Brandy

November 29, 2007

Hello Bob,

Just like you, I have not been here at hadit for a while. I am very sorry to hear about your additional health issues. You were such a big help to me in working on my husband's claim. I had forwarded you information on the decision from the VA and I just wanted to mention that we did not complete the below mentioned form for Housebound Status and we did not request to be considered for it, but the VA awarded it to my husband. As you may remember this was a complete surprise to all of us. They awarded this but denied some obvious SC disabilities.

"VA Form 21-2680, Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance, should be completed in response to the examination request."

If I can help you with anything please don't hesitate to contact me.

Brenda

June 29, 2007

Time,

What if the VA facility that the veteran has been going to for years document a medical condition (HBP)that is not SC. Then the veteran claims this condition as secondary to his diabetes that is SC and the VA denies SC. The medical records from the VA shows that they are treating the veteran for diabetes and HBP, going back 15 years. Wouldn't this be a informal claim?

Brandy

June 29, 2007

Stillhere,

My husband has an ejection fraction of 39. The C&P doctor had all of his medical records stating this. He is a diabetic with several secondary conditions caused by is diabetes. Basically he was tested for all of the same things that you listed here. He had a below knee amputation on his right leg in 1998 and he has PVD. So he also cannot walk very far because his left leg causes too much pain. When he went for his exam for his heart condition they put him on a treadmill! He had not been on a treadmill for a stress test since he lost his leg and he has had multiple stress tests. They would always just give him the medication for the test. He ended up getting rated 100% for his heart condition. He almost fell off the treadmill because of leg pain.

After the test, I requested the results and the doctor's notes and noticed that the primary doctor stated under stress test, he put the word "No". As if to say do not put him on a treadmill. They did anyway.

We did not say anything at the time of the exam for fear they might try and say that he refused to take a test. My husband was really worried he might have a heart attack during the test and he has no faith at all in the VA doctor's knowing what to do if he did. I agree with everyone who mentioned taking your EF medical records and possibly a note from your doctor stating that you cannot take a stress test at this time.

Brandy

June 28, 2007

Remember, effective dates state: The date entitlement arose or the date of claim whichever is later. In Chuckles case it should be the date awarded SSD benefits.

Jangrin, file a NOD as to the fact that the benefit arose on the date SSD was awarded and attach a copy. They most likely will change the award as they review the claim.

John

John,

In my husband's claim we actually stated that we felt that he should get a retro payment dating back to when he was initially given SSDI, which was 1997. We did not put in a claim to the VA until Dec.2005. They did not award him any retro. However, I do believe the local VA that he has been going to since he got out of the service was aware that he was on disability and not working. They awarded my husband 100% P&T scheduler. They did not grant the TDIU and said the point was "moot" since he was granted 100%.

Do you think he could win this retro if we file a NOD?

Jangrin,

Just wanted to say hello. It's been a while since we have talked. I think with all of your husband's medical issues, he should have been given the 100% also.

Thanks,

Brandy

March 5, 2007

Brandy,
I have not share much recently on Hadit but arriving here th is evening and finding your note (as well as those others b yfellow Hadit Members) made my day better. Thank you for sharing this wonderful news.
Just out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get through to the approval?
Best wishes for a long life.
Josh

It took a little more than 13 months from claim to decision.

February 24, 2007

Cavman

Congradulations to you and your family. I hope you stay around here at hadit.

Brandy

February 24, 2007

I wanted to say thank you all for your wonderful comments.

1968:

I don't know if you had an opportunity to read any of my postings regarding my husband's claim, but he was already service connected for his DMI since he was discharged from service. His DMI caused multiple secondary conditions over the last several years. He had to have a below knee amputation and developed CAD and has had hypertension that is still out of control. Along with severe PVD and PN of his extremities and he is in stage 4 chronic kidney failure. We submitted over 650 pages of private doctor and hospital records. We did not have any IMO's, no letter's from his doctor's, just medical records and our own letter's that we submitted explaining what we were claiming and how the conditions were related to his DMI. We also asked our local congressman for assistance in expediting a decision due to our financial situation.

Tbird:

Thank you, it really does feel like a miracle and that is just what we are doing... getting our financial situation in order. That's why I have not been around hadit too much lately. I have been checking in every now and then.

Jangrin:

I know that your husband's claim is similar to my husband's. I really hope that you get a decision soon on your claim.

I mentioned in my first posting some special thanks to everyone, but I would also like to thank John999, Jangrin and Pete. You also gave me some good advise to some questions I had.

Again, thanks to all at hadit. :)

February 11, 2007

We received a decision on my husband's claim for multiple secondary conditions due to his SC DMI. He received 100% P&T. We are very happy that we finally got the decision after a little over a year since initial claim. They approved some disabilities and denied some others. Overall we are happy with this first claim and will be able to get things straightened out financially. But we do see a few discrepancies that we will NOD.

I just wanted to say thank you to all at Hadit. This site has been informative and very important in helping me to understand the VA system. I want to give a special thanks to sixthscents. I filed the initial claim before finding Hadit and after finding this site I received help from sixthscents in responding to the VA's VCAA notice and he helped me clarify what we were claiming using VA terminology. People like sixthscents and other's on this site that go out of their way to help other veterans are wonderful and caring people and I hope that I can help other veterans with my knowledge of the conditions that I have researched and claimed for my husband.

Again, thank you all and I will continue to be a part of this site and hope that I may be able to help another veteran.

Brandy

February 3, 2007

Berta,

Thanks for the response. My husband was already receiving direct deposits from the VA for his DMI, so I guess they would do the same for this claim.

I called a second time to the 800# to make sure I got the same answer about the claim being in authorization. The second time the lady was very rude. I was trying to find out how many authorizations (signatures) it needed. But she just said wait for a letter!

So I don't know if they need three signatures or not. I was curious about if it was over 25k also. I would think so since we filed the claim in Dec. 05.

I hate to keep calling them, but I would like to find out if it needs three signatures. I read somewhere on a posting that Vike said if the claim needs three signatures it would delay the letter by a couple of weeks.

Brandy

As long as they aren't authorizing it to the BVA-

if you gave them you direct deposit number -when you filed the claim- start checking your bank account next week- or the mail box-

I always got checks before the award letter came.

I am sure that the claim has been awarded-
they said mine had been in authorization for 3 signatures and they sent it then to the BVA!But I got it back to the RO.

If they say it needs 3 signatures, the retro is $25,000 or over- if less signatures- hard to say how much-

February 3, 2007

Romad,

We were just told that our claim was at the authorization team. I see that you were told the same thing on 1/24/07. Did they already award your retro and then you got the letter? Or have you only received the letter so far.

Just curious because we were told that we should get a letter in 7-10 days also. Just wondered when and if the payment would be direct deposited or if we would receive a check and when.

Glad to hear your claim was approved for all but the IU. I agree with Berta of what your next step is to get approval for IU.

Thanks,

Brandy

Bumped up to 70% but was denied IU, 50%ptsd,20%dm-2, 10%right leg,10% left leg periphial neurophy.

January 30, 2007

Jangrin,

I'm sorry to hear about more C&P exams for your husband. They had all of your husband's VA records and if other exams were needed they should have ordered them when the other's were scheduled. Our claim is exactly where yours was before you received these two letters. The VA told us last week that our claim was ready to be rated and I can only hope that a decision will be made. I don't know what I would do if they came back and ask for another exam. They had my husband go to six exams. As you know he has DMI since the service and we have claimed several secondary conditions to this service connected disease. I have had our local congressman involved since October trying to get them to at least make a decision on his amputation and defer the rest, due to our hardship situation. I know the congressman's office has been trying to get them to make a partial decision because I specifically ask when I call the 800#. They told me that the congressional liaison there at the VA has tried to walk our file over to a rater for the amputation to get it rated right away. The problem was at that time the c-file was not there, it was at the examiners office. I was told that he must have taken the temp file that they keep there when the c-file is out. So I let the congressman's office know this and once the file was returned to a rater I ask them again to walk the file over and make a partial decision.

As of now we have not heard anything and I am the same as you, fed up and tired of waiting. We sent them over 650 pages of medical evidence besides their own VA records. Since all of your records were from the VA and not private doctors, I don't understand why they are asking for more exams. When my husband went to his eye and renal exam, the doctor's read the records from the VA local clinic for his eyes and the renal doctor said he was impressed by the amount of information and what we provided to them from my husband's kidney doctor. Each of them based their exam on the records because they were not very old. The other doctor's however, did not care that recent medical records were provided. They made my husband do a stress test on a treadmill. He has a below knee amputation of his right leg and PVD and PN in his left. He could barely hold on to the rails. He only lasted 4 minutes on it. When I got the records from the exam, I seen where the doctor that requested the exam specifically checked "NO" next to "Treadmill". But they put him on it anyway. He almost fell off a couple of times.

Well, again I am sorry for the news you received. Have you talked to your local congressman's or senators office? Maybe they can help if you tell them how old your claim is. I think that your claim is older than ours. We were told that our claim was sent to the "Tiger Team and is ready to rate". I guess we will see what happens.

The VA has told us that they do not like to make partial decisions and this is one of the reasons we got the local congressman involved. I know they can make partial decisions and do it all the time. A partial decision may hurt us right now, but we need at least some decision because of our situation. Even though right now all we can do is wait, this only makes me more angry and ready to fight. When we receive a decision I am sure we will have to NOD some things and I have other claims as well. I will, in the end, WIN this battle with them because there's no stopping me now. The longer they make us wait the more I will learn about their regs and throw them right back at them. I have learned so much from this board and one particular member that has helped me so much with the process because I still have so much to learn.

Take a break for a couple of weeks and then please stick around the board and keep fighting!

Brandy

-------------------------------

Hey everybody, Just an Update on the Claim,

Well. just when you think that you have all your ducks in a row and everything is moving along something gets you. Today my husband got two letters from the VA for 2 more C&P exams.

One is for the 7th of February in Temple, Tx and the Vet center there. It doesn't even say what the exam is for.???? Why wouldn't they say what it is for. The other one is in March for PSYCH. exam in AUstin. This really is unbelievable, he had what they called a disability C&P exam back in September. This is so unorganized , why didn't they schedule them back when they scheduled the other one???

After being told for the past 3 months that the claim is at the rating board and now having more C&Ps scheduled months apart we are just flat disapointed and very tired. My husband told me today that he will die from his heart condition before the VA even gets his Diabetes II service connected.

I (we) are so sick of this waiting I think we are going to take a break from the board for a while. It has been a really rough couple of years trying to even get an initial rating for even his DMII.

Thanks everyone for your past help, just wanted you to have an update, of the VA stringing things out for as long as they can.

Jangrin

January 6, 2007

Vike 17,

I suspect I may be too optomistic but what I really wanted to know is why the claims adjusters and raters did not work with the veteran when there is a question about records or the aduster is confused? Wouldn't a simple phone call or letter to the veteran to clarify or help the adjusters in sorting out the claim, dates, time, etc. It seems that the raters would rather deny a claim than ever actually ask a vet or have personal contact with the vet about the claim.
Jangrin

Jangrin,

I submitted a claim for multiple secondary conditions to my husband's DMI. Since I have received two VCAA notices. The first one was about 20 pages long. The second notice was a little more precise of the evidence and particular conditions that they needed clarification or more information on. One of their questions even said to provide more information on a particular condition and then later in the letter actually said something like: "It seems or are you claiming this condition is secondary to your service connected other condition?" With this statement they actually told me that the second conditon they had already deemed was service connected because it was one of the new conditions we claimed! I guess my point is that they were asking specific questions about my claims that they were trying to understand.

I think sometimes it depends on which office you are dealing with. So far, whoever is handling our claim seems to be doing things by the "book", in supplying us with the notices with info on what they still need to decide our claim, etc.

Brandy

January 6, 2007

My husband recently had several C&P exams. I requested copies of the exam from the VAMC. When I followed up on why I had not received them, I was told that two people had my request. I received one letter referring me to our local VA clinic to get the records, which did not make any sense because I was told by the VAMC that did the exam that all exam records were sent to the main VAMC and that is where I should request them. Then I received another letter that included part of the records requested.

Then we went to our local clinic and requested all of the other exam records and they printed them right there for us. But my question is does the VA C&P examiner's have one person that puts all of the information together and puts together a summary to be submitted to the VARO along with the exams? If so, they did not give us a copy of this. I just think something is strange here. It did seem that there was one PN that seemed to be the one coordinating the exams. My husband had a total of six exams. Two of the exam notes did not include a "least as likely" or similar statement as if the report was only read by radiology or someone and did not have the medical credentials to put together a summary to include the least as not or not as likely statement. I was told by calling the 800# that they cannot make a decision without the c-file and that the C&P doc still had my husband's file. It has been about 3-weeks since his last exam. Not sure what's going on.

sbrewer,

I am a little stunned by the answer you got from your SO. I thought that all veterans had a right to request copies of their exams or their c-file. Of course, if you have pending claims it may not be a good idea to request your c-file as it may slow down a decision on your claim(s).

I would like to know the answer to your question as well. WHY WOULD THE EXAMINER ASK THAT YOUR EXAM NOT BE RELEASED TO YOU??? AND, WHY??? ALSO, IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE EXAMS, IS ONE EXAMINER RESPONSIBLE FOR SUMMARIZING ALL OF THE EXAMS INTO ONE FOR SUBMISSION TO THE VARO???

Brandy

My husband asked his SO if he had a copy of the (mental)C&P exam done last June. Here is his response...

"You should be able to get a copy form the records section at the hospital unless the examiner specifically said not to release the exam in which case the VA could not release the copy in the C-file either."

Would the examiner ask that your exam not be released to you and if so, why?
He's trying to determine whether to nod the decision or not.
Thanks,
sbrewer

December 31, 2006

Tbird,

I'm not using this, but I checked it out. Looks interesting.

Spam Arrest also provides you with disposable email sub-addresses, which allow you to receive messages from unknown senders and automated systems without exposing your real email address.

This part is nice to keep out future spam emails

When you signup for Spam Arrest, you will receive a new @spamarrest.com email address. You can also protect your existing email accounts by forwarding them to your Spam Arrest email address, or by having Spam Arrest periodically poll them.

I don't like this part because your emails would be going through their server or possibly they are farming this out using someone elses servers?? Then only your approved emails would be forwarded to you.

Spam Arrest uses Challenge/Response technology to keep the spam out. Emails from unknown senders will receive an auto-reply message asking them to verify themselves.

Just my opinion, but most people don't like responding to this type of auto reply system. I think they believe it may be some type of spammer trying to confirm their email address is good.

When the sender clicks the link in the email, they are taken to a webpage where they are "challenged" to type in a word that is hidden within a graphic or a sound file (for visually-impaired users).

Here again, I think fear from users and too much work just to send an email

Emails from unauthorized senders are held in your "unverified" folder for seven days.

You can access these emails at any time by logging into the the Spam Arrest website, and can manually approve any senders from whom you wish to receive email.

This would cause additional work for user or server administrators to clean out. Admin's would need to know who should be approved and who should not before deletion.

In your case for hadit, it may be the answer for new registrations for verifing email addresses for you up front so that you can go ahead with the account.

December 29, 2006

Leroy, That's great news. It's so very nice to see a new posting under success stories. We see so few.

Happy New Year to you and your family! :P

December 29, 2006

Dean,

Pete is right. Medicare has it's own network of companies they work with. Contact them to find out what options/companies are available in your area to work with. My husband is on medicare and we work with a local company so that he could continue to see his doctor's that he had been seeing for years. They also cover the local hospital within that network. Once medicare gives you names and numbers, call each of them and make sure that your doctor(s), hospital, etc. are in the network that they provide coverage. They will tell you that there are different levels of coverage based on your needs. But, part D medicare for precriptions will be included. Well, at least it is with our network. Once you find the one you want, they should be local so you can go in and sign paperwork to get signed up today.

December 23, 2006

Jangrin,

We applied for IU for him, but my question was about P&T. I was wondering if they would look at P&T based on the overall disabiling picture of his medical problems.

He has been receiving SSDI for 9 years already.

Thanks.

December 23, 2006

Time,

If you got copies of the C&P psychiatrist exam from the doctor (you need his name) who recognized that you had a head injury and said that they were to schedule you for other exams that never happened; I would contact that VAMC and ask for his direct number. Advise him that the exams he ordered never took place and you are in the same place as you were when you seen him. Ask him if what he can do to arrange to order the exams because they are needed. This recently happened to my husband with a C&P doc. He ordered two exams and said there would be another but said they would call us for the third exam, but gave us a print out for the first two with times and dates. Well no one ever called for the third exam. In the mean time I had sent the doctor a letter advising him of a couple of medications that my husband takes that the VA did not have listed. He called us and said thanks for letter and "by the way, did anyone ever call for the last exam?". We called him back (to his direct number) and told him, no they did not. We then called scheduling and she said "you missed it". I told her, no, we were there on that date for two other exams and no one ever called us for this exam. She said yes I can see that you were here for the other two exams. I was concerned that they would show my husband as a no show. She said no, don't worry about it. She said "I am the scheduler". She set him up with another appointment and he went to it.

I guess my point is at the VAMC's there seems to be a lot of miscommunication and that is probably what happened and why you did not get scheduled for the exams. The doctor is probably not even aware of this. He may want to help. I don't know what can be done now since they have already rated on it. But the doctor may be able to recommend something. Or, who knows, they could have setup the appointments and never notified you and counted you as a no show. That's what they tried to do to my husband. If we had not sent that letter to the doctor about his meds triggering the doctor's memory about this extra exam, who knows what would have happened??

December 23, 2006

John,

My husband applied for IU. Do you know if the veteran shows such a disabilitating picture to the VA will they automatically apply the P&T rating instead even if you did not ask for it? This is what we are hoping for. Because of the benefits. If not, once we receive the rating we will have to apply for it.

Thanks.

You know I filed a CUE claim and then filed some claims for secondary conditions for my Agent Orange DMII. They are holding everything up while they decide if they are going to send me for C&P exams for the DMII conditions. This seems dumb because the CUE has nothing to do with the DMII and requires nothing except a review of what is in the record. I think if you have a major cliam in like for IU just ride with it until you get that in the bag and then you can start on all the other things. Really the next goal might be for P&T because that means more benefits and takes the pressure off from being dragged in for another exam in two years. If you are granted IU and denied Chapter 35 appeal that and ask for the P&T benefits. This is how I did it and I got P&T in about a year after my IU. This has saved me thousands on my property tax.

December 20, 2006

The bottom line is....

They make all of the claims contingent on a medical opinion that is based on the SMR's and complete c-file
which they make readily available to the C&P examiner and not you. Therefore the C&P examiners opinion, which is always against the vet (I would love to see percentages of etiology assessments), has more probative value than your dr's opinon. deny the claim, evidence not in relative equipose.

I agree.

My husband recently went for his first of many C&P's and the first doctor (really a PA) told us that the private records we submitted (about 650 to 700 pages, most of which were in the last year) does not mean anything to them because they (the VA) are testing/looking for different things! Your private doctors records are current and past history of your medical picture, what different things could they be looking for! You either have a medical condition or you don't. I was amazed that he said this to us. How can you look at medical evidence differently unless you are looking to disprove something rather than to prove something.

Another C&P doc (he was a MD) told us that my husband's doctor is doing a great job at treating him and that we did a great job getting all of the medical info for the file. He only asked a few questions and said that was it and told us that was all he needed.

I don't like the way these guys have limited experience with your condition but yet they have the power to get your claim denied so then you will need to file a NOD because of a PA!

December 18, 2006

Thanks John and FLHRCI

I will see what we need to do to get my husband started with this program. We get all of his other medications from the VA via FEDEX, so it would be nice if he can get something for his pain as well.

December 18, 2006

John,

If they precribe opiates, do they send those to you as well? I thought you would have to pick those up because they are opiates. I read this somewhere. Not sure if it was for VA or civilian doctors. This would really be nice if he could get setup somehow. He has phantom pains and pains in his other leg and hip. He can barely walk without having pain. He gets in a very bad mood sometimes because of his pain when typically he is very easy going and always in a good mood.

Brandy

Brandy

I am not sure of that but it should be possible to get the meds out of the clinic somehow. Usually you only have to go see the pain people about twice a year and then you just send in the refill requests. When you go for the interview about the pain levels tell your husband to circle number 8-10 on the scale. You want to get their attention.

December 17, 2006

John,

Do you know if once someone gets established at a VAMC with pain management, can they then just go to their local VA outpaient clinic for refills, follow-ups, etc. The medical center is too far to drive and my husband needs to get into the pain mgmt program. We do have a local outpatient clinic.

Thanks,

Brandy

December 9, 2006

I should have mentioned this also. As Berta says, if you want the status of a current Open claim then you will need to hit "0" and wait to talk with someone. The automated system you talked about is to "verify the status of your disability payments." You may have hit "1" and then "1" again. This recording will give you your current monthly disability payment amount and when it was last paid. If you are not currently receiving disability, this is probably why you are getting this message. I just called and it told me the last payment and when it was paid via direct deposit. I don't believe the automated system will give you any information regarding a open claim.

December 9, 2006

If the VA has already rated you and you don't have an existing open claim then the recording will tell you the amount you receive per month. It has been a while since I tried this, but I believe it also tells you what percentage you are receiving. :huh:

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