hurryupnwait

John I know I could buy many of these meds in Costa Rica without a prescription My question is will the VA think that I am no longer taking these meds if I do not get them from them.

I will be traveling out of the country most of the time. I could get hydrocodone in another country. I was wondering how important is it to have a paper trail of prescriptions for the VA. Many of the meds I need do not require a prescription in many countries so there would not be a written document.

I too want to travel for several months at a time but my PCP will not refill my prescription for hydrocodone and other meds unless I see him for a check up about every 6 months. Any ideas on what to do?

In my opinion it will take 6 months to a year for a reply. Therefore, what would it hurt if you kept shopping for an another lawyer in the meantime.

I think I would continue shopping for a lawyer because if this lawyer has stated that he/she will make a decision about accepting your claim when they review your c file. Presently, I believe that getting a copy of your c file is taking anywhere from 6 months to a year and if they are saying that it is going to take only weeks to get the copy. I would look elsewhere for representation.

My attorney accepted my case by simply reading a letter I sent him about my claim that took about two weeks from the time I sent the letter. He then ordered a copy of my c file which took 10 months for him to receive.

My lawyer would not accept my copy of my cfile he had to have his own copy. He sent a request for a copy. He got his copy in 10 months and started working on my claim. Having a lawyer in my case did not speed up the claim process. What it did do was make sure the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted, which is important if your case is complicated or you plan on going to the BVA with the claim because you know the RO rater does nt have the balls to rate it correctly. Therefore, in my opinion, a lawyer will not speed up your claim.

My effective date for this benefit is May 19 2009, My daughter has been going to college since 2008, some semesters only part time. My question is if she only went part time does that count as part of the 45 month benefit period. In other words, she would be paid for less than full time and that would be deducted from her 45 month benefit period, is this correct.

My wife and daughter will be applying for Chapter 35 benefits very soon. Will there be a considerable wait. What has been the experience from Hadit members who have applied for this benefit. My wife in particular would like to cut back on her work so she can go to college, but she does not want to be without that money for several months or years.

This form does not ask for birth certificates, marriage certs or divorce papers for my dependents, should I attach them anyway? Paul

My lawyer is Ken Carpenter. I would have to say that my claim at the RO level did not go faster with my lawyer, but the claim presentation was very professional. I believe that the RO's do not know how to deal with lawyers because they only recently had to deal with them. I also believe that once my claim goes to the BVA it will be there that Mr. Carpenter will have the greatest impact.

Many Thanks Vync #1Cavtrooper Carlie evandc I also need to give special thanks to Rentalguy and his Spine Claim Repository post.

My attorney called this morning, I have been awarded a 90% combined rating with IU payable at 100% with a nice retro. Also permanent and total so my dependents can go to college with pay and get low cost medical care. I m in shock that a first important step in now finished, now on to the BVA with a further retro issue. I want to give thanks to the Hadit members and administrators who helped me with this claim. I need to give a special thanks to Free Spirit for her very logical breakdown of events in my claim. I used this breakdown to write a letter to Ken Carpenter to see if he was interesting in representing me. He took my case. But even his office has said that it was a real struggle with LARO to get to this point. I also want to give special thanks to Betty aka Josephine for her inspiration and help. Excuse me please It's time to go dancing and singing down the halls. Happy Trails are here again Paul

Ohh I certainly think those things, but I seldom speak or write them.

I spoke to Mr. Carpenter's assistant yesterday and they check daily on the claim and have made several calls to the rater. I know they don't think to highly of the LARO, nor do I.

Just looked at my DRO hearing date, it was 2 years and 6 months ago. I had two C&P exams in January and no decision yet. This is ridiculous claim movement. I also have a very well respected attorney, Ken Carpenter. Just venting

I also like the idea of submitting evidence using sequence numbering such as page 1 of 10, page 2 of 10 etc. This way when the RO looses pages it can be easily noted.

Congratulations, I too have an open claim pending that is quite old.

It is my understanding that the VA and most federal government agencies do not allow their mail to be forwarded. I missed many documents when I was out of the country and had submitted a forwarding address to the Post Office. They were returned to the VA. The only reason I knew of these documents is because I compared what docs I had with what my vso had and he had several in his file that were in the time period in was gone. I called the VA and they told me that they do not allow docs to be forwarded to any other address than the one of record. I would use a mail forwarding service or another option is to have someone check your mail daily and call you if they see a letter from the VA. My previous C&P exam, the VA called me on a Friday afternoon for a following Monday 8 AM appointment.

I would suggest bringing only the medical records that are pertinent to the C&P exam. Actually, I only had my last few years progress notes from MH and Primary care doc.

Any future C&P exam, I will take my complete medical records and index them by issue and date and highlight the important notes. I did not offer the records to either examiner. When I mentioned I had a history of falls the IU examiner said that he did not find that in the record and was looking through the file for it and I said I have it and he asked to see it, I showed it to him and he said he would give that to me then handed it back to me. I think that was important to my IU claim. The mental health examiner asked me to read from my records the stuff he was looking for and he entered them in the computer. I

Wow !! If I had not taken many of my medical records with me to my recent general medical C&P exam for IU. I would have never been able to convince the examiner that events occurred, like times that I have fallen when my legs go out. I said that I have the record and he asked to see it and I showed him the entries about the falls that were highlighted, he said ok I ll give you that one. The mental health examiner used my records to enter everything into the computer. I had highlighted the most important stuff. After he input the info into the computer he read everything back to me to see if I agree. I did I m so happy I took many of my records.

Should my wife go with me to these exams ? My wife is from Costa Rica and English is her second language that she is still learning. She is very personable and sociable, but she may misunderstand something said or say something that could be misunderstood. She would have to take two days off work to go with me because the VA unit is about 4 hours from our home with exams on Thrs and Fri. The VA paid for the hotel room Thrs night. Also what pertinent records should I take, the latest progress notes, the most important, etc. Thanks Paul

Free I m also happy to see you posting again. Your logical approach to my claim was very valuable to me. Thanks Again Paul

Got a call today from my attorney's office, it appears that the VA has increased my compensation from 10% to 20% without any exams just by reviewing my medical records. It's retro active to 9/2003. This is a victory in a small battle but I m going on to win the war. The rater that rated my claim in 2008 overlooked that I had a diagnosis of scoliosis in 9/2003 and therefore my rating should have been 20% not 10%. I ll get excited when I see the money in the bank. According to the VA Coach, I will be scheduled for several more C&P exams in the very near future. After reading the rating formula for diseases and injuries of the Spine, scoliosis appears to be rated at 20%, a change that occurred in 2003. Happy Trails Paul