CAVMSG

100% is difficult to get to from 90%, however not impossible. I was recently increased to 100% and have worked full time since my retirement from the Army, you must be able to show that your SC disabilities keep you from earning a wage commenserate with your education and skills, I was able to show that without the PTSD and laundry list of other problems that had it not been for this I would be earning a substantually higher wage. Bottom line, research your conditions, have documentation to back up your claims, read your award letter as it tells you the requirments to get an increase for each condition, write a very indepth view of how the conditions affect your work. Do not go into how you have lots of bills and could really use the money, the VA could care less. Permanent and Total is a very tough rating to get, especially for PTSD since they can always say that your condition can improve. This is not to say that it is impossibe, just make sure you are aware that without P&T the VA can call you in at anytime for a C&P and lower your percentage. Good luck with your endeavors, put in an appeal/re-open if you feel your conditions severity has increased, and whatever you do most importantly you must forget about it, do not go to the mailbox expecting an envelope from the VA every day this will certainly eat you up. CAVMSG PTSD 50 OSA 50 C Spine 20 BPH 20 R Shoulder 20 L Shoulder 10 L Spine 10 L Great toe resection 10 Tinnitus 10 R ankle 10 L knee 10 HBP 0 Claim pending for R tennis elbow Cerv radiculpathy R army perif neuropathy ED

John999, One thing I left out of my initial post was that at the same time I requested the Review I also submitted claim for, R arm lateral epicondylitis, umbilical hernia, cervical radicuopathy, right arm peripheral neurophathy, as well as ED. All are well grounded in my service records, as well as since retirement. I did not NOD the HBP because while in service and before medication (lisinapril) my BP bottom number was in the high 90's however never in the 10's, since medication now controls it should never encroach those numbers again. I read the CFR under HBP and did not look like I rated more than 0%, if I am mistaken please tell me where to look and I will research. My rheumatologist is thinking I may have lupus (SLE), lucky (or unlucky for me) this condition is one that has been deemed presumptive and I can certainly demonstrate through medical documentation where it was manefested during the first year following service. I can see I have a long road ahead of me, but and taking it one step at a time. CAVMSG

Berta, No SSA. I am trying to keep my stress level down, and not sure if I can handle wrestling two orginizations at once. It is on my mind, just havent crossed that bridge. CAVMSG

This is why I love this site. I asked a for help and got straight forward answers. Mags1023, GAF stayed about the same. I am glad you pointed this out, it will be useful in an appeal. Berta, Entitlement date for initial award was 1st day of retirement. Date for all Reviewed conditions changed to date I filed the request for a review. I still have every document I sent or received from VA, a little something I picked up here (just one of many things). I read the CFR and I just could not get it straight in my head exactly what they meant, I may be trying to read something into it that is not there however. Thank you to All, you have helped me in making my decision to appeal the decision. I now have some angles in which to show the VBA where they errored. CAVMSG

Hello All, I will attempt to keep this short and to the point. I filed a claim Oct 07. Decision dtd 17 Jan 08 Rated 90% for: Sleep Apnea:50% PTSD: 30% BPH 20% R shoulder: 20% L shoulder: 10% C spine: 10% L spine:10% L knee: 10% Tinnitus: 10% Bl Hearing loss: 0% hypertension: 0% residual bunionectomy: 0% degenerative changes R ankle: 0% Spent the next 8 months getting IMO's to refute incorrect C&P/ decisions on: C-Spine, PTSD, residual bunionectomy, degenerative changes R ankle, L knee. Submitted a Request for Reconsideration that was received at BVA 27 Oct 08, this was within one year of my Retirement. I was sent for new C&P for all conditions under the request for review. Claim was adjuticated 6 Mar 09: Decision dated 6 Mar 09 100% Sleep Apnea: 50% PTSD: 50% BPH: 20% C Spine: 20% L shoulder: 10% L spine: 10% R Shoulder: 20% Deg change R ankle: 10% L knee: 10% Tinnitus: 10% residual bunionectomy: 10% BL Hearing loss: 0% hypertension: 0% Getting to my question; I received back pay from VA from Nov 08 through Mar09 for the difference between 90% and 100%, there was a note under "What we decided" "We determined that the following service conditions have worsened, so we granted an increase in your assigned percentages" I question this because in my very detailed Request for a review I explaned very well my case, and submitted the IMO documentation that specifically targeted the areas I was refuting, the second set of C&P's obviously upheld those IMO, hence the increases. Should not the increase been back to the date of my original claim as I requested the review within 1 year of retirement? Another note that through me slightly was: "We have assigned an effective date of October, which is the date received your claim. Although you filed your claim within one year of discharge from service, the evidence of the record does not indicate your were entitled to an increased evaluation until this date." I saw a statement in the CFR that spoke about this, is this VBA's out to paying to an earlier effective date? How do you fight this? It seems to me that this is a grey and since I did not get all of my IMO's within a few months of retirement VBA is saying the conditions had gotten worse and not that they were wrong in applying the correct rating in the initial award. I have already drafted a DRO request, however have not sent it. I do not want to waste my time if the VA law is not on my side, however, I also do not want to go the rest of my life knowing that I know I was right and out over 20,000. Looking for a little help from the experts on the forum, for the best course of action, DRO review, straight appeal, or do nothing b/c it's a lost cause. I thank you in advance for your assistance. CAVMSG

Awe shucks, every dog finds a bone now and then. Glad I assist, as I have been assisted many times on hadit. CAVMSG

Macool, I knew I read about this somewhere when I was researching some VR&E stuff myself, here is what I think you are looking for. CAVMSG § 21.266 Payment of subsistence allowance under special conditions. top (a) Hospitalized veteran or serviceperson. A veteran pursuing a VA rehabilitation program under Chapter 31 while hospitalized in a VA medical center or in any other hospital at VA expense may receive the subsistence allowance otherwise payable. The subsistence allowance will be paid at the rates specified in §21.260, except: (1) The amount of subsistence allowance or the allowance provided under §21.264 that may be paid to a veteran pursuing a rehabilitation program for any month for which the veteran receives compensation at the rate prescribed in §3.401(h) of this title, as the result of hospital treatment (not including post-hospital convalescence) or observation at the expense of VA may not exceed, when added to any compensation to which such veteran is entitled for the month, an amount equal to the greater of: (i) The sum of: (A) the amount of monthly subsistence of the allowance payable under §21.264, and ( the amount of monthly disability compensation that would be paid to the veteran if he or she was not receiving compensation at the temporary 100 percent rate as the result of such hospital treatment or observation, or (ii) The amount of monthly disability compensation payable under §3.401(h) of this title. (2) A veteran pursuing a rehabilitation program while in post hospital convalescence (§3.401(h)) will be paid the regular rate of subsistence allowance. (3) A serviceperson pursuing a rehabilitation program under Chapter 31 will not receive a subsistence allowance if he or she is hospitalized in a medical facility under the jurisdiction of the Secretary pending final discharge from the armed forces. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3108(h))

I can relate to this story. Soon after my Troop took over a FOB in Northern Iraq we had the water quality tested (this water was used only for bathing) when the results came in it was confirmed that it was way outside the healthy limits for even bathing. Subsequently the water holding tank was drained and the amount of sludge and animals, ie birds, cats etc almost made you sick. A ROMPA unit was assigned to the FOB and we had clean water for the remainder of our tour. It was no wonder that the unit that preceeded us complained of constant sickness. CAVMSG

Berta, I spoke with DFAS this morning and they have not gotten to my file as of yet for Retro payment, I am having a hard time understanding why at least for the simple ones that they do not have a program that will figure it out. I am not a computer expert or math genious but I figured out what VA owes me in about 10 minutes (and that counted me looking up my RAS from MYPAY). I am not extremely stressed about the retro as there are alot of deserving vets ahead of me. At this point I have no interest in IU, as long as I can maintain a job within my own limits I will continue, I still have a 13yr old and a 7 yr old at home so still trying to put shoes on their feet and a roof over their head. I am good to go with CRDP, I am working up the paperwork for CRSC however I do not believe that it will be beneficial even with the tax break. I will submit and see what happens. So as far as submitting another claim, just fill out another VA 21-526 and fwd? I am fairly certain that the ED is med or phych, I will be talking both the phych doc and gen prac withing the next several weeks and see what they think. Thanks for the response Berta CAVMSG

I have received my award letter and have a few questions. Can I file additional claims while I am at the same time requesting a review and or NOD of claims from my initial application. I am almost positive I can, however certainly do not want to complicate anything I am currently working on. I am still within my one year from retirement, and condition existed off and on during career, now the condition seems to have been constant for the past 6 months(ED). Any help greatly appreciated CAVMSG

Thanks for the insight. I did find in my award letter where the say to file a reconsideration, NOD or both. I do understand the one year to file a NOD as I have real a lot of experience where the time limit was missed. I do not want to be in this situation and loose my effective date. I guess my confusion came with my relatively short period to get the initial claim adjuticated. I was not thinking big picture, and that the recon will most likely take some time to be completed. Thanks for all your help, CAVMSG

Cowgirl, Maybe I am confused (which is very possible these days) you did a request for reconsideration ("second bite at the apple" (I read this somewhere as an analogy to a reconsideration and though it a good one))and at the same time put in a NOD? To me this would be like expecting the reconsideration to not come back in your favor? What happens if the reconsideration works out well for you, do you then just drop the NOD? Sounds like an excellent plan, can you elaborate on my ?'s. Thanks CAVMSG

Thanks all, I have an appt with Ortho on the 6th and will certainly bring up a few more points as well as getting copies of chart notes. I have seen in other posts where when there was nothing exactly matching in the CFR, that they would use the closest disability code (funny how the knee has a specific code for instability). 5257 Knee, other impairment of: Recurrent subluxation or lateral instability: Severe 30 Moderate 20 Slight 10 I will put all the information I can find in a neat little package for the reconsideration and hope for the best. CAVMSG

Thanks for the responses Dale Jr 8 and Berta. I cannot find the DC, is it usually in the award letter? I think I may have found some of the problem, the C&P exam stated there was no subluxation upon examination, lucky for me I have already been seen twice since by Ortho surgeon for the ankle, who stated it is extremely loose, using conservative therapy for now (phys therapy), however she has already talked surgery to correct stretched out ligaments. Where can I find the DC codes that they used to rate each condition? How do you refute incorrect information in C&P exams, (IMO's ?). Thanks for your help CAVMSG

I am trying to get all my facts straight before I send my request for a reconsideration on some of my SC 0% items. I have scoured the rating schedule and cannot seem to find anything on ankle instability. My original claim was for "R ankle DJD with instability, I was rated for "degenerative changes of R ankle". My problem is not so much that it hurts all the time, or that I have limited ROM, it is because I roll my ankle constantly (2 to 3 times per month), I can even get a slight sprain when taking my shoe off. Thanks in advance for your assistance. CAVMSG