MRRRR5

I wish they would do the commercials, but as some have mentioned in their posts, they don't wont deserving Vets to know about their earned benefits. During my retirement ACAP session, the VA rep asked, "Have any of you every seen a VA commercial or advertisement on TV"? He further stated "and you won't see one because if you don't know about your benefits, you won't get your benefits". :P The VA employees who get those big bonuses get that money from what is called "hire-lag" dollars. Example, VA get authorization and funds to hire 100 C&P examiners and 100 rating officials for FY 2008 at $80,000 per annun. However, the Medical Director and the Veteran Service Managers only hire 50 examiners and 50 rating officials for the entire FY 2008. Where do you suppose the funds (hire-lag dollars) for the other non hired positions goes? Convention trips, award bonuses, more office furniture, computers, equipment, etc. I would venture to say that some of this is "calculated" on the part of those in charge of the hiring. ;)

I agree with Tssnave about using your journalistic resources to tell the Veterans story from a "first person" point of view. I know many Soldiers who are separating or retiring from the Army and I always refer them to HADIT.COM for exceptional information on claims processing.

Hello SB and welcome aboard I want to say thank you for your spouse dedicated service and your support of your spouse. You have been given some great advice here and I hope it helps you with your spouse claim. I just read the info Tssnave posted from Betrayed and that is some really great info.

Allan, great info though; i would recommend that you summarize the "BLUF" of a lengthy post like this at the beginning; just my opinion... B)

Sledge, you may need to check you security setting also which will prevent many of the pop ups from occurring. B)

Rentalguy, this is awesome info. I'll be sure to refer to it when I ask for an increase rating to my IVDS. B)

Carlie, I agree with you that "staying at home - believe it or nor - helping the vet meet their goals or taking care of the vet,staying at the same educational level to clean, cook, grocery shop, raise kids, wash and fold then put away laundry,go to parent - teacher confrence's, etc........ has got to be worth something"; the military retirement but not my VA disability; these judges who don't follow the federal law really put the Vet in a catch 22.... B)

Jon, congrats on your award.

Congrats Cherie33 B) .

Entropent, if I was a betting Vet, I'll say you work for the VA, know someone that work for the VA, or give the benefit of the doubt to the VA instead of the Veteran. <_< You made some good points, however, to say that some of the advice given is counter-productive I disagree with it. Since all regional office operate on different premises, which should not be the case, I agree with John999 and Berta on there advise; send in the regs and highlite the important areas on the medical documents. Do you really think those raters read though all the medical documents? And what about when they "transfer" your file to another regional office because of a backlog; is that receiving RO going to read 3 inches of documents? Probably not So Berta and John999 have excellent points, which I would follow their "productive" advice given.

Hi Carlie. just so I understand this correctly, should I "list" the actual diagnostic code from the VA CFR I believe my disability falls under when I submit a claim or for an increase? <_< I have not done so in the past, but please put me on the right track if I should; thanks.

CG, congratulations on your award increase!! <_<

Bozoc, congratulations on your well deserved award and selfless service and sacrifice. regards, mrrrr5

Sound, i don't know the answer to this and I'm sure some of the other senior, more experienced Hadit members with chime in; but this is the kind of stuff that the VA does that just bothers me to no end. regards, mrrrr5

Cherie33, I agree with all the post submitted. My father-in-law, an Army Vet, past about 2 years ago from a terminal cancer diagnosis, and at the time was given 6 months to live. I had my mother-in-law who had a POA to submit him for VA benefits, which the regional office told her that since he was "terminal" they would "expedite his claim and provide a decision within 30 days"; they did not. He past before they made a decision, which basically ended his claim. Then they denied her DIC, stating that since he had not received "any compensation or pension", she was not eligible. I had her to appeal due to them not acting on time as they stated they would give a decision in 30 days and to also mentioned that she was also asking her Congressional Representative for assistance. Within 30 days of getting that letter, she got approved for DIC effective the date of my father-in-law death or the day after his death. I still believe they errored in not giving a decision within 30 days as they said they would. I hope your grandmother gets her full entitlements also if she is not receiving already; don't give up on her. regards, mrrrr5

This is really sad that Vets have to deal with the mental stressors of a combat zone and then come back home and deal with the mental stressors of the Veterans Affairs due to what appears to be a "conspiracy" to deny proper PTSD claims and under-report the true number of Vets suicides and attempted suicides. I agree with a post somewhere on here where I read that the responsible parties in the VA system needs to be held accountable for criminal misconduct.

Carlie, thanks for your valued input. regards, mrrrr5

CG, thanks for the insight and I will take your advice. Berta, sorry for the confusion; she only had the one C&P on Wednesday. The notice received stated that "we are still working on your application for SC bilateral knee pain, bilateral foot pain, RSD, bilateral ear otitis media & otitis externa, and chest pain". It goes on to say "We received your completed VA Form 21-8940 requesting increased compensation based on unemployability". Later in the letter under "Important Information" it says, "We asked the VA medical facility nearest you to schedule you for an examination. They will contact you about when and where to report for the exam". The letter is dated 8 May 08; on Saturday, 10 May 08, a gentleman called my spouse from the C&P office and stated that they need to see her for her left foot (I don't know if he said anything else since I did not take the call and after she hung up she just remembered the date and him saying it's important that she make the appointment). The reopened claims are for the ear and chest, which is what VA denied in 2004 due to "nothing in the SMR during service"; however, we found numerous evidence of this when we requested and received her SMR. Rentalguy, will do the IRIS today. Also, I will call them to get clarification as to what specifically this C&P was for and request a copy of the C&P too. I hope they can provide it to me with a POA, but if not, we both will travel to get it. Interestingly, her file was always handled by the Roanoke, Virginia VA office since 2004; they said they could not transfer while she had "pending claims" as this would stop everything and it would have to all start over from the beginning. The 8 May 08 notice is from the Atlanta Regional Office in Decatur! Hmmn... :( Again, thanks to all for the replies and all the hero HADIT members who continue to help veterans in their struggle to receive earned benefit entitlements. regards, mrrrr5

Berta & Rentalguy, just an update; spouse filed for SSDI but was denied due to not enough credits in the right timeframe; called a law office to get an initial consult to see if an appeal was worth it and they said it was not. SSI is out of the question because of my income. She had her C&P this past week for TDIU as well as Temporary 100% rating due to convalescent, and several other secondary SC claims (RSD, bilateral knee, right foot); also the reopened ear and chest pain claim. Although the notice stated the items listed above, the examiner primary focus was on my spouse left foot, which is where most of the other secondary claims originated from. The examiner did ask several questions about the RSD and "it's impact on her daily living". My wife was too emotional to do any talking and cried the whole time because this has really set her back and asked me to do the talking for her. I informed her of the medication side effects and that she is not able to do the normal things that she used to cook, clean, grocery shop, not able to get in the tub without assistance, and overall, it has been a real nightmare for her, the kids, and me. I also explained that the mood swings are taking their toll, short tempered, ok at times and then at the drop of a dime, will just snap at the smallest thing done wrong or the "tv being too loud". I explained to the examiner that both our kids (a sophomore & junior this current year that just ended) have consistently made the principal's list for maintaining an "A" average since entering high school. This is the first year that my spouse has not been to any events at the kids school due to her condition and the medication. I explained that she is still in treatment with a pain specialist who just took her off percocet and put her on morphin due to the percocet not providing the relief that it once did and the pain specialist stating that is because her body has gotten use to it so they need to switch up the medication. I also provided the examiner a report from an independent medical exam that spouse had in March 2008 from another Podiatrist who basically confirmed the RSD and stated that my spouse foot on x-ray "looks like that of a 70 year old woman" due to the loss of bone mass from lack of use of the foot (spouse is under 40) so this brought on more crying when i explained that and handed the examiner the report. The examiner gave my spouse some tissue and asked if she could walk any on the foot because she needed to check her "gait" and at what point she feels pain, to which my spouse stated the pain is constant and any pressure exacubates the problem even more. I wheeled her up in a wheelchair because of the distance from the main door to the C&P office. The examiner then asked how long she can stand on her foot before having any pain, given the example 1-5 minutes, 5-15 minutes, 15-30 minutes, or 30 minutes or more. My wife said less than a minute because of the constant pain. When the examiner asked to look at both feet and i got my spouse oversize slipper off the left foot and her tennis shoe off the right foot (the left foot is too sensitive due to the RSD to put on anything firm and has been since the surgery), the examiner was shocked at the swelling of the left foot, which i explained that to us, that is not really swelling compared to the photos I showed of what we were used to seeing as "swelling". At that point, the examiner stated that since x-rays were already in the sytem from spouse seeing a VA Podiatrist in early April 2008, she did not need to do any (I believe the examiner saw the pain my wife was in and it was starting to increase with the swelling) and that she could leave now. My question is since the examiner did not mentioned anything about the ear, chest, knees, and right foot, should we request another C&P for these are wait until we hear from the VA on this decision? Sorry this is so long but, again, i wanted to make sure i provide as much detail and clarification as possible. Respectfully, mrrrr5

Maxwell, i agree with Larry on this. Hey Rthomass, did you really do that?

My sincere condolences to the families of these brave American heros...

Thanks Berta & Rentalguy for the replies. Berta, you are very knowledgeable on this and I really appreciate your suggestions and insight on how to proceed; to answer your questions: No, it was not a VA doctor who diagnosed the RSD; it was a military doctor (Podiatrist) who did the bunion surgery. We checked the SSA website and she does not meet their criteria for the last 5 or 10 years of work in the same period (stay at home mom while I was AD; after I retired, she was going back to school to get back in the work force while I take care of home- :) . She does not receive private care (can't afford it).

Did she file NOD within a year after the denial decision? Berta, you did answer in an earlier post; I thought you said i should "repost" in this site; I apologize for the misunderstanding. She did not file a NOD because she did not get the medical evidence on time. Since your spouse is also SC for the bunions and they have gooten worse- by all means file a claim for that-how long was she hospitalized-she might be eligible for Temp 100% convalescence- but not sure- those regs are under the search feature- She had the bunion surgery on an outpatient basis. Is she employed? No. Of not does her SC prevent her from working? Yes, it prevents her from working. If so she should apply for TDIU.The meds alone are probavly strong enough to prevent her from working- She should raise the chest pain issue also with the VA to get a proper diagnosis-and if it is from anxiety or anything that she can attribute to her service she should claim that also. Is the back pain ,knee pain, etc and even the chest pain possibly due to the bunion situation? all that should be claimed if it is all related to her SC-the pain but also anything that is a physical secondary disability like does she put weight on one side more than other when she walks-VA considers those factors- also the ringing in her ears is called tinnitus-she should claim it also. Yes, at least that is what the pain doctor and the PT says.

I would start by saying "Thank You" to all my fellow veterans in this forum who have honorably served our nation. I will be brief as possible. My spouse was honorably discharged from the service in December 1990 after close to 3 years of AD as an 83E, Photo & Layout Specialist (Topographic Mapmakers). In May 2004, my spouse, who is also a SC veteran for bunions on both feet, was previously denied SC for ear problems (otitis media and otitis externa) and chest pains. We didn't know that she could claim "any disabilities" until i started my retirement ACAPing and got a briefing from the "VA Representative". The primary reasons for both denials from the VA rating decision stated "There is no evidence shown in the service medical records in service" for either of these conditions. As far as the ear problems, the VA decision goes on to state that the "first record of an ear condition is dated July 1991" and that since that date, "post-service treatment records show off and on treatment for ear pain, ear infections, otitis media, and otitis externa in both ears up to the present" from the various military hospitals (due to her being my dependent and me still being on AD). We were confused by this and requested a copy of her service medical records from St. Louis. We finally received copies of her medical records after several correspondence from St. Louis in July 2007 (3 years later). After reviewing her medical records, we discovered several medical treatment records for ear problems that she had on 11 May 89 (ear irritation, burning, swelling, and tenderness), 26 May 89 doctor wrote "routinely exposed to hazardous noise" due to PMOS 83E and an audiogram showing "mild hearing loss along with a DD Form 2215 with "hearing loss profile", and 25 Sep 90 (viral upper respiratory infection-URI- with zoster virus/infection in left ear". We also found treatment records for her chest pain in service dated 11 Feb 90, which was listed as "chest pain with light palpation". In June 07, she had bunion surgery on left foot, which resulted in severe complications and a Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) diagnosis in August 07 from the bunion surgery complications, which has been a mental, emotional, and physical nightmare for her and us all. Prior to the bunion surgery, she was very active, had enrolled in college courses, and had just received her Certified Phlebotomy Technician Certificate of Training. Has been on crushes since June 07 surgery and can not walk without them, started physical therapy in August 07, and was referred to a pain specialist in September 07. Also informed by the doctor that due to the RSD, "it may be 6 to 12 months or longer" before she would be able to possibly seek employment or go back to schooling. That information was a psychological and emotional bombshell. She had to go to the ER twice during the month of August 07 for severe spasms in the left foot and leg (via ambulance) and two weeks later for severe chest pains and difficult breathing. Both times the ER doctors did x-rays, blood work, etc. and concluded that it was all part of the RSD from the bunion surgery. She is severely limited in what she can do because of the pain from the RSD and the treatment medication she is on and has been on since the surgery (addictive narcotics). We were informed by the pain specialist that the RSD can and will most likely spread to other parts of the body and will most likely aggravate any other chronic conditions because of it's impact on the central nervous system. He also stated that she should keep her foot elevated as much as possible to help control the swelling in her foot. She informed the pain specialist and the PT that although the medication provides some relief (at least 50 to 60 percent relief), she is having problems with her lower back, both knees, and her non surgery right foot; she is also very sensitive to noise as it has her ears with a constant "ringing", which actually would be considered "normal noise level" in my opinion to the average person. Now to my questions, 1) do she have grounds to request that her ear and chest pain claims be reopened? If so, what effective date would she asked for since it has been more than a year from the initial decision denial date? Are there any secondary claims from the bunion surgery that she can possibly claim? Sorry for this being so long but I tried to provide as much info so those with the knowledge and experience in dealing with this can provide some insight with all relevant information available. Respectfully, MRRRR5