What A Show . . . .

Yesterday, I had to go to the VA Hospital in Dallas for a couple of review appointments. I knew it would be a different thing for Judie to see and she decided to come because I was having an eye examination in one of the appointments. That meant I would get my eyes dilated and make driving home a hassle (The dilation was about 11:00 o'clock and we did not get out of there until past 3:00 o'clock, so much of that had worn off and I had ample sun glasses to take care of the glare).

I knew things would be sporting when we arrived at 9:00 o'clock and we had to park out in the South 40 lot. All the parking lots were over following. I opined it might be "appointment day." Somebody said that the Dallas VA hospital services 500,000 patients. That number does not include the everpresent person to accompany the patient, i.e Judie.

As we walked down the hall to the information desk, she commented the following, "It looks like an ant hill erupting with people all over the place." There were long lines at the pharmacy, lines at the waiting areas at the various clinics (mine was Clinic 16 but I was quickly shunted to Clinic 1 - the Eye Clinic). We waited in the lobby, then my name was called along with two dozen other names and we were led into the eye clinic and sat in yet another waiting room. They gradually processed us through the clinic.

After the eye clinic, it was back to Clinic 16. My next appointment was at 12:30, so we went down in the basement and ate lunch. That was zoo number 2. Crowded, lines everywhere, all tables taken, so we shared a table with guy. Naturally, we got his story too. All the food was fast food, I mean they shoved out the hash in record time. Judie had a hamburger and that was assembled before our eyes in less than 20 seconds; I chose a hot dog. We got our drinks and sat down and ate - like everybody else we ate as fast as we could to get out of there.

The next two doctors were an Orthopedic Surgeon (neck and knees) and GP at 2:00 PM. Those two appointments came off okay.

But it was fun to watch the people in action. One came and said he was late, the woman at the desk checked and said, "Yes, you are two weeks late." Another just came up and said, "I need more money in my compensation." Those patients got short shift real quick, there were just to many bodies to handle to take care of the idiots. Yes, there were plenty of disabled people, some missing parts and so on.

But it was fun watch some guy in his electric scooter zip down the hall way, shop at the VA store (it is much like a Base Exchange - a lot of the same kinds of things and no taxes!), drink Starbucks coffee, etc..

And of course they pay you mileage for coming in so the last step was to pull a ticket for your number and wait to get your travel voucher filled out. Sure enough, we got that done in about 20 minutes. Then you had to go to the cashier. A short line, they were very efficient. We were done at 3:30 or so, out the door and wait for the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus gave us the same tour back to the "Back 40." The driver had a continuing conversation via his cellphone to "central." He reported a vacant wheel chair, and his general progress around the area (perhaps 10 - 12 acres) of child care, rehab, overnight facilities, etc.. We finally made it to the back lot; some other guy in the bus forgot where his truck was - he was in trouble - perhaps two or three thousand vehicles parked in that place. And yes, the ever present construction is going on too.

I noted that since this was my second time to this facility that there seemed to be twice as many people there. One person said he was there last Wednesday and the rain was so bad that the lobby was leaking like a sieve. He opined that a lot of appointments were rescheduled or missed and rescheduled, ergo a double load of "patients" there.

Guns are strictly forbidden - to many possible "Postal Patients" around that place. There were shell shocked guys, cripples, disgruntled people in general and so on. Since I had been though it once before, I knew that one had to be patient and have a good attitude, or go nuts. So it does not matter that if you have a conceal carry permit or not, no one is gonna take a chance in that place. The potential for harm is unbelieveable.

Also there was the ever present funeral home adjacent to the hospital. I guess they can just transship the bodies over to them for final processing.

To boot, the hospital is located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. So you don't want to be there after dark. Oak Cliff is the Scottlandville of Dallas.

We got the hell out of Dodge as fast as we could. Stopped at a McDonalds, got a coke and hit I-20 for home. Traffic both ways was not bad. We stopped at Lubby's for dinner and were home by 6:00 PM.

And Judie had the adventure of a life time!