Ok! Daddy has a case manager at the VA in DC now. He has a primary care physician at a clinic 3 miles away from Casa Ard. They have his records and are aware of his condition. We will get an expedited consult with Advanced Cardiology after he gets seen by the PCP the day after he arrives. The DC VA sends patients to both VAD hospitals recommended by UPMC, and is apparently across the street from one of them! Daddy can't drive until they say he can, so...I can take his mini car anytime we go to the DC VA hospital as it will fit in parking garages much more easily than my normal-sized truck. :)
I greased the skids with Clarksburg VA about the blood draws every couple of days to check his INR and send the results to a hospital outside the VA system. VA does not normally take orders or prescriptions from outside nor send the results outside. Daddy will have to sign a HIPAA release for them to send his INR results to an outside hospital. I think there is a step missing where UPMC should have transferred him back to Pittsburgh VA to get all of this transition stuff set up. But a nurse can order blood tests, and an NP that saw him 2 months ago unconscious in Pittsburgh was willing to write his Rx's for the first month. I guess one good thing about all of the headaches I've had with gov't-run health care for the last 10 years is that I have some insight in to how this system works. It's very similar to Tricare Prime so far. Seriously though, no doctor in either WV or Pittsburgh VA would take responsibility for him to get all of his shit ordered and that SUPER pisses me off.
So for the next few days, he & Jenny are hanging out at the farm, packing, getting Daddy a haircut, making plans to replace the roof before this winter, fighting off the creepy crawler invasion, and getting INR tests at the Clarksburg VA. She'll change his dressing and then he has a 7-day follow-up at UPMC in Pittsburgh on Wednesday when he'll get his staples removed. Wed 9/17 afternoon they will drive to Casa Ard. They'll get to sleep in on Thurs and then we have Daddys all-important primary care appt in Greenbelt. The DC VA won't do anything until he has a primary care appt with someone who knows nothing about his condition...Lol. at least I've gotten to talk to the case manager about how we can't be screwing around with referrals and crap and miss Daddy's next VAD checkup.
He is apparently eligible to get PT and OT AT HOME, which is SO AWESOME because I was wondering how I would be able to logistically manage all of his appts, my appts, and how on earth we would squeeze in silly things like eating. This way he'll be able to take a nap right after PT wears him out.
You know what, I bet we'll need to bring the doppler with us because I wonder if anyone in primary care will know how to take his blood pressure w/no pulse. What say medical friends?
Got another mail package from his postmaster (I forwarded his mail to Casa Ard). She is such a sweetheart and sends notes with well-wishes in his mail. And apparently I need to call the pipeline survey guy back because the letter hasn't made its way down the chain and I don't want him to show up and hassle Daddy & Jenny while they are at Wild Berry Hollow Farm for a peaceful retreat. I checked Daddy's voicemail last night and he had 18 messages....
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