In this three part blog post (i can't fit it all into one post), i will be telling my own past history with military medical treatment. The military has FREE medical coverage for all and that DOES include dental AND it also includes medications. Sounds great right? Let me start with a story that in 2015 will be common place.
Asthma:
While living in beautiful (i say that sarcastically) Lemoore California, i contracted asthma from the horrible quality of air. But before i get ahead of myself, i have to expand on the terrible encounter i had with socialized medicine.
The first time i had an asthma attack i was 2 miles from civilization, running down old farm roads. I was lucky in that when the attack hit, it was swift and i eventually was able to recover by laying on the ground and trying not to panic. The moment i recovered and walked back to my car, i drove straight to the base hospital emergency room where i waited for 3 hours to see the first available doctor. He took a while to listen to all of the different lobes in both my lungs then scheduled me for X-rays...where i waited another 2 hours. After a quick review when i finally made it back to his office, he concluded that i was only suffering from the backlash of a bad cold. A cold that i never had, by the way. I was given a script for drugs that took another hour to receive and i went home knowing that the medication would do nothing.
I was right.
That night...THAT NIGHT, i woke up around 1am and i couldn't breath. My boyfriend at the time rushed me to the base hospital again where i waited another hour before i was put on medicated oxygen. The doctor was quicker this time as he only took an hour to show up and told me that i had to let the medication work. It was as if he was pissed that i was sitting in his office hooked up to oxygen...as if it were my damned fault!
I was lucky that i didn't have any more problems for a week but almost exactly a week later, i had another mild attack and had to leave work to go to the doctor yet again. This time, i waited "only" 2 hours until i saw another doctor who ordered more x-rays on top of the ones i had only 7 days before. He also listened to my lungs and shook his head. His diagnosis was the same as the last fool. I was just suffering from a strange cold, he told me, then prescribed me a different set of antibiotics. (Wait time for this trip including X-rays and prescription pick up: 5 hours)
For lack of room, i'll simply say that the following week was HELL. I was in constant fear, wondering if i would drop to the ground unable to breath at any moment. I worked around aircraft engines and operated these aircraft as well and it was during my time in the cockpit that i was the most afraid. Looking back, it was only that they did put me on oxygen when i went into the emergency room that kept my asthma down.
After more than two weeks, i was fed up with treatment (and frequent mild attacks) and scheduled a formal appointment with yet another doctor. And i will tell you that i lucked out because the doctor i saw this time had been around longer than the others. He only had to listen to my lungs before he confirmed asthma. (Wait time for the appointment: 6 hours from walking in to leaving).
The man probably saved my life when he put me on my asthma regiment. I would more than likely be in the ground right now if i hadn't lucked out and ran across him.
I know what you are thinking...what did i do about the other "doctors" who diagnosed me with the common cold? Well, i told my Commanding Officer. That's all that i could do. I wasn't allowed to speak with the medical branches Commanding Officer and if my CO talked to them is anyone's guess.
But my guess would be no.
This is only the beginning. I was cursed in that i spent a good number of those 8 years at the hospital and i could write a book about the lines, the wait, the ignorant doctors, and the near death experiences that i had, not because of my illness' but because of the time it took to treat them.
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