What shall I do today? It involves the VA as usual.
Seven months ago the VA wanted me to attend a telephone seminar for four weeks. It happened every Monday morning at 8:00 am and lasted for one and a half hours each time. And what did they want me to learn? Innovative methods of dealing with pain. So many things wrong with this. Why 8:00 am? Why so long? Why Monday?
Would it surprise you that I dragged my feet? But eventually I decided to play their game. What did I learn? Well..... On the final day I listened to a psychologist (female) tell us all about how she didn't suffer pain but she knew all about how to put it at bay. She explained that we had all been the pain medication route. Oh??? No, they have stopped doing pain medication. It's an evil opioid. Go sit or lie somewhere and whimper. She held out the hope of relief by meditation. Did she say hypnotherapy? No. She said meditation, but she didn't elaborate. Even if that worked, the problem is that pain gets in the way of the things you want and need to do, and meditation would quit working when you stopped meditating tried to do anything, if it worked at all. She went from there to talking about herself for an hour. Thankfully, it was the last class. Then questions and answers. Someone asked about getting new electrodes for their BioWave. BioWave? What is that? "It's a machine that interferes with the with nerves that transmit pain to the brain." "OK. I want one." Whaaaaat?
The months went by with all sorts of VA dodges to pretend that they were going to do this but not doing this. Finally one day I was sent to physical therapy classes to learn to use the device. This lasted two weeks, and was held at the VA clinic. Not long after that I came down with a high fever over 105º and then after a few days, collapse of blood pressure. This finally resulted in total collapse. The sheriff came out and picked me up, then the paramedics. They said I had COVID, probably contracted at the VA clinic. But I survived the dread disease. I was told that the BioWave machine was going to arrive on June 22, six and a half months after I started attempting to get it from the VA. Did I believe this? I would when I saw it. This is June 30th.
I had begun calling the VA on June 23 and first I was told to wait a few days. The physical therapist also said that she would be on indefinite leave due to a family emergency. "I'm sorry," I said.
From then on calls to the VA only resulted in reaching an answering service. "Why can't I reach the VA anymore?" I asked. "Oh, there's no one there anymore. They had to let everyone go." OK. So they took messages that went no where.
One day I got a call from the great physical therapy main clinic telling me that my BioWave was being returned to sender. I should call FedEx they said. "What is my tracking number?" I asked, several times. Thankfully I finally got it.
I called FedEx on an 800 number and reached the country of India. They said that they had tried to deliver it to the wrong address over and over. "Well, can you deliver it to my actual address?" "No." Finally they agreed to deliver it to "the Dollar General." It turns out FedEx is allied with Dollar General in some weird, incestuous way. They use Dollar General Stores all over the place as FedEx centers. However, not only can you not reach FedEx by calling the Dollar General, you also can't reach the Dollar General for any reason. The phone number is unlisted.
"Which Dollar General? There are hundreds of them you know. There are twelve of them in this county." "I don't know." "What city is this Dollar General in?" They gave me the name of a town about fifteen miles away. "Well, OK, I can do that. When will it be there?" "Tomorrow."
That was yesterday. Guess what? The BioWave was in a FedEx warehouse 75 miles away. I know this because I had finally been given my tracking number and looked it up on the internet. I called FedEx again, and reached someone that said their name was "me," again in India. Me had no record of any calls by me to FedEx. The last record they had of a shipment with this tracking number was three weeks ago and it was being returned to sender today. (Yesterday) I chose to argue.
About an hour later I got a call from Dana with FedEx. She spoke English. I told her I would like to have my parcel and I had been told to pick it up at Dollar General. "I think it would be closer to you if you went to pick it up at the Dollar General three counties away." "That's 75 miles away. Why can't you just ship this to me at my correct address?" "Oh sure." So they called "Me," who they were now calling Melissa. Melissa said I had never asked for the parcel to be shipped to my home. Also, she claimed that I had insisted that it be delivered on a Saturday. I bit my tongue to not say that I thought the problem was the language barrier. I did mention that I wouldn't have said that because I observe the Sabbath.
"Would you let Melissa know I do want the parcel delivered to my home address?" We carefully verified my correct address.
Dana told me my parcel would be here today. Just like I've been doing for two weeks, I will be spending today sitting by the front door, waiting for FedEx to deliver my parcel. I know my tracking number FedEx!
UPDATE Will my parcel be delivered today? Of course not. Delivery was again attempted at the incorrect address. I know this because, since I know my tracking number, I was able to see which city it was being delivered to on the internet. It isn't the one I live in. And they know that. So after four more calls, and being hung up on once by "Rena," FedEx has again said they will leave it at the Dollar General. How long has this been going on with FedEx? Well, since June 16th. They say they will give me five days to retrieve it from Dollar General. This is approximately $10 in gas.
High fevers, blood pressure collapse, deliveries on the Sabbath, cancelled appointments more than once, disappearing clinics, unbelievable run arounds with FedEx, fools errands to Dollar General. It seems diabolical. I hope this BioWave is good. I can't believe what a struggle they've put up.
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