chr49

Vync Thank you for testing the calculator. I'm confused when you say you have a single 10% bilateral so please forgive me if I've misunderstood what you are saying. According to the regulations §4.26 Bilateral factor (c.) " The bilateral factor is not applicable unless there is partial disability of compensable degree in each of 2 paired extremities, or paired skeletal muscles." so having a single 10% would not be computed as 'bilateral'. On the calculator you would put the single disability in the non-bilateral section of the calculator along with your other non-bilateral disabilities. I hope that you will see better results if it's done this way. On the other hand, if you have 2 -10% bilateral disabilities you would enter each one separately in the bilateral section of the calculator...ending up with 19 + 1.9 or 21% which matches the combined ratings table. Please correct me if I've misunderstood what you are trying to tell me.

Congratulations John46. It's good to read that you found information that helped you go thru the process quickly..

I think most studies of this type are done on hospital inpatients. If Carlie is correct that this article reflects 2005-07 studies, it sure took them long enough to report the findings. Things change so quickly in the medical field that it's ridiculous to report it now.

Great news Doc.....Congrats!!

I agree with Chuck I used 2 methods and came up with 85...paid at 90% with both methods. The bilateral ratings calculator I use rounds 70.4 down to 70 + 30 =79 + 20 = 83 + 10 = 85 rounding to 90% When I ran the figures thru the 4.25 combined ratings table it also rounds the bilateral to 70 and the rest of the figures exactly match the calculators findings. I'd say it's highly likely this veteran is looking at 90%. No guarantees...... but all of my results were correct when I was testing the calculator.

You nailed it Hedgey. I have to tell my employer that I get my health care because I have to take a day off to go (5.5 hours round trip) thru the VA but I never elaborate on my disabiities or what I receive from the VA. I figure the details are best left in private.

Doing my Happy Dance....Great job Carlie!

Jachay Congratulations! Happy to hear that everything turned out so well. Take care of yourselves.

Congrats on your increase Scott!

It's right. There are actually several ways to reply on a page. Each page contains an upper and lower dark blue band. Above the top dark blue band, on the right side you will find "ADD REPLY" between "WATCH TOPIC" and "START A NEW TOPIC" and below the bottom dark blue band, on the right side you will find "ADD REPLY" and "START NEW TOPIC". All of that is followed by another dark blue band where you will see an open box titled "FAST REPLY" (on the left side of the page) which is what Vync is talking about. The other method Vync mentioned is within the individual posts which are separated by light blue bands. Each post has a "Reply" button in the light blue band, on the right hand side, under the post. Using this reply button will open a window quoting the post you have replied to. It's your choice!

Stretch, Curiosity on my part with the following question. Have you been diagnosed with peripheral vascular disease? The reason I ask is because I have diagnosed PAD/PVD and also have ischemic build up in the abdominal aorta which will most likely lead to an aneurysm, all of which is being monitored by VA vascular specialists on an annual basis at this point. I didn't pick up on whether your PCP had you referred to a VA vascular specialist to monitor you on a regular basis. You have been given some excellent advice by Carlie, JBasser, Berta and others. Please stay on top of this and follow thru outside the VA if you don't feel secure in your treatment at the VA, OK? Best wishes with all of this my friend!

Congratulations JC!

Philip, I found that one quite humorous myself. Think we need to copy it off and carry it to the travel pay office with us?! I doubt we'd get the reaction we're wanting!

Check this out....You may find some answers to travel benefit questions here: http://www.va.gov/he...FAQ.asp#mileage

Don't blame you for being upset John! Doesn't sound like the patient advocate helped the situation.

They don't appear to be including the outpatient clinics. My vascular specialist appointments are at a different VAMC than my primary care VAMC. I get paid for traveling to the primary care facility which is closer to my home. I can think of 4 outpatient clinics that are most likely closer to my home than my primary care VAMC. I go to a VA outpatient clinic for my P.A.C.S. appointments. Travel vouchers have to be mailed to the VA regional office for those appointments. My wife set up a folder with some pre-filled 'VA form 3542 - Voucher For Mileage Allowance' forms so all I have to do is get one signed/dated when I check out. Takes 7-14 days to get paid.

Congratulations!! Hope it ends up being P&T

Thanks for this info Carlie. I like the fact that you can get a medical history card (size of a credit card), a medical history keychain or bracelet from the online site. I always carry my wallet so I like the card option, whereas my wife prefers the bracelet. I'm going to pass this info on to all of my friends and family.

Darvon was widely used in the U.S. during the 60's and 70's so it's not surprising that it was the VA's drug of choice. It was prescribed for me during AIT at Fort Polk. Thanks for the heads up on the class action hawkfire27.

Welcome Emandg. You will find a lot of helpful information here. I was in Vietnam in '70-'71, serving as a FO during my first 8 months there. I have a pretty good understanding of what you went thru and I understand about the lack of recognition. My first 5 months there were fairly uneventful but then it was like a dam broke with 3 consecutive traumatic experiences that changed my life. I waited until 2007 to seek any help with my problems. It's good to read that you are seeking the help that you deserved to have long ago. Welcome to Hadit and Thank You for your service!!

WOW! You've waited a long time on this much deserved decision! Congratulations!!

Congratulations Flatbroke! This is great news!

Thank you Tbird. Very interesting article posted by Terry P. I wasn't aware of several points made in the article. Thanks again!

Found some excellent info regarding operations I was involved in. Thanks for the link Boomer2

I hope you don't mind my chiming in on your question. I'm not very good with the A math but I've gotten pretty good at using the VBA combined ratings table.I use the tables to cross check a calculator I frequently use. The calculator I use says: 10 + 10 = 19 + bilateral factor of 1.9 (10%) = 20.9%. You'd be rated at 20% The VBA 38CFR Combined ratings table states 10 combined with 10 is 19 so I'm assuming the calculator is correct. I'll leave the question about 100% + 60% to those in the know!