More about that

I am sitting in the parking lot of The Home Depot waiting for James to get off work. Driving him to and picking him up from work was not on my agenda for the day, but while his knee is getting better, swelling in his ankle and stress on that area from how he's had to hold his lower leg to prevent pain in his knee means that he's wearing a boot. When he got into the car this morning, he realized that he probably couldn't drive with the boot but he definitely could not hold his knee at the correct angle to be able to drive at all.

I think he's a trooper for continuing to go to work, and very fortunate that he still has training to do so they are putting him on a computer to ensure that he won't be walking around all day.

It is helping me realize that I really enjoy not doing anything. Most of my days start pretty early. I usually get out of bed between 6:00 and 6:30, go on a walk, feed the cats, and get ready for my morning by getting some caffeine and doing some puzzle games online while everyone else is still asleep.

Since Malcolm stays up much later than I do at night, this is the one time during the day that is truly mine.

Except for right now. And I'm not mad, but I am tired.

When I first get up, I am making James some breakfast so he can take whatever medications he needs to take. If he has to go to work, we make sure that he is dressed before I leave for my walk. He has trouble putting on one of his socks and also getting his pant leg over his foot. He can't bend his knee very far, and his foot actually hurts now. 

After that is done, I do go on my walk. But this morning by the time I got home, I needed to help James get into the boot before he left. 

When he was out the door, I went in the bedroom to get dressed and ready to start my day with some caffeine and breakfast. I knew that someone had texted me, but I didn't have a chance to check it. He was halfway back to to the house (he is going the long way through the yard because the stairs on the side of the house nearest the vehicles are very deep) before I realized that he was telling me he could not drive the car.

I left a note for Mal and drove James to work, then went back and finally had breakfast at around 10 AM, which is super late for me.

Then I cleaned the kitchen and the bathrooms, my normal Friday chore.

When I finished, the groceries were arriving. I put those up then it was time to start on lunch because I wanted it ready when James came home, and also before D has to go to work at three.

Today, we are having a baked rotini, marinara, and cheese dish with a side of green beans. I had the pasta in the oven for about half an hour before I had to leave, so I did get to sit down and do my puzzles right around noon.

James should be out of the car at any minute, and then we'll go home and have lunch. I need to get Mal to Urban Air at 4 PM today, and then when we get home I will need to clean the litter boxes and feed the cats. This is something that James has been doing for about the past year, but he just can't right now.

When I write this out, it kind of just seems like a normal day. But it helps me see how much James does do around the house, for himself and for the rest of us.

One thing I did get to do this week was visit the newly-reopened Hope Outdoor Gallery.
It's near the airport now, and I swung by on my way to get D, who was coming back from Minnesota.

Getting into the Veterans Administration health system, Part II

He did it! James walked into the VA clinic last week and pretty quickly managed to make an appointment for labs (which he did yesterday) and another one to establish care with a primary care physician next week.

When he went in for the labs yesterday, he was very brusquely asked to present his eligibility card, which he does not have and about which this is the first tine we are hearing. The sparkling gentleman who checked James in stated that he did not care whether or not James was aware of the card; he absolutely has to have it. 

James asked what he needed to do, and the man told him that he'd have to go into Austin or up to Temple to request a card, but they did let him do his blood draw. Also, James verified that he could still see the doctor next week.

He mentioned that when he went back for the blood draw, it was done very quickly and with an absence of any kind of chit-chat. When I do lab work at Quest, they are super quick about it because they're good at it from doing it all day, but they do at least attempt to be pleasant. 

Oh well! We don't need coddling; just healthcare, so James will soldier on. (Get it? It's the VA.)

I did a bit of internet sleuthing and it seemed like we could request a card online, and my only guess as to why James wasn't told that was maybe because many of the vets using the VA health system are old farts who'd rather drive an hour and a half and wait in a waiting room than put their passport online?

Turns out that was a bit of a whole deal, anyway.

First, James had to set up an account with ID.me, and it didn't like our driver's license capture. The same thing happened to my dad recently when we were trying to verify his identity for something with Social Security. I believe this to be because of how the Texas driver's licenses, which are now the Real ID version, print the pictures. They're pixelated black and white snaps, and both tines I've tried to do this to verify an identity, the system has complained that the picture is "blurry." I've retaken photos in full light, all 4 corners showing, text crisp as can be... and it's just that the pictures are grainy. *shrug*

So. We uploaded his driver's license AND his passport, and then had to do a quick video call, for which we waited in/online about 25 minutes. That "call" lasted approximately 4 seconds, and that was that.

Except THEN we had to take a picture for his VA medical eligibility card. This one is on me: I kept not reading the full instructions, so we had to keep taking new ones. They are pretty funny, honestly.

1) Great pic! Oh, but it needs to have a neutral background.
2) Cute! I see, neutral LIGHT background. And neutral expression, mouth closed.
3) Okay, But it's kind of dark in here. Let's try a flash.
4) NO NO NO NO NO. Worse than a mug shot.

We finally got that done and the website said it should be a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, people!

Welcome to the VA!

It's been a year since we lost our insurance, and James hasn't had a physical in much longer than that.

The other day, I decided to do him a solid and apply to the Veteran's Administration for healthcare. It wasn't a difficult process, and we received a communication today that assured James that the VA was diligently trying to set up his initial appointment.

There was a phone number for him to call, which was listed as: 1-800-4231-2111.

So.

We were able to Google it and there was just an extra "1" in what should have been the three-digit middle number. James called using my phone because that's where the clickable Google phone number was.

An hour into the call, James came in to me panicked because someone had answered the phone but couldn't hear James. We fixed that, James left again, and then came back a few minutes later.

Apparently the guy had told James that his chart was empty and they needed to fill out some more information so we could make an appointment. Then he put James on a hold that seemed to be the same queue James had been in before.

I was doing something mindless and told James to just leave the phone by me. About 15 minutes later, someone finally answered. I explained what was happening, and they said they needed to transfer me to the person who could set the appointment.

James came back in as the person was answering (that was only a few seconds, so huzzah!) and said he needed to make an appointment. Guess what?

The local clinic had closed at 4:00 PM (it was 4:02 PM at this moment) so we'd need to call back tomorrow. WE HAD CALLED AT 2:41 PM.

I asked for a direct number, and she said that they don't have one; you have to call the main number. She said you can also just walk in and make an appointment on site, which might be easier? That seems bonkers to me.

James tried to explain about the wrongly-rendered phone number but she didn't seem to understand what he was trying to say, as she explained something about how recently the extensions had changed. She was fine. She was trying. But this process was ridiculous.

Wish us luck for tomorrow.

UPDATE: I got them on the phone the next day, and they told us that James has to walk into the clinic to make an appointment because they just don't answer the phone. We're off to a great start!