Wednesday, August 6, 2014

One more time

I hadn't heard from my 'New' Neurologist by 1:30 PM, so I called the Neurology Department at the Gainesville VAMC ... and was told:

  1. You have an appointment in September - as if that was supposed to answer my immediate requirements;
  2.  The Neurology Doctors (Fellows or Residents from Shands) are only here twice a month, that's why you haven't (and probably won't) be contacted by your new Doctor before your appointment in September. Only twice a MONTH - Really? This is the ONLY Neurology Specialty Clinic in the VA System in the North FL/South GA Region. It covers North Florida from Ocala. north to the FL-GA Line and from the Atlantic Coast to the Apalachacola River. It extends into Georgia up to Valdosta. You are telling me you only have the Clinic open TWICE a MONTH? They should be open AT LEAST once (if not twice) a WEEK!;
  3. I then asked to speak to the Chief of Neurology - he wasn't in, yada yada;
  4. I then asked to be put through to the direct line to the Patient Advocate (not the voice mail line) - suddenly I was put through to the Chief of Neurology that wasn't in o/O;
  5.  He took my information, said he would review my file and call me right back;


It was more than a few minutes, but he told me he had reviewed the past few YEARS of my chart so he would have a better understanding of my case. The CT Scans needed to be followed up on, but he didn't think the problems shown had any SIGNIFICANT impact on my Neurological issues; My progressive problems were PROBABLY just that - progression of my existing condition; he didn't want to do any invasive procedures such as a myelogram until more in depth nerve conduction studies had been done.

I have an appointment at Gainesville VAMC on Monday (nothing earlier than October, oops September - yeah, right). They are going to do a comprehensive EMG, and then I see the Chief of Neurology ...

The best part of all this ... I first saw the Chief of Neurology when I had my LAST EMG studies and HE is the one that pointed to my Lumbar Spine as the root (see that play on words - tell me I can't pun) cause of my lower extremity neurological deficits!

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