changing and improving your system. We have many physicians from Emory University Medical School who are working towards their specialty degrees, and they are very kind and caring as well as good physicians. They always discuss with their attending and they all come back and discuss with me any treatment or diagnosis. We have a few docs who are permanent staff for the VA, my MS doc is permanent and he is great.

Pain management rocks but podiatry was a bad experience.

[Sailors Song]

Gomer,

Quick update. The appointment that they canceled was rescheduled for 6 months from now. I guess they just keep rescheduling the appointments until you have kidney failure so they don't have to deal with that problem.

[bobus498]

That's America

One thing Vietnam Vets learned first hand is just how much your country appreciates you service. They show it by underfunding the VA in hopes that we'll just die and go away.

Wouldn't lift a finger to defend this country again.