Va assistance

[Wichita]

8 hours ago, MiraM said:

In the late 1990's and early 2000's I had nothing but problems with the VA as a whole, and stopped all medical care.  I never went to another doctor at all until 2014, and that was a private doctor.  When I was laid off in 2016 and moved back to NC, my mental health issues were out of control, and I also needed a primary care doctor for my blood pressure and cholesterol issues.  I got into the primary care clinic first, and was pleasantly surprised at how I was treated.  My PCP put in a consult with the mental health clinic right away.  I was very nervous about this because my major issues with the VA previously had been with that clinic, and a specific doctor there.  They wanted to give me the same doctor this time, but I told them I wanted someone else for personal reasons.  The new doctor was great, and I still see her for some issues.  She gave me my consult to endocrinology and also a referral to a gender therapist (who is also the LGBT patient care lead).  My experience with the mental health clinic this time has been exceptional.

 

As far as endocrinology goes, my HRT consult caught a very serious problem.  My endo didn't just talk about HRT with me and make sure I knew about what I was wanting and the possible side effects.  He did a full exam and noticed an enlargement in my thyroid.  After ultrasounds, biopsies and surgery, I was diagnosed with a fairly rare form of thyroid cancer.  If his attitude had been like those I experienced previously, and he had just rushed through the consult, I would have never known about it until it was too late.

 

I have been to several other clinics as well for various issues, and have never been dismissed, and have been treated with nothing but respect, and communication with the providers has been excellent.  I understand that there can be issues with care in a system with so much bureaucracy, but since returning to the system, I have not experienced anything negative.  Maybe it varies from facility to facility, but the VAMC in Durham, and the Raleigh CBOC's have been fantastic (they are all part of Duke Health Care).

It definitely varies. Mine is one that was on the “naughty list” of VA centers where lots of articles and news coverage highlighted issues.
 

It varies not only by location, but also department. That’s why my primary care and urology has been a comedy of errors, yet I’ve had zero issues at all from dermatology or endo. My endo appointment wasn’t quite as thorough as yours...as it was done via phone. But my bloodwork came back good and there’s no history in my family of anything cancerous, so I think it was thorough enough, under current global circumstances. 
 

My VA even screwed over my father (whom I don’t speak to, but heard about it from my stepmom). He had/has severe back issues and got passed around from doctor to doctor, each requiring his own hoops be jumped through in order to perform surgery. By the time he got to “the” doctor who would do the surgery...or was he essentially “too late” and the risk of more damage was too high. So now he’s got severe pain for life for which he has some powerful drugs to take when it becomes unbearable.

 

 

[Darci]

This thread seems to be pretty active; awesome!

I'm BRAND spankin' new to this, I'm still about a week out from my initial appointment with my therapist, who is not a VA doc.

I'm down in Atlanta, and I wanted to know if the VA covers voice therapy? I know that according to the directive they don't cover surgery, but I wanted to know if they covered vocal therapy.

Thanks!

[Wichita]

3 hours ago, Darci said:

This thread seems to be pretty active; awesome!

I'm BRAND spankin' new to this, I'm still about a week out from my initial appointment with my therapist, who is not a VA doc.

I'm down in Atlanta, and I wanted to know if the VA covers voice therapy? I know that according to the directive they don't cover surgery, but I wanted to know if they covered vocal therapy.

Thanks!

Yes they do. Voice Therapy, yes. Vocal surgery, no.

 

They also (generally) cover electrolysis...except they don’t. But they do. While they also don’t. Yes, that’s the exact gist of their own regulation. They don’t cover electro, unless the patient would face societal hardship while trying to present as their target gender... which applies to every MTF person. So the policy actually reads as “We don’t cover electro, unless the patient needs it, then we do.” ?

[Darci]

1 hour ago, Wichita said:

Yes they do. Voice Therapy, yes. Vocal surgery, no.

 

They also (generally) cover electrolysis...except they don’t. But they do. While they also don’t. Yes, that’s the exact gist of their own regulation. They don’t cover electro, unless the patient would face societal hardship while trying to present as their target gender... which applies to every MTF person. So the policy actually reads as “We don’t cover electro, unless the patient needs it, then we do.” ?

Thanks for the info!

I will definitely redouble my effort to get hold of my LGBT care manager and get hoppin' on that.  The more they cover, the happier I am.

[Wichita]

2 hours ago, Darci said:

Thanks for the info!

I will definitely redouble my effort to get hold of my LGBT care manager and get hoppin' on that.  The more they cover, the happier I am.

No problemo. My issue is that even if electro is coveted for me, uber trips to and from will cost a serious bit of cash in the long run. I live right about 38 miles away. A two-way uber trip can approach $100 easily.

[Darci]

1 hour ago, Wichita said:

No problemo. My issue is that even if electro is coveted for me, uber trips to and from will cost a serious bit of cash in the long run. I live right about 38 miles away. A two-way uber trip can approach $100 easily.

Ouch... yeah, that can be a financial burden. Thankfully, Atlanta is FULL of places that do electrolysis.

[KymmieL]

On 10/26/2020 at 4:45 PM, Wichita said:

No problemo. My issue is that even if electro is coveted for me, uber trips to and from will cost a serious bit of cash in the long run. I live right about 38 miles away. A two-way uber trip can approach $100 easily.

Check into the VA transport system. IIRC it is run by the DAV should be able to use it. I would seriously look into it. It is a free service offered.

 

Darci, I had a great voice therapist. Which I actually need to start again. I stopped early in the Covid crap. But Hey it is offered so why not.

I have gotten my breasts and wig through the VA also. Each company I worked with outside the VA was great. My cost zero, but I am disabled at 70% rating. most of it upstairs.

 

Kymmie

[Darci]

8 hours ago, KymmieL said:

Check into the VA transport system. IIRC it is run by the DAV should be able to use it. I would seriously look into it. It is a free service offered.

 

Darci, I had a great voice therapist. Which I actually need to start again. I stopped early in the Covid crap. But Hey it is offered so why not.

I have gotten my breasts and wig through the VA also. Each company I worked with outside the VA was great. My cost zero, but I am disabled at 70% rating. most of it upstairs.

 

Kymmie

I actually don't mind the drive over to the main campus, especially now that it's close to where my Dad lives. We lost Mom at the end of August, so I know he is thankful for the visit.

I hadn't thought about breastforms, or even getting a wig through the VA. In my head I envisioned the wig equivalent of birth-control glasses. Wigs can get expensive, so if the VA is gonna cover it, I might as welll.

I'm also rated... 90% mostly in my lungs, feet and back.

 

[Wichita]

12 hours ago, KymmieL said:

Check into the VA transport system. IIRC it is run by the DAV should be able to use it. I would seriously look into it. It is a free service offered.

 

Darci, I had a great voice therapist. Which I actually need to start again. I stopped early in the Covid crap. But Hey it is offered so why not.

I have gotten my breasts and wig through the VA also. Each company I worked with outside the VA was great. My cost zero, but I am disabled at 70% rating. most of it upstairs.

 

Kymmie

Personally, I kinda hope they contract it out (voice therapy and/or electro). The VA I go to for primary care and dermatology is in the sticks, which is good. It’s a nice, quiet, sleepy little town that time forgot.

But everything else — transition, imaging, specialty clinics — is at the main facility in the heart of one of the worst parts of town. Every time I drive there, I’m scanning the houses I’m driving by expecting to see Craig, Deebo and Smokey. It’s... really not a good area. 
 

One specialty clinic I was sent to through the Choice plan ended up being barely 10 minutes away. I could practically walk there. Of course there were issues related to that I’ve already covered here. 

[Wichita]

13 hours ago, KymmieL said:

Check into the VA transport system. IIRC it is run by the DAV should be able to use it. I would seriously look into it. It is a free service offered.

 

Darci, I had a great voice therapist. Which I actually need to start again. I stopped early in the Covid crap. But Hey it is offered so why not.

I have gotten my breasts and wig through the VA also. Each company I worked with outside the VA was great. My cost zero, but I am disabled at 70% rating. most of it upstairs.

 

Kymmie

Heh. Birth control glasses. I’ll be finding out about that soon. I’ve officially reached the age where I need to quit denying reality and actually go get glasses again (had LASIK in 2003 that never really “took”). 
 

My vision has been “flawed but functional” for 17 years. By that I mean roughly 20/100 in my left eye and 20/40-20/60 in my right. Now that I’m 42...the “functional days” are fewer and farther between and I’m finding myself looking around more and more saying “Man, I can’t see $#!+.”

 

So sooner or later I’ll be heading to the VA optometrist at the facility out in the sticks to see about getting specs again. I do seriously want to punch my LASIK doctor because I paid $3,400 and only had good vision for about 5 minutes, roughly 3 days after the procedure. It’s been downhill ever since. 
 

During one of my last follow-ups, the jerk actually said “Well your vision without glasses now is better than it was without glasses before.”

 

”Yeah...good enough to slap you in the face for such a stupid remark.”

 

I have full coverage through the VA due to my rating (100%)...bit I’m not sure I want to retry LASIK through them. I have bad vision, sure. But I skated on any sort of serious side effects once. I’m not sure I want to risk it again...especially with the VA.

[Darci]

3 hours ago, Wichita said:

Heh. Birth control glasses. I’ll be finding out about that soon. I’ve officially reached the age where I need to quit denying reality and actually go get glasses again (had LASIK in 2003 that never really “took”). 
 

My vision has been “flawed but functional” for 17 years. By that I mean roughly 20/100 in my left eye and 20/40-20/60 in my right. Now that I’m 42...the “functional days” are fewer and farther between and I’m finding myself looking around more and more saying “Man, I can’t see $#!+.”

 

So sooner or later I’ll be heading to the VA optometrist at the facility out in the sticks to see about getting specs again. I do seriously want to punch my LASIK doctor because I paid $3,400 and only had good vision for about 5 minutes, roughly 3 days after the procedure. It’s been downhill ever since. 
 

During one of my last follow-ups, the jerk actually said “Well your vision without glasses now is better than it was without glasses before.”

 

”Yeah...good enough to slap you in the face for such a stupid remark.”

 

I have full coverage through the VA due to my rating (100%)...bit I’m not sure I want to retry LASIK through them. I have bad vision, sure. But I skated on any sort of serious side effects once. I’m not sure I want to risk it again...especially with the VA.

I did PRK when I was on active duty...one of the best decisions I ever made beside reclassing from 13B to 46Q.

I wish you luck on the glasses.

I did get to speak to Jilian Shipherd, the director of LGBT care at the VA. She actually seems to give a -crap- about people's care; I was impressed.

I also have the latest version of the VA care directive if you want me to upload it.