PatrioticNotApologetic

My claim increase and convalescence was submitted and I now have a follow up exam in a couple weeks at the VA. This will be my first exam at the VA and not done by a third party provider. I am surprised at how quickly this moved after I submitted the claim. Thank you everyone for your assistance and guidance on this.

My apologies for the late response. I was busy with the family. Honestly, I had no idea that convalescence comp even existed! Thank you for this information. I will see if I am able to get back paid for this since it was never explained to me. I am surprised my community care reps didn't say anything to me!

Thanks for the information. I'm not lying, nor would I about my conditions. It's all been documented since day 1 when I was injured on active duty. My conditions has gotten worse over the years that I ended up having to have surgery to prevent from being in pain (10) every day. Did I want surgery, hell no! I've been doing everything under the sun since I was injured (in my early 20's) to prevent surgery. I've made it very clear to my main VA doctor that I did not want to go down this route, but as my injury worsened over the years, my doctor suggested I seek an opinion from outside the VA on what to do and help mange the pain. Since the surgery my pain is much more manageable, but I had to give up quite a bit of range of motion and less of an active lifestyle (not that I had one before because of the injury), but with two little ones, it makes it difficult telling them, "Sorry, I can't physically do this or that."

I found these very helpful. The personal statement you wrote was great to see. I wasn't sure if I need to start off saying, "Hi, my name is John Doe..." The VA probably gets many of these and they probably don't want to read more than what they need to! I just wasn't sure how to format it and what level of detail I need to supply. Does it hold more weight if it is handwritten vs typed?

Thank you!

Thank you very much. I will take a look at these!

@brokensoldier244thThank you very much for the info! No, I am not self-diagnosing myself not would I! It's been documented by my VA doctor over the years and with MRIs that my condition has gotten worse thus the VA sending me out to my local hospital for different opinions and approved the surgery. The second condition worsen from VA physical therapy which caused me to have surgery on that condition. All of these surgeries were approved by the VA for an outside provider to do. I have all the documentation, physical therapy, and follow ups scanned in for both. I have highlighted important portions of each. I have over 200+ documents with MRI/XRAY imagery from the outside providers that the VA approved to supply. I spoke with the VA records and they told me the outside approved providers do not have to send over any information, which is why I am including EVERYTHING!

Hi @shrekthetank1, Thanks for your response. How long does this lay statement need to be? Do I want to keep it to a minimum of 1 page or multiple? Also, I am requesting an increase for two different disabilities that I had to have surgery. Should I combine both into one lay statement or two separate?

Hello hadit community! I hope everyone is staying safe. I am new here and want to reach out for some guidance. I am submitted paperwork and documentation to file an increase in disability. Since I was rated many years ago, my conditions have gotten worse and I have undergone two different surgeries. I want to write a lay statement / statement in support of claim to submit with my package, but I really don't know what to say, how to start it off, or even format the letter. I've searched the forums and found many spouse statements, just not personal ones. Would someone be willing to share an example of one they wrote? I am not looking for anyone to tell me what to say, I just honestly just want to see how to format the letter and start off writing. Thank you all in advance for reading my post and hope you continue to stay safe! PNA