Right now all of his stuff is going thru the Great Lakes VA. We live in southwest Michigan, though, and there is a VA hospital 1/2 hr away in Battle Creek. Don't know if that makes a difference at all.
We do have a complete medical record, and I've been getting copies of all the clinicals from his appointments (sleep study, etc). He does take medication for the hypothyroid, although it just seems to make him more tired.
The apnea and thyroid only came up in his outprocessing, but he saw them for his back off and on for years and was diagnosed with the DJD maybe 2 years ago? They sent him to a chiropractor. His sleep study, etc, was not done until he was on terminal leave. I tried to get him to go to the doctor about it earlier but he didn't want to.
I will go thru his SMR tomorrow and put postits where the relevant conditions are noted, so I can see where we stand with that.
It seems like a steep learning curve... I better get real smart, real fast!!