Flatbroke

I have been going to the Va Hospital in Columbia, MO for 20 years now. Until I got servie connected I paid my own travel. Now I got to the travel pay window and I think that the longest I have had to stand in line was 20 min. After I get my voucher I walk about ten feet to the pay window and it takes about 2 min to get paid. Columbia has been good about getting us through the pay lines. There are two windows for the travel vouchers and I have been there when it was crowded and a third clerk has helped fill out the vouchers. Usualy there is only one at the pay window but he is good about getting our money out to us.

I checked my case file number at the CAVC and the was a line - Record of Procedings Dated 6-16-2011 but there was a Lock in the box next to that. Hopefuly this might mean that there is a decision or from experiance can one of the moderators give me a possible answer????? Does this mean that it is still in process ??? Thanks if anyone can help, this is for an EED back to March 1970 for back (DDD) where there was medical reports in my records that the Chicago RO ignored.

Congrats Hambone.

congrats Woody

Test, Did they leave you a tall tank (about4 1/2 foot tall) in case the electricity goes out??? I have 16 B tanks, 1 Large tank, and 4 small tanks. I am glad that you got your tanks I know how hard it is to try to funtion without. Good luck with you tanks and remember we cant fly with our tanks because of 911. We have to have an airline approved battery condenser, and the airlines will give you a list of the ones they approve. Flatbroke Everything Stays The Same Until It Changes

Rockman, I have Pulmanary Fibrosis and COPD. The B tanks are about 20 to 24 inches tall and about 3 inchhes in diamater. The small tanks are about 12 inches by 3 inches. I wear a back pack supplied by Helth Care and a side arm pack for te B tanks. The side B Tankslast about 1 to 1 1/2 days. I added a chest strap to hold the tank on my shoulder for when I was working. The company had "safety issues" and I also installed a clip to hook up to my belt loop to keep it from swing out in front of me. I have been on oxygen for 16 months and you get used to the tanks. When we went to my reunion I just asked for the battery condenser about 2 months ahead and they supplied it. If you get used to the noise the condenser generats heat so if it is in the bedroom it will warm up the bedroom - but dont close the door because the condenser needs continuse air to extract the oxygen. Lots of luck Rockman on your cruise we are going to Niagra Falls this year fro our reunion (our 22nd) Flatbroke Everything Stays The Same until It Changes

Test, I am 4 liters of oxygen with exertion (walking, etc) and 5 liters while I am using the treadmill. The VA pays for all and Home Health Care comes out once a month and replaces all the tanks I use. I use a pulse regulator which give me a pulse of oxygen every time I breathe in through my nose. I use a condensor at night and it is continuse at 2.5 liters, also paid for by the VA and maintained by Home Health Care. Last year when I went to my reunion they supplied me with a portable battery operated condenser. I use an average of 11 B tanks and 4 small tanks per month. I have a side carrier for the B tanks and a back pack for the small tanks. I have been using oxygen for a year because when I take off walking I go down to 73 or so which they said was hard on the right side of the heart so use your oxygen and take care. Flatbroke Everything Stays The Same Until It Changes

Thanks Berta and J It's hard to understand what they are saying the way they write it up.

Thanks Berta for posting the letter fron Shinseki to Franken. It raises a question about when eligable for rating - I was diganosed with high blood pressure in 2005, then a heart cath on 4/15/2009 and was rated at 30% according to the results from that cath, and then 60% from 10/25/2010 after my second hearty cath. The question is I was rated at 30% on November 23, 2009 when I applied for IHD. But according to Shinseki,s letter he stated allowed by law. Does that mean under Nehmer we should be rated from when we were diagonosed or when we applied, after we heard that IHD was going to be added to the presumptive list??

No, I did not ask for SMC, Still working on papers for TDIU and appealing the ratings for PN Lower Extremities

Got my bank statement yesterday and my regular deposit of 1,739. 00 (90% w/spouse) was made on 4/29. Then on 5/5 there was a deposit of 2112.00. I called the 800# and they told me it was a retro check for a couple of months but not what the retro was for. She asked me what my rating was and I told her 90% and she said that was correct. I divided the retro in half and added it to the regular payment and come up with $2795.00 which does not add up to anything I can figure. Any ideas????

WAC-Vet75 I know what you mean. At age 60 I worked a 40+ hour job while my wife and I built our new house in the evenings and weekends. The only things that we subed out was the excavation, concrete work, plumbing, and our son-in-law did the finish taping. That means we did all the other work ourselves and now I am "RETIRED", and not by my choice. My wife and I ran our own construction company for 15 years and she ran a saw and swung a hammer with the best of them. Not complaining much but I would love to still be working even in a strict supervisory position.

I need either 100% or TDIU to survive in this world. I would like to work but lets get serious. I walk in I am 62 years old with an oxygen tank slung over my shoulder and a nose canndula in. Who in this work force is going to hire me???? They are not going to care that I have been a foreman, superintant, company owner and have been in construction since 1976 and in a supervisory position since 1985. One look at me carring an oxyen tank and they are not hiring. No way are they saying that they won't hire a handicapped or disabled person, they just don't have an opening that I can fill. And we have not even mentioned the IHD that I am rated at 60%, let them know that and they would freak out. Thier first thought this - guy will pick up a two x four and fall over with a stroke. What makes it so bad is that the VA is giving us a hard time (denials, bad math, shredding, bad raters, and some generaly don't give a damn) and then employers don't care that we have the experiance but they look at our medical shape and show us the door. Don't mean to RANT but sometimes the stress just builds up. You wait for months to be rated and then when you open the letter you ask your self - can the guy read that rated me or is he/her using a dart board and darts for our percentage (if they are using the dart board they need to make the 100% bullseye alot bigger)

That I dont know. Berta, Carlie ar one of the others that have been here for a while and have the knowledge can answer you. I just need to get the 100% P&T so that the benifits can start.

Good Luck 68. My Uncle died from asbestoes cancers, He was a Chief Petty Officer and retired after 30 years.

Went today and talked to the VA Service Officer at Fort Wood and she ran up my percentages and came up with 94. She looked over the latest SOC that I got and said that I needed to get the ratings for the PN on both feet raised to 20% since I am having troboule with both feet and then I would be over 95% and then 100%P&T. In the mean time said to file for IU and helped me with the forms. I dont think the VA knows or relizes that I have not worked since Oct last year, but will when I send in the forms and a copy of the approval from SSD saying I was eligable since Oct 26, 2010 Ready for the next round.

Papa glad to make you happy, that makes two of us. Going Monday to talk to a VSO at Fort Wood to get some help filing for TDIU and getting some clarification on the percentages and why no bilaterial ratings. In retrospect the ratings for the PN's were done with out a C&P. They just rated me off the doctors emg tests ( the fun ones with the needles they stick into your nerves and read the responses). So I will probably file appeals on all the new ratings. Just another day with the VA. We are suppose to play nice, but they dont have to.

All five back to November 23 2009 at 10% then Type 2 up to 20% in Jan this year.

Berta - No mention in any letters about TDIU from the VA even though it should be there. Vync - Got to apply for Sleep apnea Broncovet - Agree fuzzy math and they can 10% us to death so we dont get anywhere Evandc - Been Flatbroke for so long I would not remember to answer to anything else LOL Pete53 - October 26, 2010 was the last day I worked and that is where SSDI backed up to and with the 5 months you wait I will draw my first check this month. Everybody thanks for the support, I am in a better mood today. Even though the stress level is up and then I remember the defination for stress ( the inabality to choke the living sh** out of someone that needs it) And I remember how many are inline at the RO office in St. Louis. EVERYTHING STAYS THE SAME UNTIL IT CHANGES

Got the envelope and was service connected for 5 new items but still not at 100% 60% for IHD 50% for PTSD 20% for back 20% for Type II (new) 10% for tinnus 10% for flat feet 10% for PN upper extremities left side (new) 10% for " " " right side (new) 10% for " lower " left side (new) 10% for " " " right side (new) 210% added but only 93.179% by the VA's math Was denied for Adominal Aorta Anuresum. Now I need to file for IU and send in copies of being approved for Social Security Disabality. Need to file for sleep apnea with a cpap secondary to PTSD. Dont know why the PN's are not bilaterial instead of for each side??????? Back to the same old games and appeal the 20% for tpye II cause I am on med's, restrictive diet, and restrictive life style that should be 40%.

When I applied for disabality in Aril of 1970 for back injuries and pain, I was told I had Spina Bifidia so I was turned down. That I was born with it and had no claim. When I fought and finally got a 20% was for spondilisis and spondylisis which was on my exiting exams. The exit exam xrays showed these conditions when I was released in March 1970 but theVA said did not show up on the xrays in April 1970. My attorneys fought for 9 years from 1995 to 2004 before I was finally SC'd for this and only after one of my attorneys father in law reviewed my records and wrote a 15 page statement to the VA proving that the VA was wrong and why. He taught radiolgy at a major university and his cerditionals took 5 pages of the statement including working at a VA hospital in Conn.. His statement said that his opinions was resulting from my military records and current VA medicial records. But the VA only backed up two years so I filed an appeal in 2005 and have been through the St.Louis RO, the BVA and am now waiting for the Court of Veterns Appeals. It took 34 years to get my first SC"d disabality and that was after I got some tips, ideas, and support from the HADIT crew. Moral is don't believe the VA -- keep fighting for Truth and Justice the American way.

Carlie, They are looking to 2nd it to Coranary Artery Disease. I am 60% for IHD and although they have mentioned CAD they have not SC,d me for that yet. They are talking about the PN being 2nd to Diabeties Type2. So I am waiting to see ahat they are going to do. I am also going to file for OSA with a CPAP secondary to PTSD when I file for Unemployable.

Called the 8oo# yesterday to see if there is any movement on my claim. They told me they got the medical opnions on the type II diabeties, perificial neurophy upper and lower extremities, and the adobinal aorta anuresum (please excuse spelling). They said they recieved them on the 23rd of March. So hopefuly they will get them to rating and on down the line soon. Like I said the doctor said I had type II early in 2009 and we tried to control with diet. Then the diabeties nurse put me on metforman and has been checking me for over three months and with the diet and meds we hope I am leveled out. They did the tests for the pn, both upper and lower. months ago and the doctor said that I had pn. As to the aneurism they have done three ultrasounds and it shows a 3cm aneurism each time. So hopefully they can read fast, but accurately, and finish this out because I am going to file for unemployable due to Heart, tpye II and carrying an oxygen tank for the COPD and Interstitual Plumanary Fibroids as soon as they get my ratings done. I got my SSD approved in less than three weeks fron the time I filed after Social Security talked to my V.A. doctor. I dont want to confuse them by adding a new claim

I plan on applying for TDIU as quick as possible. I am on meds with a restrictive diet and with the heart and lungs on restrictive activities because of inabality to do anything. I talked to a VA rep at Fort Wood yesterday and she gave me plenty of ides on what to do and how. Since I have attorneys working on a EED for my back I cant use any service officers. She helped me fill out the forms November 0f 2009 so that is the date for the ones that are deferred and the ones approved and rated and I filled them myself.

Yes I have been diganosed with type two and am on metforman now and yes they stuck me with all the needles checking for PNThey have also done three ultra sounds for the anuresim and all three show it at least 3cm. I dont know why they deferred them but I will wait.