Curious About Ihd And Pancreatic Cancer

[Kray]

I am curious about finding out how many individuals who were exposed to Agent Orange and had both of these diseases or know someone who had them. I hope that I am not stepping on toes with this question and I certainly don't mean to.

Let me tell you a story. I am the youngest of three brother, all of who joined the military at a young age and each made it a career and retired. The oldest brother is in good health (age 82) and does not have IHD or Pancreatic Cancer (PC).

The next oldest brother (age 80) had IHD and PC, along with me (age 76), the youngest, who also had IHD and PC . My middle brother died from PC one year ago. I got PC in 2005 and I survived by Gods grace and by having the Whipple Procedure. The thing in common with the two younger brothers are that they both served in Vietnam, while the older brother did not.

Of course the VA does not recognize PC as being caused by Agent Orange.

I am just asking if others on this board that served in Vietnam had PC and IHD or know someone who did.

Thank You

[Berta]

We have AO IHD vets here. I am a AO IHD vet's widow When the AO regulations for IHD, Parkinsons and Hairy Cell B leukemia came out, the VA estimated 42 million would be paid out over a ten year period to these veterans and their survivors in compensation..

"It is not possible to exagerate the magnitude of the Ischemic Heart Disease Rule. The total living Vietnam Veteran population is about 2.1 million people and half a million Vietnam Veterans were deceased by 2010. Ischemic Heart Disease causes more deaths, more disability, and incurs in great economic costs than any other illness in the Western world. Ischemic Heart Disease includes any atherosclerotic heart disease resulting in clinically significant ischemia or requiring coronary revascularization.

Many of the half million deceased Vietnam Veterans have widows that are now eligible for DIC Benefits. While many widows will be granted benefits, a significant number will be declined and those cases can be valuable. Even if benefits are granted, we would like to examine the case to be sure the correct effective date is used. It would not be surprising for the VA to grant benefits starting with the date of application when often the benefits should have started at the time of the Veteran’s death."

http://louisville.legalexaminer.com/miscellaneous/veterans-administration-rule-changes-concerning-agent-orange/

There are probably more stats on the net as to the question you asked on AO IHD.

Also I posted here a VA summary of the estimate of cost as well as estimate of amount affected veterans and/or their survivors, sometime in late 2010...due to the new AO regs .....if I find that post I will link it here,

[confusion99%]

I was boots on the ground in Nam in 1966....Was medically retired with unstable angina in 1977 and awarded 30% by the Navy and the VA for the heart condition. One year later, the VA decided to remove it completely stating there was no subjective evidence as to the cause. They said they sent me a letter in 1978 which I never received. I was not getting a check from the VA as my Navy retirement was higher. I did not find out about the change until 1992. That is when I started my fight with the VA. In reference to your question about IHD and PC.....I did not have PC, but, I started having severe pancreatitis in 86. Spent 6 months in the hospital on a cancer ward, no food or water for that entire time, living on TPN...My pancreas was covered in pseudo cysts and the duct was scared to a point that it could not pass enzymes and digestive juices. They did open me up to confirm yes or no on cancer and decided there was none. The same thing happened in 1993. I was living in the Philippines and was Medivac back to the states. Spent 9 months in the hospital again no food or water for that time and another 3 months after discharge, again living on TPN. Same situation with the pancreas problems only this time it had gone into auto-digestion eating digesting itself. They did the wipple except they left the gall bladder which later had to be removed also. I still have the pancreatitis every now and then suffering from severe pain bouts that last from 24 to 72 hours. I have to stop eating and just enough water to get by. I take demerol that I keep at home for such attacks. They have told me the only thing left is removal if it happens again....Since they mentioned alcohol use/abuse in my early career as the cause. This is even though I had totally stopped drinking in 1974. I finely got the heart issue resolved after the AO inclusion of IHD...but only from the date of filing. Nothing prior to 2011...but they have that as an open case under administrative review. Nothing for the pancreas problem. I havn't figured out a way to attack that one yet and fear they will deny saying it was alcohol related so it my doing and not service connected. Or, since it did not appear until 9 years after retirement, say no nexus to my years in service.

[Berta]

"I finely got the heart issue resolved after the AO inclusion of IHD...but only from the date of filing. Nothing prior to 2011...but they have that as an open case under administrative review. Nothing for the pancreas problem. I havn't figured out a way to attack that one yet and fear they will deny saying it was alcohol related so it my doing and not service connected. Or, since it did not appear until 9 years after retirement, say no nexus to my years in service."

I am glad that is still in appeal

"I was boots on the ground in Nam in 1966....Was medically retired with unstable angina in 1977 and awarded 30% by the Navy and the VA for the heart condition. One year later, the VA decided to remove it completely stating there was no subjective evidence as to the cause. They said they sent me a letter in 1978 which I never received. I was not getting a check from the VA as my Navy retirement was higher. I did not find out about the change until 1992. That is when I started my fight with the VA. In reference to your question about IHD and PC.."

Do you have a copy of your C file?

Did the VA in any older decision , ever give you a NSC rating for the heart condition?

If so you might be a Nehmer Footnote one Vet. Footnote One vets and widows like me under Nehmer received the best possible EED. (sometimes)

Then again, my husbands AO IHD had been malpracticed on,...never rated or treated by VA. Evidence and proven under FTCA back to Aug 1988, yet the retro missed a few months there.

The Nehmer people found a C & P exam note ( I cant believe I never saw this note anywhere in his records) that had a October 1988 date and this is what they gave the EED on. In y9ur case it was the claim date .

We have plenty of info here on Nehmer and Footnote one.

As soon as NVLSP (the lawyers who won Nehmer) posted their AO email addy, I posted it here.

Did you ever contact them to review your case to see if the VA gave you the proper EED on your AO IHD award?

Nehmer was class action and NVLSP is a pro bono law firm so there was no charge for their Nehmer Review.

At some point the IHD ratings changed.

The VA awarded me at 30% retro posrthumously for my husband's IHD for the 6 years up to his death from 1988 under the older IHD rating schedule.

Although the schedule became more favorable in his lifetime...still I had proven to VA his IHD had been malpracticed on and proved it caused his death but without any treatment records (only an ECHO and EKGs) they had nothing to warrant a higher rating than the 30%.

I had to file a CUE claim on another part of my Nehmer award.

They had awarded a past CUE claim I had but did not consider the evidence that warranted more money on that.

NVLSP advised me to file the CUE with the Nehmer VARO who prepared the decision as well as my AOJ (Buffalo VARO)

so if this decision on the IHD was render by a Nehmer VARO that is not your original agency of jurisdiction (AOJ) then best to send any documents to both places , in my opinion....

if it was a different VARO who awarded the 30% IHD claim...

[camidonHP]

There's a study here that shows a 5.71 times increased rick in pancreatic cancer in Vietnam nurses compared to non-Vietnam nurses.

The problem is with these rarer cancers. The studies usually only get 1 or 2 people developing the rarer cancers, and more getting the more common cancers, so the data is skewed. Also, minute doses of TCDD can actually HELP some cancers, so people who were only minimally exposed are LESS likely to develop certain cancers, and people with a great deal of exposure are much MORE likely to develop them. There's even been some research USING TCDD to TREAT pancreatic cancers.