My latest experience with the VA

[Larwyn]

Do not get me wrong, I really appreciate what the VA has done for me and still is doing for me, I might not even be around if not for them, but, thanks to them, I missed celebrating my birthday this year (so far). Since I had a stress test scheduled for the 4th (the day after my birthday), I decided not to celebrate until after the test. Well, even though I studied hard for that test, the doctor at the Kerrville VA did not like what she saw during the test. In fact even though I was feeling fine and all my vitals returned to normal as soon as I rested a minute just as they should have,she was sure that I was likely to die at any minute. They laid me down with wires going everywhere and held me in urgent care until the ambulance arrived to take me to the San Antonio VA where the heart specialists for this area are located. So I stayed in the San Antonio VA CCU, hooked up to monitors for about 24 hours, even had a second stress test because Kerrville did not record the abnormal traces as that was not the true purpose of the test. Turns out I was born with something called Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. It just means that sometimes my heart tries to "push and pull" at the same time due to some "extra wiring" and causes some really scary (to the doctors) traces on an oscilloscope. Doc claims if they discover it before you are 40 they would be concerned but at my age it is not likely to cause me any problems. Seems that it has no history of killing folks over 40. Either that or it is real good at killing people off before they are 40. The main complication is "sudden death" I told the Doc that, since I have had WPW for 60 years now, sudden death is purty much ruled out, he laughed, don't know if it was with me or at me. Anyway I'm home now and plan to celebrate my birthday with a Guinness as soon as I get my blood sugar back down to a reasonable level, which I had accomplished before staying in the CCU and eating all that "heart healthy" food in the Cardiac Care Unit, which seems to be somewhat in contrast to "diabetes healthy" food. Oh well, always knew I was not completely normal......

They did, however convince me that I am not getting enough exercise, so I now have an anual pass to the Kerrville Schriner Park (no longer a state park). Only about two miles from my house, they have several miles of hiking trails through juniper thickets with lots of wildlife to watch over me, which I much prefer over walking the hot pavement in 100+ degree heat near the house. I'm enjoying the hikes even though my knee is giving me fits right now. I'm hoping that if I walk enough I can build the strength up in my legs enough to compensate for and prevent the knee twisting and aching. The trails I have tried so far are rocky and hilly but not all that difficult with a good walking staff (my wife does fine without one). So that is my new "exercise program", and I will never again allow anyone to cart me off to Cardiology when I am feeling fine. I told em, they just wouldn't listen.......

[BillandMarijo]

Larwyn,
Guess we can all use some exercise. I am a Ford Tech and Im leaning over cars and standing under cars all day. Walking cement floors for 40 years has taken its toll. My hip is acting up. So the wife and I decided to start walking before work everymorning. We are out at 530am and I cant believe how just the different motion has really helped. So yes I agree we all need more exercise. I retire this January and I cant wait.
Good Luck to you.
Bill

[caseydog]

Hmmmm, as I read that, I was doing some math in my head as to what that experience would have cost me on my private insurance plan. 24 hours in a CCU would have to be a good fifteen grand, so with my $3,000 deductible followed by a 25-percent co-pay, that works out to a bout 7-grand.

Oh well, glad to hear you aren't going to suddenly die.

CD

[Steve_Cox]

Larwyn,

Glad you survived the trip to the VA

60 must be a magic number for cardio docs. I went to one, they ran every test they had in the office ($$$$) couldn't find anything wrong so they gave me a diagnosis that called " inconclusive coronary artery disease" and wanted to schedule a cardiac catheterization just to make sure nothing was wrong..... Guess that was my fault for having good insurance at the time.. I declined the procedure, and you know, I never felt bad to start with, but I feel better knowing I didn't let them run wires in my arteries.

[mikeschn]

Hi Larwyn,

I'm glad you're okay...

In addition to your exercise, you might want to start taking some Vitamin K2.

Mike...

[Micro469]

They say sex is good exercise.. and not hard on the knees either.... I Dunno... is that still possible at 60???

[BobR]

Larwyn,

.. I declined the procedure, and you know, I never felt bad to start with, but I feel better knowing I didn't let them run wires in my arteries.

Steve, I never felt bad until until I had the cardiac arrests (3 of them) and then had the cardiac cath done as emergency surgery to implant the stent. You might want to reconsider that option my friend

[BillandMarijo]

They say sex is good exercise.. and not hard on the knees either.... I Dunno... is that still possible at 60???

I can answer that. YES it is still possible. My husband Bill will turn 62 and retire in January. And also feels sex is good exercise. Lol. So the answer is Yes Micro469 is correct.
Bills wife.

[FireLion]

They say sex is good exercise.. and not hard on the knees either.... I Dunno... is that still possible at 60???

The correct answer is YES! Just because there's snow on the roof, that don't mean there ain't a fire in the furnace!

[Miriam C.]

They say sex is good exercise.. and not hard on the knees either.... I Dunno... is that still possible at 60???

I can answer that. YES it is still possible. My husband Bill will turn 62 and retire in January. And also feels sex is good exercise. Lol. So the answer is Yes Micro469 is correct.
Bills wife.

Anyone remember who ties who up? We're not 60 yet and not going to be.

Larwyn!

[Laredo]

Do not get me wrong, I really appreciate what the VA has done for me and still is doing for me, I might not even be around if not for them, but, thanks to them, I missed celebrating my birthday this year (so far). Since I had a stress test scheduled for the 4th (the day after my birthday), I decided not to celebrate until after the test. Well, even though I studied hard for that test, the doctor at the Kerrville VA did not like what she saw during the test. In fact even though I was feeling fine and all my vitals returned to normal as soon as I rested a minute just as they should have,she was sure that I was likely to die at any minute. They laid me down with wires going everywhere and held me in urgent care until the ambulance arrived to take me to the San Antonio VA where the heart specialists for this area are located. So I stayed in the San Antonio VA CCU, hooked up to monitors for about 24 hours, even had a second stress test because Kerrville did not record the abnormal traces as that was not the true purpose of the test. Turns out I was born with something called Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. It just means that sometimes my heart tries to "push and pull" at the same time due to some "extra wiring" and causes some really scary (to the doctors) traces on an oscilloscope. Doc claims if they discover it before you are 40 they would be concerned but at my age it is not likely to cause me any problems. Seems that it has no history of killing folks over 40. Either that or it is real good at killing people off before they are 40. The main complication is "sudden death" I told the Doc that, since I have had WPW for 60 years now, sudden death is purty much ruled out, he laughed, don't know if it was with me or at me. Anyway I'm home now and plan to celebrate my birthday with a Guinness as soon as I get my blood sugar back down to a reasonable level, which I had accomplished before staying in the CCU and eating all that "heart healthy" food in the Cardiac Care Unit, which seems to be somewhat in contrast to "diabetes healthy" food. Oh well, always knew I was not completely normal......

They did, however convince me that I am not getting enough exercise, so I now have an anual pass to the Kerrville Schriner Park (no longer a state park). Only about two miles from my house, they have several miles of hiking trails through juniper thickets with lots of wildlife to watch over me, which I much prefer over walking the hot pavement in 100+ degree heat near the house. I'm enjoying the hikes even though my knee is giving me fits right now. I'm hoping that if I walk enough I can build the strength up in my legs enough to compensate for and prevent the knee twisting and aching. The trails I have tried so far are rocky and hilly but not all that difficult with a good walking staff (my wife does fine without one). So that is my new "exercise program", and I will never again allow anyone to cart me off to Cardiology when I am feeling fine. I told em, they just wouldn't listen.......

Wow, Larwyn. Congratulations on surviving your stress test. I didn't realize the state had parted with Kerrville-Schreiner State Park!

Um, did you or anybody with you let the CCU staff know about your diabetes? (Yeah, I know: it's in your chart. Doesn't mean they *read* that, or reported it to dietary -- especially considering you came in via ambulance &c.)

I love the VA. Don't get me wrong. When the hospital administrator has his/her head on straight and Congress isn't refusing to cover vets who served in peacetime (or, as they used to do depending on budget / whim, females at all) it's damned fine care provided by dedicated staff. I don't live where we have a VA hospital, though).

The national scandal a few years ago at Walter Reed hasn't been put completely right yet, but it will be, I trust. Like a *ton* of our troubles with infrastructure and government in general, it didn't go that far in the hole overnight and getting it fixed won't be a fingersnap process either.

The hospital in Dallas (where I was last week) has a new administrator since their mental health unit was shut down after a spate of suicides, and the general upkeep of the place is much improved.

[ParTaxer]

Sorry Caseydog, you are dreaming. My son-in-law, the doctor, told me that CCU runs about 40K a night. I was admitted three years ago and was scheduled for stents in the morning. I was there a total of 18 hours. The bill came to 89K not including the doctor. Of course the insurance only had to pay 18K and the rest of the bill was excused. Two weeks prior to that I had a heart attack. Between ER, EMT and a few days in a hospital it was near 240K. If you are not insured, you better be broke or you're heading for bankruptcy.

[caseydog]

Larwyn,

.. I declined the procedure, and you know, I never felt bad to start with, but I feel better knowing I didn't let them run wires in my arteries.

Steve, I never felt bad until until I had the cardiac arrests (3 of them) and then had the cardiac cath done as emergency surgery to implant the stent. You might want to reconsider that option my friend

I know the guy who invented the Heart Stent. I I spent a day photographing his car collection in San Antonio for a magazine.

He now keeps them in his 100,000 square-foot wine cave in Napa Valley.

Filthy rich, but a genuinely nice gentleman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Palmaz

To this day, I remember talking to him about my search for someone in Texas who had a Porsche 550 Spyder I could shoot for an article planed for the 50th anniversary of James Dean's death. When I told him there wasn't a single one to be found, he replied, "Oh, I have two of them."

CD

[caseydog]

They say sex is good exercise.. and not hard on the knees either.... I Dunno... is that still possible at 60???

The correct answer is YES! Just because there's snow on the roof, that don't mean there ain't a fire in the furnace!

Snow on the roof, fire in the furnace, and a little blue pill in the medicine cabinet.

CD

[caseydog]

Sorry Caseydog, you are dreaming. My son-in-law, the doctor, told me that CCU runs about 40K a night. I was admitted three years ago and was scheduled for stents in the morning. I was there a total of 18 hours. The bill came to 89K not including the doctor. Of course the insurance only had to pay 18K and the rest of the bill was excused. Two weeks prior to that I had a heart attack. Between ER, EMT and a few days in a hospital it was near 240K. If you are not insured, you better be broke or you're heading for bankruptcy.

Oh, I'm insured, but if I get cancer again, I'm calling the bankruptcy lawyer on the way to surgery. The kind of insurance I can afford is NOT what they refer to as "Cadillac" coverage.

CD