Owie

It hurts

I’ve not been writing for a while now, as I recently tore my right rotator cuff, and typing is difficult.

While I have medical insurance with my job, I’ve been trying to migrate my care over to the VA. I started several years ago, and for the most part it’s been working out pretty well. The only real drawback is that while I have an assigned primary care provider, his schedule is book months in advance, and can’t handle consultations for non emergency care like a normal provider can. If there is urgent care needed, you have to go to the local emergency room for treatment.

But this has it’s own flaws. When I first hurt my shoulder, I went to a local urgent care facility. The doctor I saw sort of just poo-pooed and told me to take Tylenol.

After about a week of continued constant pain I went b ack, saw a different doctor, and he came to the conclusion that it was a triceps strain, and again told me to just take Tylenol. A few days later, fed up with how much pain I was in, went to the ER instead. There the doctor ordered x-rays, and eventually concluded it was a partial (maybe?) tear of my rotator cuff. He gave me a shot for the pain until I could get to a pharmacy the next morning, and put my arm in a sling and sent me home.

So I’ve been living on pain meds for about 3 weeks and counting. I have a referral to an orthopedic surgeon this afternoon, hopefully he’s able to figure out the extent of the injury and if surgery (I hope not!) is warranted. Meanwhile the pain has subsided somewhat that I can type something, albeit slowly.

But the underlying issue is if I can’t see my primary care provider, but was written scrip for pain meds through the ER, how do I get refills? Seems silly to have to go back to the ER to get a prescription refilled. I still haven’t gotten a straight answer to this question yet.

Also forewarning to the folks who think government run healthcare is the answer to everyone’s problems. Having to wait six months to see your doctor is the tip of the iceberg.