bubblesdlux

I agree Bronco, and do not have a problem, doing all of my/my husbands work. I am very astute, extremely intelligent, and I am the one, without ANY representation to get it to Wash, DC. I am mentally exhausted at this point, but will continue, because I am the daughter of former Marine! I take pride in that! Semper Fi!

He didn't say if he was a vascular specialist. The guy, that consulted on the ablation, said he was THE one that would do it, 'cos he was the ONLY one in the hospital that did that procedure. During the consult he told us there would be up to 7 other 'doctors' observing him doing the procedure. I took that to mean, that there would be resident trainee's that would observe. Not that there was 7 other docs that would be there for backup!

Yes, Chuck! I found the information in his records, that I used to 'support' the claim, that he had worsened. It's all there!

I was in such a tizzy earlier, I failed to say, that the ablation has not/did not occur in Nov, or Dec. The doc conveniently did not show, because he was 'sick at home with 103 degree fever' on the morning we arrived for the procedure. They wanted to reschedule that two days after Christmas. I went off on that poor nurse. She consulted with and we had an appt. with the Cardiologist that will 'supposedly' do the surgery on the aneurysms. He stated the aneurysms were of more importance than the ablation, but that the shoulder and hip issues need to be resolved before he does that surgical intervention. The blood work revealed that he should be on Coumadin/warfarin; although NO ONE has even mentioned it. When I asked his primary care physician for an opinion based on his records in file, he has refused, repeatedly to do it, citing, he is not part of the comp and pension determination process. We have been requesting that from him since March 2012.

Oh, thank you! Our stuff isn't in Wacko or Houston now, it is in Little Rock, and has been since 3rd quarter 2006! On the R/O issue, the man that was over that 'ro' has been fired. He was found with lots of equipment like atv's and a road grader or something on his personal property. To hear the subordinates tell it: they are glad he is gone!!!! I got into a LOUD DISCUSSION WITH HIM IN the lobby of L/R R/O. I told him, one of his staff had told us that R/O had redacted some of David's info. He informed me that there was no such word as redacted. I told him to get a new Websters, and perhaps he should read it if he was even capable. Everything after that was denied, until the new service officer arrived in Miller County Ar. He is terrific.know some of this is related to A/O and the back is a standing issue! I do so appreciate the input!

I am the wife of a VN Vet. Honorably discharged. My mind is spinning out of control! I just don't know what to do and although I know its not worth crying over, it sure makes me feel better. This may be lengthy; but this is how it has been. My husband was in VN and Thailand, during the conflict. He worked on the flight line, assembling bombs. *putting fins on the actual bombs, before they go to plane." They were brought in on 40' trailers and the guys would 'screw' the fins on the actual bombs. Occasionally, one of the fin components would "cross thread" and the person working on it, would have to pull it off and rethread it correctly. Some would get stuck and physical force was needed to remove it and attach correctly. My husband was standing on the flat bed truck; working on these fins, when one of them crossed. He attempted to pull the fin to realign it and fell off the back of the flatbed onto a pallet of already staged (finished) bombs. It (the fall) is in his records about falling off of the 40' flatbed trailer onto a pallet that had bombs staged for loading. He landed on the bomb fins. His hips landed on the pallet and the concrete floor under the pallet. He has three puncture marks in the thoracic area of his back. It is noted in his record of the event. The punctures oozed white liquid substance, but they put phisohex on them and sent him back out to his assigned duty. Within a few weeks he was stationed to MacDill AFB where he sought treatment at the hospital there. He states that there were 7 doctors that evaluated the wound and stated, "nothing too serious" return to duty. (We have requested record of those xrays and consult notes from Utapao and MacDill; they claim they were sent to St Louis) We have requested the records from the AFB in Thailand where he was stationed and again, no record, must have been sent to St Louis. Fast Forward to discharge: NO PHYSICAL DISCHARGE EXAM. One of the questions on the discharge papers that he had to fill out, was: Have you had or now experience "back pain" to which he replied YES. He gets out, comes back to Tx/Ar area. He was still having issues and went to a Chiropractor locally but the damage was too bad for him to continue to work on David Here is the trick: Doctors in the state of Tx, are NOT REQUIRED BY LAW, to keep medical records more than 7 yrs. (Pharmacies, not more than 2). I am going to copy a previous missive for the sake of expediency here: "So we filed in Waco, Tx. when we still lived in Tx. Bowie County Tx. is the only Tx county that is supposed to submit to Little Rock. In 2006 we moved here to SW Ar. and had requested a visiting board meeting. They, TX VARO transferred the records to Little Rock, AR, did not tell us, and then the visiting board meeting notification was sent to the old address in Tx, where the forwarding request had already expired. I called by happenstance one day and was told we had missed it.. There is more! He originally filed in 1998 and was denied. Didn't know he could appeal. We took it up again in 2002, when the right hip needed replacement...When we originally requested the records from St Louis they told us: burned. We filed anyway. Then requested copies of what they had, so we would know. *********While I was reviewing those, I found copies of two different 'service numbers'. Not social numbers that were originally used, and turned to SSN. but actual svc numbers and the other one had someone's name on it..***********We appealed several times and it went as far as the Court of Appeals for Veterans in Washington DC and they sent it back to Little Rock for further development, but did not deny it. Comp and pension for that: Doc said he observed the scars on his flank......there are NO scars on either flank for this injury. **********He did see a chiropractor, when he got back, but got too bad for him to work on David. Then we find out that VA does not recognize Chiro as an MD, which they say invalidates the doc visits. Meanwhile, he has had left hip replace 2 x (85/92) and needs to be done again. Rt hip replaced 6 months after we got married in 2002. Each time I bring this up with American Legion (our rep) they tell us to leave that alone. They tell us, that since the agent orange exposure was tied to Ischemic, that it would be easier to get the 100 % from that and let the back injury go.. He has peripheral neuropathy they keep trying to tie to diabetes, but.....there was no "official" diagnosis of diabetes until after the neuropathy diagnosis of a civilian physician.......I am so overwhelmed. I have 3 file cabinet drawers of all of my supporting documents......I am so lost. Sorry to burden you with all this, Don't want to hire an atty either, since they will get a portion. There is more: In Dec 2005 (before his ischemic award) a satellite clinic found "an aneurysm"; that turned out to be 3 aneurysms. 3 abdominal aortic aneurysms. Originally we were told it was one aneurysm, 5.5 x 5.8 cm. VA will not 'operate' on them, until one of the dimensions is 5.5, (as of 4/17/2013 the largest one measures 5.0 x 4.8 cm). The other two are not as large, but in the sciatic vessels. The VA does not consider aneurysms part of ischemic heart issues, because it is 'vascular' in nature. (HELLO, IT IS ALL CIRCULATORY). Presumptive Ischemic heart after his heart attack and bypass surgery that happened days after our notification about the aneuryms in 12/2005. Then 9 mos later, 2 failed graphs, resulting in a stent. They could not save the other graph. David is now rated at 90% unemployable, since Nov 2011. While awaiting a regular clinic appt., he had a blood clot in his rt leg, that broke loose and went to his rt lung, in the waiting room. I signaled the nurse at the desk and they got a wheel chair and took him back to his doctor; where it was determined his pulse was 28. I wheeled him all of the hospital for various tests, but they stopped short of calling it DVT, yes, that is in his records. Fast forward again: sleep apnea pressure raised , but he is always worn out, and short of breath. They cant figure it out, but upon further review we found out that he has 26 extra heart beats every 3/4 minutes, which they determined needed a heart ablation in Nov 2012. First surgery cancelled due to new machine failure, and rescheduled. We go to Little Rock for two days prior to the next scheduled ablation, and during the consult, the doc that was to do the ablation, tells us he is going thru the aorta, to do the procedure. We ask: Does that mean, you will go thru aneurysm? He was shocked, and surprised, to know about them (he didn't read the record). We asked, what about his hip going out, when he is relaxed? He wouldn't know until coming out of the anesthesia, if it was out of place. *this happens, whether sitting or laying down*. Meanwhile, appts in April 2013 in L/R we found out that the hip is an elective surgery! And they will not do it, until he quits smoking cigs! Today, we received a request from VA for more information regarding the Request for Reconsideration based on evidence in the file and his medical records. They are bringing up all this crap on things that we were told to 'let go' for now or had already been decided. They ordered a comp and pension exam, which he attended on the 22nd of Apr. That doc, thinks that David can have a desk job! Hell he cant even walk 30' without being winded and have to stop. Because of the hip and neuropathy issues, he looses feeling in his legs and fell over a year ago. Thinking it was a muscle pull, he didn't seek help. We recently found out that he has a severe 'torn rotator cuff' from one fall where he tried to 'catch himself'. I am in tears sitting here. My husband sleeps 10/14 hrs a day. I just cant handle the house and his health issues anymore, by myself. I am a heart patient as well, but he does not deserve this!!!!! Can anyone help us???????