Page 937 - Total War on PTSD

my ear. If you have a dog sticking their wet nose in your ear you know you're apt to get up. The older Sam has gotten...he likes to sleep late sometimes. He doesn't sleep on the bed as much. We got him one of those memory foam dog beds and I put it down on my side of the bed, and that's where he sleeps most of the time now. With his back legs kind of hurting it's harder for him to jump up on the bed anymore. I have some steps at the foot of the bed so he can still get up on the bed...but he doesn't get up there like he used to. Maggie can jump from flat footed to like five feet in the air, so jumping on the bed is no big deal to her.
Concerning veterinary expenses, the VA told me that they will only pay if the dog was for blindness or hearing loss. They said that, the dog being for PTSD, they will not cover anything. They believe that medication will treat PTSD. They just want to throw another pill at it. When I started with Sam, I was taking between 15 and 17 pills a day. Now I only take three pills a day.
I contribute that change to Sam. He watches out for me. If it's determined that the dogs truly help, like most of us Veterans already know, then the VA would have to provide the dogs, provide healthcare for the dogs, etc. It all boils down to money. Money I have ended up spending on Sam and Maggie so that could have the help I needed when I needed it. The VA doesn't want to spend it. I was lucky because I worked for the Postal Service. I had federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They retired me. I took everything the Postal Service had and went over to the VA, and that's when the VA made their determination and gave me my benefits/retirement...and I am 100% disabled with the VA. I got to keep my federal health care. I don't go to the VA. Me and those people just don't get along. The Psychiatrist I am seeing in Birmingham, he is one of the best doctors in his field in the area. If he tells me the sun is going to rise tomorrow and it's going to be blue, I will be looking for a blue sun.
937 of 1042