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I was heading for Jack's today to help with some cleaning and shoving.

He sounded bad on the phone. By the time I got there, he was convulsive. So his neighbor (A stunningly gorgeous disabled vet) and I shoved him into my van and I hauled him to the VA, while Gail brought the Buick from the other direction, because my van will not fit in a 6'8" parking rampand there's no outside parking to speak of.

I hauled him out in a heap at the Emergency ramp, and three people went sprinting for wheelchairs. Gail arrived and swapped vehicles.

It wasn't a long wait, and we have another visit on file. Doc came in, prescribed a painkiller and an anti-anxiety shot. Pulse came down from 85 to 61, BP from 160/85 to 120/75.

Jack was unable to communicate beyond nod and shake and mumble. I can translate reasonably well in context. Even a dim red penlight on his pupils elicited moans and thrashing.The observation room was dark, curtain drawn, and he still had a towel over his eyes. The trip in sunlight had to be excruciating.

He did not remember how he got there, or the shots from the hot blonde nurse.

I took him home two hours later, giddy on what he calls "hippie drugs."

The good news: He's well documented as having seizure episode headaches. He can go to his primary care physician to renew the previous scrip, which worst case should mean they mail him drugs, best case means I go in with him next week and talk to the doc about little details--such as the diagnosed "depressive order" and something else are possible, but I think the CRIPPLING CONVULSIVE HEADACHES might need priority.

Also, the Patient Advocate may be able to assist in expediting things.

This is all part of dealing with a federal bureaucracy, which most of us can figure out with effort, but when you're in screaming pain, asking "help" and being told, "we don't do that here, go see X" is a brick wall.

Also, someone active duty hunted up the regs for me. Diagnosis of a "personality disorder" requires professional testing by a pshrink. The Army did not do this, and apparently doesn't in about 40% of cases. A number of assholes in a number of units use it as a convenient excuse to toss people they don't want to do with. There's supposed to be some kind of accounting on this, but I imagine they'll all play dumb and weasel out of it, the @#$%ers. So, with that in hand and an actual doctor, I'm hopeful the @#$%ing @#$bag @#$er who stripped his benefits, who is neither an MD or a Pshrink, will have the relevant paperwork folded to all corners and shoved up his ass, with backpay of relevant benefits.

Because my friend does not have a "personality disorder." He's had a migraine that's lasted 4 years and occasionally spikes into convulsions that are at least a 12 on the "how bad does it hurt?" scale, and he cannot @#$ing work because he cannot reliably think, balance, leave the house in daylight, or be sure he won't collapse on the street, to be hauled off to the charity hospital, as has happened several times.

Is his personality hard to deal with? Yeah, I imagine it is. I call that a "Symptom," not a "Diagnosis."



Mike