Thread by @Mandalorian_Ren

1/ This is my medical journey over the last 19 years through the Military Medical system and then the VA Medical system. I’m sharing it so that civilians can understand why Vets are asking for them to help us in the fight for better care for Vets. Here is my story.

2/ While I was AD USAF 4N1X1 (surgical tech) stationed at Wilford Hall Medical Center (WHMC) on Lackland AFB, I had broken my right foot in a non-combat injury in Aug 2000. I went to the ER and had X-rays taken, the ER doctor had misdiagnosed me with a sprained ankle.

3/ I knew he was wrong due to the fact that my ankle was normal size while my foot was 3-4x larger due to swelling. They wrapped it in an ace, prescribed me Motrin and sent me on my way to return to duty the next morning. I had to shove my broken foot into my combat boot.

4/ Upon arriving in my OR, I found one of the surgeons I worked with. Told him what had happened, what the ER said and showed him my foot. Immediately he knew they were wrong. He feared I had torn ligaments, he then went to look at the X-rays. After a few minutes he returned to

5/ tell me the X-rays were blurry and worthless. He put an order in for an MRI, that’s when he discovered that I had broken my Navicular bone and broke off a bone spur that had never been diagnosed. He placed me in a walking boot to take pressure off of the area and we waited two

6/ months to see if it would heal. It wasn’t healing so we decided a surgical option was needed. Surgeon put me on waiver to get me off of my foot, my SNCO's still required me to stand and perform all of my surgical duties. Once finally placed on restrictive duty after a month

7/ sent to off shift and required to drive. Surgeon fought to correct this, Senior NCO's fought back. After each surgery and recovery time Senior NCO's placed me on off shift, requiring me to drive while I was still on restrictive duty and surgeon had stated no driving.

8/ -2000
-Nov WHMC Surgery to remove broken bone fragments. Tendon advancement.
-2002
-May WHMC Surgery to place subtalar implant to correct foot & ankle from rolling, foot half fused with staples.
-July Received service connected disability upon leaving AD.
-2003

9/ -Oct Eglin AFB (Husband still AD) 3rd surgery was removal of hardware from ankle. Partial nerve damage caused by medical student.
-2007/2008
-Syracuse VA denied care on ankle. Ankle was dislocating on a regular basis. Treated as though I was seeking pain meds.
-2009

10/ -Brecksville, OH VA denied care for same issue. Treated as though I was seeking pain meds still.
-Oct Cleveland Clinic. Tendon repair done. CC surgeon said that yes original injury did play into ankle tendons needing to be repaired. VA later admits they should’ve treated it

11/ & done the surgery.
-2013 -started to be seen for ankle pain.
-2014
-Apr Cleveland VA Ankle scope with steroid injection performed was told ankle was shot due to semi foot fusion from 2000. Nerve damage caused by surgical team with them placing dressings too tight.

12/ Surgeon only offered option for ankle fusion. I refused since I was 37 at the time and it would lead to knee and hip going next at a rapidly quicker rate. Joint fusions are life altering in that you lose mobility and the wear and tear it does on the other joints. Went to get

13/ 2nd opinion, X-rays showed nothing and was asked to see pictures from scope. Went to get pictures from VA. Surgeon never placed any with my records and said they were in her locker and that she would look for them. Fought with her for 2 weeks & was told she didn't have them.

14/ Placing those photos in her locker would’ve been a breach of protocol. During my years of scrubbing we always took pictures, printed them and placed them in medical records, we also offered copies directly to the patient. -started treatment for damaged nerve.

15/ Tried injections, Tens unit, other conservative treatments, placed on highest dose allowed for Gabapentin. A year on Gabapentin with no pain relief and extreme depression. Again treated as though I was looking for pain meds.
-surgeon tried stem cell injection to regenerate

16/ ankle and stop progressing damage. Should’ve been a 3 part injection, she only gave one and then discontinued and said it costs 3k/injection. -finally got her to admit there was another option of a total ankle replacement. Transferred to new surgeon.

17/ -Aug Surgeons discussed Total Ankle with me and tried to discourage me from having the surgery due to me being younger than most patients. They wanted to just continue injections even though they admitted more damage would be done.
-Sept Did PT to see if it would help with

18/ ankle pain. Outsourced to CC.
-Oct surgeon discussed second ankle scope, I refused
-Oct Total Ankle Replacement surgery and Achilles lengthening along with placement of plate and screw in fibula. Had to have cast cut off due to improper application that gave to room for

19/ swelling which also added to nerve damage. Released from care before Fibula had fully healed. No pain relief.
-2015
-Fought VA to be taken off Gabapentin. Tried multiple options, would get to where the surgeon would say next appt we would schedule the surgery to kill the

20/ nerve. Would show up to see surgeon & schedule surgery to find that the surgeon's entire surgical staff had rotated out leading to surgeon restarting entire process. I walked away & ended treatment.
-Surgeon refused to remove plate off of fibula after complaints of pain.

21/ -Lived with the chronic nerve & ankle pain for 5 years.
-2018
-Seen for ankle and chronic nerve pain. New Dr and he refers me to new surgeon. -X-rays, MRI, & bone scans performed. Found fibula still not healed and ankle was a mess. Wrong size implant had

22/ been used, and ankle was self-fusing itself. Surgeon prescribed bone stimulator to fully heal fibula so that plate could be removed during the 2nd Total ankle. -Aug second Total Ankle Replacement surgery and cleanup performed. Ankle implant removed & replaced with proper

23/ size, plate was also removed from fibula, bone cut out to stop ankle fusion.
-2018/2019
-started treatment for nerve pain again. Injections, Capsaicin cream, Tens sock, different meds, other conservative treatments. Still no relief. Spent over a year going through all

24/ non-surgical options.
-2019
-Mar nerve release surgery, surgery provided relief for 2 week skin blistered, popped and turned into necrotic (dead) tissue. Required 2 split-thickness skin grafts done in clinic.
-Nov Nerve resection with burying of nerve endings into muscles.

25/ What I experienced starting in 2014 and 2015 when I walked away from the VA for 3 years and just dealt with the pain is medical malpractice. Incomplete medical records, placing a price tag on my care, careless care that led to further damage, using the wrong size implants, &

26/ releasing me from care when bones never healed. The substandard care I received over those 2 years impacted my daily life, family & business and left me in chronic pain and fighting depression. I waited to be seen again until the pain was unbearable.

27/ Like me, many Vets rely on the VA for care, especially when it’s service connected. Completely privatizing the VA and sending Vets into civilian care is not the solution. We rely on the VA & private sector care.

28/ The challenges faced by Vets are not always able to be addressed by civilian doctors. Vets also use the VA to talk to other Vets, share stories, to feel that sense of belonging that they had while serving. Not every Vet has a bad experience at the VA.

29/ Every VA hospital implements the policies handed down from HQ as they see fit. It is time to get all VA’s to provide the care Vets deserve and to hold each hospital accountable when they fail.

30/ We need the VA to pay bills in a timely manner when we are approved to be seen at a civilian hospital. Vets need to be treated with respect and dignity, better care, not have price tags placed on our care, & the VA needs to hire more staff.

31/ We need civilians to stand alongside us in this fight. Call & write your reps to demand better care for Vets.

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