Tonight I am hanging out in a hotel smack dab in Houston’s Texas Medical Center. What a wonderful place to be, he said facetiously. Well, at least if something happens to you some of the world’s best hospitals are nearby. Although, I am not so sure that the hospital where I am going in the morning is one of the world’s, or even Harris County’s, best.
I will be having what is known as a “C & P” exam in the morning. The initials stand for “compensation and pension” and is performed in order to determine whether one’s health situation is connected with one’s military service. In my case, it is to find out whether my continual back and neck problems started while I was in the Navy. That is, indeed, when all such problems began. Whether the Department of Veterans Affairs will agree and decide to “award” me disability compensation is another mystery.
It is all sort of a mystery why I am here to begin with. A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from the VA saying I had a C & P exam scheduled after it was recommended by the VA Regional Office in Houston. Why this has come about, I don’t know. I did apply several years ago for disability compensation but I was never given an exam and I was financially unable at the time to travel back to Waco for a hearing about my claim. In short, I gave up on filing for a disability claim even though my physical problems started during my military service.
So, I shall see how the examination goes. I am not particularly optimistic that the outcome will favor me. That is because I have been lied to and have been jacked around so much by the VA that I have no faith whatsoever in their organization other than their ability to dispense the drugs I need to get by. So why am I here? I don’t know. Call me curious, or whatever, just call me in time for supper.