Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - VA Doctor Recommendation
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Old 12-16-2020, 03:48 PM
John_W John_W is offline
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Maybe the OP was a General, rank does have it's privileges. I'll give you a little history of my experience over the past 9-1/2 years of going to Mulberry. It opened in 2010, so when I started they were still getting somewhat organized. If you have an on-site orientation, you'll get a lot of info at that time.

I'm on my third doctor at Mulberry since 2011. The first was excellent, she even saw me on the Friday the day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately after two years she went back to the Ukraine for family reasons. I had severally swollen legs, you couldn't even tell where my knees were, I had gained 15 pounds of water weight. I saw her on that Friday and she said to drive straight up to the Gainesville ER and I'll call and let them know you're coming. I had an outbreak of psoriatic arthritis caused by unknown factors at the time, but I was admitted into the hospital for 3 days.

The next doctor was for five years, he was from Indian. I couldn't understand a word he said, I basically just went to him for my medications and refills because by then I was 65 and I had United Health Medicare Advantage and had care from TV as well. He never said much, so I never worried about understanding him. Luckily I had the Villages doctor as a backup.

In 2016 I had a terrible cough and just so happen had an appointment with my VA doctor that day. He prescribed a Z-Pack and said you'll be like new in five days. In five days I was even sicker, I called my Villages doctor at Pinellas and she said, go to Lake Imaging for a chest X-ray. The next day I saw her and she said you have pneumonia, and she prescribed the right medications and I was well in about 4 weeks.

In 2018 I had a cat-scan, I would get one every year by the VA since I was a past smoker. Since I had pneumonia that time in 2016 my Villages doctor had me see a pulmonary doctor every year as well. The civilian pulmonary doctor also had me get cat-scan, but every six months. I saw both doctors the same week, my VA doctor said there is something on your cat-scan and the Gainesville Hospital wants you to get another cat-scan in 4 months. My pulmonary doctor said, there is something on your cat-scan and I want you to see a doctor at Mid-Florida Cancer Specialist. I saw the doctor and he said you have non-hodgkins lymphoma and I need you have 3 bumps in your arm pit removed. I went to the in-patient at TV hospital and they did the procedure with just a local anesthetic and I was out in 2 hours. Had I only had the VA and didn't do anything for four months, who knows if they would of caught in time.

The Indian doctor transferred to Arizona and the last two years I've had current physician, Dr. Wyland who came here from Pensacola. He's very good, he's actually called me at home twice to see how I was doing as a follow-up. He's very precise and clear and what he will say. I did have minor problem, I've been taking metoprolol for 12 years for my blood pressure and he switched me to lisinopril, he said it's better for kidneys. I went and played golf and I felt very tired and out of breath, when I got home I took my blood pressure and my resting heart rate was 95, it's normally 62. I called and they said, go back on the metoprolol. Then I talked to him and he said, metoprolol does have a built in governor that does regulate your heart rate that lisinopril does not have. Other than that, he's been very good.

Last I heard was they have 16 doctors and about 16,000 patients so you can see each doctor is kept busy. My last visit was a virtual visit over the internet, I see the doctor about every 9 months or so. I can an send a message anytime to his nurse via myhealthyvet, in fact I sent one yesterday for refills and she replied today. I would try and get Dr. Wyland if you can.