JohnM

Spike, John's back went out in Aug of 2005,before they decided to due back surgery in Feb,2006 they sent him to pain clinics and nothing they did there helped, in the meantime they said he could go back to work on light duty, work would not let him back, after 12 weeks off his lost his job, he filed for SSD,the day before back surgery he recieved his letter of acceptance from SSD. What I did was after John filed and got a case worker everytime he had to see the doctor or see a different doctor or had nerve test done I call her and let her know and gave her the time dates and clinic. John never had to fight for his SSD. With your knee's do you have osteoarthritis? If so that is also excepted for SSD. OSHA requires standing,sitting,bending,climbing,reaching,lifting for eight hours a day, if your doctor says that you can not do this on an eight hour suggest having an occupational test done, that doctor's words will weight alot on SSD also, for myself I have osteoarthritis,fibromyalgia, heart problems and I had the occupational test done and that won my case, I had to fight for it,after the occupational test was done and I handed that in, one month later I won my case, It took me my 7 months after the original 6 months. I don't see why you would not get SSD or TDIU Good Luck

My question is: Once a person recieves 100 % P &T, Do you still file for NOD and if another disability or problem starts up to you still file for that for a rating. I have been trying to explain this to John put neither one of us really knows why you should file for a rating because you can't get anymore money or a higher rating. If anyone could explain this to us it would be helpful. Right now John is questioning if we should file NOD for hearing and tinnitus. ( Possible Menier's). Thanks in Advance.

I know that this is going to be a dump question, and probably know the answer but thought I would check it out anyways, John recieved the letter from champva yesterday, two forms to fill out. The forms he recieved is Champva- other health insurance ( ohi) certification. Is this the complete form or is there another one? Being that he recieved two, does this mean the Veteran is also covered by Champva also? And please tell me if it is worth wild to drop my other insurance coverage, which we care from where John was working. I am so scared of how much insurance is costing us now days I for sure do not want John or myself with out insurance, especially the way medical expenses are costing. Thanks in advance, We are going to enjoy some of this big money we got and go to Florida. Made reservations at Shades of Green Resort. Has anyone stayed there? What is it like?

The reason for John's denal waswas he had a decreases hearing awcuity, but still normal hearing for VA purpose. Although as a Result inservice noise exposure is conceded, the same for tinnitus. But it is what the C&P doc. wrote down that they denied.

CONGRATS!!! The people here on Hadit are very helpful, My husband also recieved 100% through the help of Hadit.

Holligreen, I am sorry to hear about you having MS. I am not very good at this, But my two cents may help. I had a Good Girlfriend who had MS. Needless to say she is no longer with us ( Another Story in it's self ). MS works in stages and sometimes remission. Maybe this is why they only went a low rating, you may have to file several times for higher ratings because of the fact it goes in stages. Just my thought on this not a real answer. Good Luck and God Bless. Mrs. JohnM Dianne

Sherry, JohnM's wife here, I have Fibro also and before it was diagnoissed I lived in Hell. The answer to your question wether it would be secondary, I could not answer that for they make their own rules but what I can answer is YES depression is secondary to pain. Before they diagnoised me they gave me the wrong medicine and I lived in pure hell, I seen one doctor after another and one actually said take vicaden like it was candy and go back to work. well I took it like it was candy although I never went back to work, and of course I became very depressed to the point of ending it all, I actually tried. That's anothr story in it's self but needless to say I am here it did not work thank God. My shrink said that my body was not ready to die, I got off of the vicaden lived in pain for 3 mos. then they finally got me on the right stuff. anyways Yes to secondary depression and I would file.

Mark, The day John recieved his big check we also recieved a letter in a seperate envelope. I figure they send them out to everyone who has a claim.

I am not sure this is what you want but in John's definition of his rating this is what they put down I hope this will help you. Service connection for S1 RAdiculopathy on the left to the level of the knee with left food drop as secondary to the service connected disability of degenerative joint disease of the lumbar. an evaluation of 60 % is assigned for incomplete paralysis below the knee wich is severe with marked muscular atrophy. The highest evaluation allowable for this disability under current VA regulations. I hope this helps you/

Good! and if they call you again ask them for their phone number and turn them in, so they don't get someone else who will give them info and may take their idenity. That's what you really got to worry about is idenity theft. and I feel this is not ligment. There are so many cons out there.

I would NOT give out any info, What I would do is ask them for a phone number and tell them you will call them right back, then call you phone company and have the number checked out they can tell you who the number belongs to, also call the 800# of VA and find out if they are doing a survey, but under no circumstances would I give them any info. I would say NO this is not normal.

I had a Dr. tell me to take it like it was candy before I was diagnoissed with fibro, yes you can get very dependent on it and most times it will not help for certain pain. My pain was still there I got very dependent, mood swings and drepression( to the point of trying to end it all ) before I got off of them. I find that the best pain medication is neurotin, but that is my feeling on it. IF you are taking vicodin be very careful like John999 said " WE All REACT DIFFERENTLY" JohnM's Wife Dianne

I just found out today that in Wisconsin you must be total 100 % with No combination and then you have to pay the property tax and then be reimburst later and age 65. But said to check on that in August because they are trying to change that here for the Vets. But then he said everthing is about " MONEY". It does Suck!

This was posted a while back but can not seem to find it. How do I find what states pay property taxes for VA Veterans that are P & T ? The state of Wisconsin reinburses you but you must be 65 and I would like make mention to this to our Wisconsin Rep.'s if possibly checking into changing this. Thanks in advance.

Rickb54 No arguement taken, although I was trying to point out that knee replacement with other factors may qualify for SSD. Yes you are right just knee replacement is not going to land SSD unless there is something wrong for instants if you are in constant pain, if the replacements are not working and your body is rejecting them. And I guess I did go a little off the question. JohnM's Wife

Just thought I would put my 2 cents in Depending on how old this friend is, what type of work he does, what kind of schooling, and can this person be retrained. Many people have the wrong opinion on SSD. The major question has a person lost their job because of their disability and can a person be retrained. yes there is many jobs a person can do with knee replacements, but there are other factors, I will use myself as a example (JohnM's wife) 2 knee replacements, 1 cabbage surgery, 1 lymph nod surgery,1 shoulder surgery,Fibromyalgia, high school graduate with a learning disability, age of SSD 54, factory employment. plus other medical problems. Now also I went to an occupational therapist for testing skills, OSHA requires 8 hrs of standing, climbing,bending, lifting over head, and a standard, and much more, if a person can not full fill this then they will consider this also. along with doctor statements. The big thing is can a person do an 8 hr. standard, for myself I could no longer do it. These are just some factors, there are many many more, So Yes your friend should apply for SSD, HE/She may have to fight for it that is always a possibility with SSD.

Lets talk about Fibro, for a moment: We were told this pretains to the GW: I'm JohnM's wife, I have never been in service, so where does my Fibro come in, It is an unexplained disease hurts like hell for ever and ever ( at times I just want to DIE ) In my thinking the VA is wrong in saying just from GW because, they do not know that much about it, and it can be from trauma, for me many injuries many surgeries, it is a form of arthritis (PAIN) so for any VET that has been diagnoised with it should at least file for it. What is the worst they can say "DENIED" Even SSD excepts fibro as a condition of not being able to work. after being denied then I would gather all the facts especially from pain clinic dr.'s about this miserable disease. This should be a winable diagnoiss may take a while. Sorry I just had to put my 2 cents in being that I have this miserable thing.

When we took emmak's son to the VA Rep. I used this phrase on his behalf, she had said that this was meant for the" Men & Women in the Gulf War" and would not help for him.

We have not recieved the paper work as of yet, nothing was mentioned on the hearing and the doctor had wrote down on the records that his hearing, tintinus, was not from military. Although she also wrote that his SMR's show hearing loss not once but three times it is written down that he has a high frequency hearing loss, and enlistment exam said he had good hearing when he enlisted. So yes we will fight this one, even if it is 10-20 %. after all it is on record.Once we recieve the paper work I will let you know what it has down. It should be coming any day now.

For what it is worth, John was a mechanic on the choppers also a machine gunner, also, on smr of high frequency hearing loss and the dr. at the va hospital when he had his C&P said no hearing loss, meniers , or tinnitus was caused by military service. We will be filing NOD on this, But I wish you luck to me it sounds like this is one that the VA likes to deny, and for the life of me I can not understand that, because the rating is not that high.

Carlie there is not game plan here, her question may not have been phrase right, but I am Mrs JohnM and emmak's husband is my brother, To make a long story short Leroy has not siad everything when he had his C&P for PTSD, so therefore they only gave him 50%, because he was well dressed, worked all of his life till he no longer could, and his able to function. Yes this is all true like most of us But and that is a big "BUT" that does not mean that there isn't some serious problems mentally with a person, and believe me Leroy has emotional problems and has had for many many years. Most IMO Doctors do not Know about PTSD and Do not want to commit to any words of "At least likely" because they don't understand what it means what emmak needs to know is how to explain to doctors on writting a letter in support of. She needs to know on how to get Leroy to open up, She needs to know on how to get the Doctors to understand that he his not telling them everything.

Robert51 I think you are over acting: First I am not that knowledgeable on VA, but what is the difference. If you are P&T? Are you on SSD? John and I are both on SSD and they do the same thing sending you a letter wanting to find out if you have inproved or not and if your Doctor still feels that you can not work. If you bought a Car and took out the disability Insurance, they do it also , we have two of them and every 6 months our doctor fills out forms. If YOU are truely disabled I would not give it another thought go and have the C&P and get it over with, just because they send you does not mean you will lose your comp or get droped in pay. Have you been going to the Doctors on a regular basis, if so I would not think twice about it.

How good is Champva Insurance compared to an HMO (Physicians Plus )? John will be next month 100%, OK that means I am elegiable for Champva Does that also Mean John is and for the two of us How much would it cost. I have Medicare A&B John will get that next Febuary 2008 is there a difference I printed up the hand book but it doesn't talk about cost. It cost us just about $8.000 this year for are hmo, Will champ be that expensive, or do you believe we should keep our hmo Do we have to decide right away if we want the insurance and if we don't will we lose a chance on getting it next year.

I know its not TDIU that I ask him, and he said that John didn't need that, But he did not say it was P&T, But he did say that I was allegable for champva insurance, So I am assuming that it is P&T, Will not know for sure until the check and paper work comes in. By the sound of this guys voice he was an older gentelmen, and knew what he was talking about, And was very nice in talking with us. Again he did say that we would recieve the Check in Feb and then the 1st of each month after that. and he said that it would be 2,610.00

I would like to explain to you about John: He suffered with back problems since he came home from the service in 1972: He did not say anything to his Doctors or Work for fear of Losing his Job: About 5 years ago he said something to the Doctor, the Doctor said it was arthritis and to put cold and hot packs on 4 years later John could not get out of bed he was in so much pain, finally I got him out took him to the ER and the Doctor there just took are money and said it was siatic he never took an exray, I said No this is his hip he disagreed I said at least give him something for pain, he did not, we left there and by that time our clinic was open, they got him in to see are doctor, our doctor agreed with me took an exray, and said yes this is his hip gave him something for pain, after that I got hip in to see a specialist, he said he has two degenerative hip problems but this is his back and I don't work on backs so he gave him something for pain, set the appointment for the spine doctor that took two months they sent him to a pain clinic burned his nerves, nothing worked finally they took an MRI, it showed several disc problems the pain clinic doctor said that this has been a problem for years. It took six months before he had surgery. And next month on the 14th it will be on year since surgery, surgery has not helped and they can not do anything else at this time. The reason I told you this is Not all Doctors know what they are saying, Not all doctors care or have the time to work with you, if it wasn't for the pain doctor they might not have done anything. I suggest that you get a GOOD Pain Doctor, A GOOD SPIN SPECIALIST and work from there. OH, John's Spine Doctor is the only good one we have in Madison, WI. and I was told he even goes to ILLinois, They said people come for hundreds of miles to see him, that is why it took so long for him to get an appointment. And the Pain Doctor Is also the head Doctor at the University, Matter of fact he was the one that helped John get Social Security. I wish you all the Luck, Pain is hell, John and I live with it everyday!