My Eleven-Hour Day With The VA Hospital

Once a year I venture up to the VA Hospital in Helena to get my old bones checked out by the fine folks at Ft. Harrison.

The VA as it turns out has a shuttle service for veterans that might be handicapped, or don’t drive, or just don’t want to wear out their own personal vehicle.

That last one fits me. Besides, as long as I’m paying for the shuttle with my tax dollars I might as well take advantage of it.

So a very nice shuttle driver from Dallas, Texas who moved here five months ago picked me up at home Monday morning for my 11 am appointment in Helena.

What could possibly go wrong?

Have You Seen Butte Lately?

The regular Butte driver was not available so before my appointment we made a short trip over to Butte to pick up another veteran then made the trip back to Helena.

Quick In And Out

Went in, got a quick bill of good health, done about 11:45am then over to the Ft. Harrison Hospital Cafeteria for lunch and wait for the ride back.

The Butte Veteran’s appointment was 1:45 pm and was a little over an hour. Then back to Butte to drop him off, before making the return trip to Bozeman.

Was I Upset?

You might think I would be upset about spending the entire day sitting around while the cogs of government didn’t work as they were designed.

Actually it wasn’t all that bad. Up at 6am picked up about 7am them back home a little after 5pm.

Eleven short hours later I’m back home safe and sound.

Did I mention that my very friendly driver had just been released from the Bozeman Hospital on Saturday? And, after taking me home she had a couple of hours of paperwork to catch up on, plus here older dog had been penned up in the house since 6 in the morning.

Cleanup on Aisle… ?

Some Final Thoughts

It could have been worse. Snow, rain, avalanche, earthquake, Yellowstone blowing up? But I do want to give a shout out to the Montana Legislature for upping the speed limit on the interstate to 80 mph.

And as anyone who has ever driven to Butte knows — the scenery is spectacular.

At least I’ve got my health. All in all it was a pretty good day.

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