For those of you who are not blessed to be in the military, let me give you a quick schooling on their medical system...Tricare.
Bascially you are assigned to a primary care manager (PCM). This is one doctor at one clinic that serves you. Mine is called the Nasa Clinic at Langley. Natalie's is at Ft. Eustis. You call a 1-866 number, repeat your social, address, phone number and all other information like a quiz. Then they make an appointment with your PCM. If they are full you get to call the clinic at 8am everyday until they have an opening.
So most of you know that for 14 months now I have complained about my tailbone pain. I've gone to my PCM 3 times, doing physical therapy. Now I complained on Friday at my yearly check up and she told me we couldn't talk about it because I was there for a well woman exam, not back pain. So I went through the ordeal of trying to get an appointment so they can refer me to Pain Management. Still nothing available.
In the meantime, Natalie has weaned from nursing the past week, and I've had pain and issues with that, so I sat in urgent care for the usual 3 hours last night, because you can't bring kids to any of your appointments unless it is for them. Long story short, they referred me to an OBGYN at Ft Eustis (yay, I get better service there) for today.
I went to see him today. Got all the meds for my current issue, and thought I'd ask him about the tailbone. He pulls up my x-ray said it is NOT normal pain, and I should have been put under to have it rebroken or had injections. Immediate referral to an orthepedic clinic. He also noticed a growth on my thyroid and sent me for immediate bloodwork and gave me a referral to an endocrine clinic. So in an hour and a half I got 2 referrals, 4 bottles of pills, 4 tubes of blood drawn.
I am so mad. I called the Tricare gods and asked to be moved from Langley to Ft. Eustis and I am denied because there are no PCM's available. UGH. So I'm going to have to wait for an opening, or just go to the Urgent Care and make them refer me. What a pain! At least I have some answers, and unfortunatley some new problems!
9 comments:
Oh my goodness, that is insane!!! Keep us posted on how everything turns out!
Oh Kim- how awful! I had NO idea the service medical system was THAT bad; hopefully now you will get answers and SOLUTIONS to your pain. Keep us posted; we're praying for you!
It's too bad you can't just go to a non-military dr. stupid military.
I'm devastated to hear that 14 months later you find out that you need to have a bone rebroke to fix your problem! I can see your frustration with the medical side of the military. I hope that the pills will help with the pain. Keep your head up and I'll pray for you
How miserable... I couldn't imagine someone telling me that I couldn't change doctors... (I'm a bit of a doctor snob) Hopefully you will be able to resolve it soon.
I am sorry to hear that they are being such a pain in your, er, tailbone still, but glad that youre getting some answers. I hope the growth is nothing, and that they can eventually get you to Eustis, since it makes way more sense anyway. Thinking about you and praying for a easy road to recovery.
sorry honey!!!! ugh sounds sooo annoying
Yes, please keep us posted - hopefully there's a quick and speedy recovery to the problems you have been having. I had no idea that the military was so fun to work with!
Arrgh, I totally hear you on the Tricare woes! I swear they purposely make life four times more difficult than it needs to be, just to see if they can get our heads to explode. Not to mention all the times you get, "Well, it's not my job so I can't help you and please go away" as a reponse. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
--Lisa
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