Vync

Larry, I hate to break the news to you, but if you watch the most recent Indiana Jones movie, you'll find out that the ark is not there any more. Not going to tell you what happened. Don't want to spoil it. Mike, I'm looking forward to watching the episode

Grats! That's great! Woot!

My VAMC does not have the ability to provide digital media, so here is what I did: 1. Contact your Patient Advocate and request this service be made available. 2. They can call many of the VAMC's on the West coast and confirm this is possible. 3. They will eventually get the hardware ordered and installed. Stay on them weekly until it is complete.

It is located about an hour outside of Seoul. After Kimpo AFB was turned back over to the Koreans, they expanded the site and turned it into a major commercial airport. I wonder how long AO remains in the soil, because Kimpo is known for it's rice fields.

I'm helping a friend on a shoulder injury claim and want to get an opinion from everyone. My friend was on active duty and received medical treatment for a shoulder problem. The doc asked if he ever had problems with his shoulder in the past. My friend confirmed "he sprained it once while in high school, but said it was no big deal". The doc wrote that in his records exactly as shown. My friend left active duty about six years ago and filed a claim for his shoulder condition. He started having problems about two years ago and had about 15 doctor visits since then. The VA approved his claim at 30%, then reduced his claim by 10% because his records claim he had a pre-existing condition. He combed through his SMR's and found only that one instance, described above, where it was noted that he had a couple of problems. His C&P exam notes are contain the required ROM and objective evidence to meet a 30% rating. Nowhere do they indicate that the doctor opined the condition must have been incurred prior to service. For every 10% we get, we have to fight hard and produce mounds of evidence to prove we met the requirements for whatever rating. The do not take our word for anything. If the VA wants to reduce an award, all they have to do is simply quote a subjective statement which was logged during an examination. The VA does not have the same burden of proof we have. I don't understand how they can take a subjective statement indicating a single sprain and treat it as if it meets the entire 10% rating which was reduced. This just sounds dirty to me. Of course, I encouraged my friend to fighting this all the way. He is getting an IMO next week from his surgeon. I wanted to solicit some input from the folks here so that I can reassure him about the way things work. Thanks, -V

While in the military, I was assigned to a dental unit, but not in a dental role. They were super crazy about sanitation and even went so far as to make sure the non-dental personnel knew how to run an autoclave and sanitize instruments as a backup measure. Also, here's another article I found on Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,595625,00.html If this happened at St. Louis, what prevents this from happening at the other VAMC's?

Check your yellow pages and look for the local spy gear shop. You'll be surprised when you see the selection of tiny hidden recording devices you can buy.

Berta, I never knew that someone at the VA could help transcribe the chicken scratch handwriting that nobody can read. I'll have to look into that. They are going to be really busy... Pete, I asked my doc to add information that was completely absent, but occurred. The doc said that it was so busy that he cannot remember the details, so he just noted that as an addendum in my records. I guess my chances of a correction are out the window.

Both of my claims are still in 'ratings' Claim 1: Opened Feb 2008 Claim 2: Opened Dec 2009 (yawn...)

If you have already done the in-person verification at your VAMC for the VA's MyHealtheVet web site, then you might be able to do this online. If not, then go to your VAMC and get authenticated for that site. Go here: http://www.ebenefits.va.gov Look in the middle column and click the second option. If it works for you, then you can get authenticated for level 2 ebenefits access. If you get some crazy error message, like me, then there is no telling when it will be fixed, but they are working on it. From what their helpdesk told me, only very few users run into a problem. New to eBenefits! To access most of these features, register for a Premium Account (Level 2) and Login to eBenefits.MHV Account Holders: Get a DS Logon and Start Using eBenefits! Are you a Veteran who has been In-Person Authenticated for a My HealtheVet account? If so, you can now use the MHV Account Request Portal (ARP) to request and instantly get a Premium (Level 2) DS Logon account. Request a DS Logon account using the MHV Account Request Portal Good luck!

Each time the VA denied my back claim, only one reason was cited. Also, each reason for denial was different and even more rediculous than the previous reason.

Ranger11bv, Thanks for posting this! Could you please post a link to the site where you got it? None of the links in the document carried over...

Here you go: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ear-infections/ds00303/dsection=tests-and-diagnosis Tests and diagnosis By Mayo Clinic staff The doctor will examine you or your child and ask some questions about the ear infection. During the exam, the doctor will look for inflammation in the middle ear with a lighted instrument known as an otoscope. The doctor may also use an instrument called a pneumatic otoscope, which allows him or her to gently puff air on the eardrum. Normally this causes the eardrum to move. Any fluid in the middle ear will prevent that movement. Sometimes additional, often pain-free tests for ear infections are recommended - especially if you or your child has had fluid in the middle ear for some time: Tympanometry. This test measures eardrum movement. A soft plug is inserted into the opening of the ear. The plug includes a device that changes air pressure inside the ear.Acoustic reflectometry. During this test, the doctor uses a hand-held instrument to project sounds of varying frequencies into the ear. How the sounds are reflected off the insides of the ear can tell the doctor how much fluid is inside the ear. Acute otitis media (AOM). In AOM, parts of the ear are infected and swollen, and fluid and mucus are trapped inside the ear.Otitis media with effusion (OME). Effusion refers to fluid. In OME, fluid stays in the ear after the infection has cleared up. The presence of fluid increases the risk of a new infection, and you or your child may need additional treatments to clear the fluid from the ear.

It looks like they fixed the error I was getting. Now, I am getting a different error message: Error 5: Your identity cannot be found in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). To correct this problem, take the action that applies to you: * If you are a Veteran and are not in DEERS, visit a VA Regional Office and bring (1) a government-issued identification such as a driver's license or passport; (2) one other form of identification; and (3) an original or certified copy of your DD-214. You can find the closest VA Regional Office by calling 1-800-827-1000. * If you are a family member of a service member who is not in DEERS, ask the Veteran who is your sponsor to request to have you added. It's silly because I have a level 1 DS Logon account. In order to get that, they needed to confirm me in DEERS.

I know and I appreciate the humor. I think you do a good job of helping everyone keep their sanity with your good sense of humor.

Larry, I wouldn't go so far as saying the data is locked up like Ft.Knox. I really do wish it was, but then I think about the lost laptops, lost USB hard drives, data taken home for no reason at all, etc..., and then remember security is only as secure as the weakest link.

Hey Sledge, The VA has been charging my private insurance for a couple of years for both SC and NSC conditions. The insurance never asked me to pay them anything. I did some digging and the VA claims they have not charged any SC treatments to my insurance. I get my statement of benefits from insurance and the dates of service identically match the dates the VA gives my monthly injections for a SC condition. When I get my next shot, I am taking about six months worth of statement of benefits documents with me to the VAMC's Business Office.

Thanks for this info. I was curious if my father was in those areas, but he spent a year in the Cam Rahn Bay area.

I get those messages when i use Firefox. With IE, no problemo.

Kelly, I agree, but I can login regularly to both sites no matter which browser I use. But this particular problem seems to only happening to me, so I am concerned that my account is screwed up.

Hello everyone, I was wondering if you guys and ladies can look over this situation and try and help answer a couple of questions. Here's the situation A soldier's SMR's indicate a very long history of receiving specialized medical treatment through the date they left active duty. Several years passed before the soldier had a C&P examination. After leaving active duty, the soldier could not afford the specialized treatment received while on active duty. The VA gives the soldier a low-ball rating based solely on the their observations during the exam. Here are the questions: 1. In this situation, should the VA base the rating percentage on the evidence provided when the claim was originally filed, results of the C&P exam, or some combination of both? 2. How does one go about getting older versions of C&P exam guidelines and schedules of ratings for the last 20 years (or whatever may be available)? 3. If the VA C&P examiner did not annotate the details of specialized medical treatments noted in the SMR's, would that be grounds for a CUE to challenge the low-ball rating percentage? Thanks

Their support help desk didn't know anything about the MHV/ebenefits Level 2 DS Login integration. They tried to tell me to drive to the RO and do in-person authentication. I pointed out where the ebenefits web site said we could use our authenticated myhealthevet to get instant level 2 access. When he saw the article on the ebenefits site, he said "I heard this was coming soon, but nobody told us it was released yet. We don't know anything about it." He said he would escalate it to level 2 support and gave me a ticket number.

I can login to myhealthevet, but when I try to click on the DS Logon, it still gives me the same pesky errors: PageFlow Error PageFlow Global.app: Could not find exception handler method <b>handleException</b> that accepts a form of type <b>org.apache.beehive.netui.pageflow.internal.AnyBeanActionForm</b>. Error : The page you requested was created using information you submitted to us. This page is no longer available. As a security precaution, automatic re-submission of your information is disabled.In order to submit another request for a DS Logon Account, please log out (or close and re-open your browser window) and then log back in. Time to call their help desk again...

I agree with Berta. No benefits paid while someone is in prison. And what about the guy's name? Moneymaker. Was he born with that name or did he change it when he planned to pull off this scam? This BS artist clearly suffers from schizophrenia and seems to be experiencing constant delusions of grandeur. Maybe we could give him benefits and then lock him up in MH indefinitely. Give him a couple of years and he will be swearing that he is Napoleon.

Berta, Thank you very much for following up on this. I posted my responses below, in bold. I hope these are the correct answers to the questions you asked. Thanks, -V