Pass three bucks?

Isn’t paperwork a drag? I found out Friday that I needed to get a certain form filled out by a military doctor. I emailed my surgeon that afternoon and he was really unable to help since the day was almost over and he was going on leave the following week. I decided I’d get up really early this morning (Mon) and try to make some appointments with military doctors to get said form filled out. First, I called my primary care doctor at Bolling AFB at 7am. She was already booked up for the day but had an appt next week – too far out. I called the Pentagon and snagged an appt for 1:20pm. And, just to be sure, I snagged an appt at Walter Reed for Wed, just to cover the bases.

I walked to PT today with the old AFO (ankle brace – Ankle Foot Orthodic, I think) and NO CANE! It really was pretty easy since it was early in the day and I wasn’t tired. I brought my new AFO in that was delivered Friday afternoon to tell them how uncomfortable it is. They saw where it was uncomfortable, but urged me to call the folks that delivered it to me to see if they could adjust it first. That seems reasonable, but there sure is a lot buck passing going on in the medical field!

PT went fine; we did more exercises and more electrozappotherapy for the ankle. I got back home, ate a quick snack, and jumped on the metro, without a wheelchair, for the first time in weeks. The ride was smooth, but the walk to the clinic was long. I got there, checked in and they called me back quickly. A PFC took my vitals and I told him about the form and gave him a copy – he left and soon a female doctor entered quickly and quite rudely and to the point asked me, “Why isn’t Bolling doing this for you?” Well, good morning ma’am, how are you today, I thought to myself. I went on to tell her how the last time I went to Bolling to get an Army form filled out, they balked and said I had to go to an Army facility. And I also explained the timing issue to her. She left and came back and said her full bird boss said they could not do it (more buck passing.) So, I left and headed home. When I got home, I went ahead and looked online to see if I could schedule an appt with my doc at Bolling and lo and behold… the Internet can be useful! I booked an appt online for Tue and even managed to talk Rex into taking me there. I’m looking forward to more stares from the docs there. And also more, we Air Force docs can’t fill out an Army form (another buck?) At least I’m trying, right? This is also why I’ve scheduled the appt at Walter Reed – an Army hospital, they are my fall back. I figure that between the three, I should get someone to help a good soldier out.

So, what does this all mean? The paperwork to keep us here is stalled until I can get this form filled out. We have a little over 20 days left. If we don’t get this stuff in soon, we’ll need to look at transferring to a medical hold company at Walter Reed, which means we’ll have to move out of the apartment and life will be hell, or we need to head back to Texas. I don’t want to do either of those. I want to stay where we are, get physical therapy, get radiation, get better, and get back to work. Please pray that the paperwork hustle is resolved soon and that our request is approved. I know it will happen though, because our God is good.