GwenW

Just made a donation, thanks for all you do Tbird!

I hope he will give the VA another try. They helped him when he had that bad breakdown in 1996...but since then, he just can't hardly make himself go in the building in Houston. Dave hasn't really participated in a family Christmas (or any family function) in years. I'm sure the reasons you gave apply to him, too! I think Christmas seems more magical when children are around. Our son is 31 and living in MI. So we don't see him for holidays anymore. I forgot to answer one of your questions...Dave's disablitiy has to do with his mental problem. They don't call it PTSD for the VA, but that is what it is. (I can't remember the tech term they called it.) So I don't think that would be his chronic pain, but since he is 100%, I'd think they would have to cover all his medical problems. Thanks again for your help....I'll be sure to read it all to Dave. (He still doesn't use the computer. ) Gwen

Thanks so much for your advice, John. Dave is thinking about going back to the VA for help, but he has been getting his meds from his private doctor. He has been on the Hydrocodone for years and takes the max amount. (He was taking the Oxycontin for awhile, but the doctors stopped giving it because of so many problems the government placed on the regulations.) That was hard to switch back to the hydrocodone for him, but now he is so upset. I think him being upset, just makes the pain all that much worse. I agree with you....they give you this medication for years and then say "YOU" have a problem. It is so sad. You know, Christmas is hard on people with depression, but this has taken it to another level....just hard to enjoy anything. I wish you the best of luck and keep fighting for what you know is right! Hugs, Gwen

Dave has been getting his pain meds (hydrocodone) from a private doctor, but now they are making it hard to get. Have to have a prescription hand written every month and drug testing. I was wondering if the VA has gotten any better with giving pain meds. This has really gotten to Dave and he has been really depressed since his visit last week. The doctor said these changes are do to Government Regulations. Chronic Pain and depression make it so hard on him, and it falls back on my being depressed too. We live in Groves, TX....the closest small VA clinic is in Beaumont, and Houston is about 100 miles from us. Anyone dealing with these centers that can help or just any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, and I knew if I had a problem....Hadit was the place to ask for help! Gwen

I am so sorry to hear about Alex passing away! He was a wonderful, kind and helpful person. It was he and Bill Smith, from the old Prodigy BB days, that helped me fight and win Dave's claims. He was always there to help and offer a kind word. The world has lost another great man! He will be missed! Gwen

Oh, I just loved Meg and the Colonel! I remember Meg sharing their love story and the way they met! It was so cute and romantic! Hugs, Gwen

lamontino, Welcome you to Hadit! I know you will be getting all kinds of advice. I wanted to tell you that Alex was one of the main people in helping me win a claim of 100% TDIU P&T for my husband a few years ago. Also, all the people here have a really good history of helping and really caring! So, listen to the advice. I just kind of hang around now to offer friendship and what little advice I know...It's been a while since I had to fight for a claim. But, this is the place I advise everyone to look for help! Thanks for your service and good luck in getting the benefits that you deserve! Gwen

Liz, I know it is possible to get more than the 100% rating, but I've never researched it. Like you, my husband had the 100% TDIU and probably could try to claim for many more problems. I suggested it to him, but he's afraid to "stir the pot!" He's afraid to lose what he has already. I guess it's possible, but who knows. He hates to go for treatment at the VA and even walking into the building is almost too much for him. But, I think if you are up to the fight, you go for it! I think you should include everything that bothers you and gives you pain. Sure wouldn't hurt to have it on record, of course that's just my opinion. So many others here know many of the ends and outs...I just like to jump in to add my support. It has been several years now that I fought for my husband to get his VA benefits. (He couldn't do it for himself.) Trust these people, they sure helped us! And I'm always here to be your friend! Hugs, Gwen

Johnny K, I wanted to welcome you to the Hadit fambly and wish you great success with your claim. Many others are the ones in the know and will be better able to answer your questions. Gwen

Sorry, I don't know the answers to your questions, but wanted to add my condolences on your Mother's passing. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers! Gwen

Hi Liz, It sound like your doctor visit was about Par! Sometimes it seems there is no point in even going. I remember the "good old days" when going to the doctor really did make you feel better! I go for my checkups and still fill like crap! Well, I do have a few good days, and I cherish them. I think I am way too young...LOL- 54, to have so many aches and pain on top of depression. And living with a husband that has severe depression sure doesn't make it any easier. (I hate to complain because he has been through so much, but we try our best to take care of each other.) I hate to hear about your husband passing on, but please don't give up. Know that you and your husband are remembered in my prayers. I'm here and while I don't do much phone talking, but email me. Like I said, I have my bad bouts like most of us here, but know that people here care and will do all they can to help! Gwen

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I love it when someone wins!!! Big Hugs, Gwen

Jangrin, Sorry to hear that Chuckles has to have a Heart By-Pass. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers. Please let us know how that he is okay and on the mend. Sorry I don't know anything about the VA and rehab for heart patients. If you aren't happy....complain!!!! I tried being Mrs. Nice, but that didn't get my husband any help....so, now I try to be forceful. (And if you knew me better, you'd know that I'm not that way....usually to scared to fight. LOL!) Gwen

Pete, Glad you got some help and that the nurse was so nice. Also glad that she took such an interest and will be coming back for follow-ups! About time the VA dis something right! Gwen

I was just reading about this "Catch-62" thing at Postal Reporter-Postal Veteran Rights This article was almost all the way down the webpage. Anyway, I thought I'd post it here for ya'll to read and maybe help someone. Since both my husband and I have a disability retirement from the USPS, I don't think it applied to us. I did read on here, that I maybe shouldn't have cashed in my TSP after my disability retirement...but I did. I was hoping that I might get back some of the taxes that were taken out next year, but seems that might just be wishful thinking. Oh well, it's done now! Gwen ----------------- posted July 15, 2002 Military Veterans Catch-62 Some military veterans who went on to civilian careers in government are getting a nasty surprise when they turn 62. Their pensions are being cut. The Catch-62, as veterans call it, affects people who served in the military after 1956 and then were hired as civilian employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) before Oct. 1, 1982, and who also are eligible for Social Security benefits. Veterans under CSRS who want their military service to count toward their civilian retirement benefits must make a deposit to the Civil Service Retirement fund amounting to 7 percent of their military earnings. They have to hand over the money before they retire. Veterans hired under the Federal Employees Retirement System must make a deposit worth 3 percent of their military earnings. Veterans make interest-free deposits during the first three years of employment as civilians. After the first three years of employment are over, they must pay the deposits plus interest. Those hired after Oct. 1, 1982 must make the deposit or receive no credit for their military service in their civilian pensions. But veterans hired before that date--and have enough earnings under Social Security to qualify for Social Security benefits--have a different choice with two options. Under the first option, they can make the required deposit and get full credit for their military service in their civilian pensions throughout retirement. Under the second option, they can waive the deposit in writing and get full credit for their military service until they reach age 62 and become eligible for Social Security benefits. Then the military portion of their retirement credit is taken away, and their pensions are cut. Mary Ellen Wilson, a retirement specialist at the Office of Personnel Management, said most veterans understand the rule and pay the deposit, ensuring full credit throughout retirement. But many veterans told Government Executive they either weren’t informed of the rule or got bad information from their personnel offices. When they turned 62, they were shocked to learn from OPM that their pensions were about to be reduced. Tammy Flanagan, a retirement expert with the National Institute of Transition Planning, warned that many veterans may have “ticking time bombs” waiting to go off at their 62nd birthdays. One veteran who retired with 20 years of military service and 18 years of service under CSRS found his pension cut by $1,000 a month when he turned 62. He said he didn’t know about Catch-62. Another veteran said that when he sat down with a retirement counselor in 1997, the counselor didn’t explain the deposit requirement for his five years of military service. In 2002 when he turned 62, his monthly pension benefit dropped $565. “I must hold myself responsible for not being more informed about the laws governing my retirement, but why aren't the commands held responsible for training and counseling personnel about their retirement systems?” he asked. Veterans who learn about Catch-62 can make the deposit before they leave the government, albeit with interest. If they learn about it afterward, they can appeal to the Office of Personnel Management. OPM can decide to let a veteran make a late deposit if an administrative error is evident. If OPM doesn’t believe the veteran, he or she can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, and ultimately to the courts. Sometimes appeals work. Sometimes they don’t. In one case before the board, a retired veteran whose personnel office had given him an obsolete form that didn’t mention the Catch-62 rule won the right to submit his deposit and save his pension. In another case, a veteran whose retirement counselor told him the deposit would cost thousands of dollars, when actually it would have cost about $300, won his appeal before the merit board. In other cases, it seemed that people who made a bad decision had second thoughts when they saw the effect on their pensions. The retirement application form that OPM has used since 1993 clearly describes the Catch-62 rule, Wilson said. Posters hung in agencies’ halls and instructions at retirement seminars describe the Catch-62 rule as well, she said. “This is a problem that's going to go away in time because we won't have that many people working in government who first came on before 1982,” Wilson said. “It's time-limited … which doesn't alleviate the impact for someone who made a poor financial decision.” Post-1982 Hires Beware Veterans hired into civilian service after 1982 shouldn’t rest easy just because the Catch-62 rule doesn’t apply to them. Just ask Stephen Wisniewski, a veteran who works at the Defense Logistics Agency in Battle Creek, Mich., and who will retire under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Wisniewski said he made a $200 deposit through payroll deductions in the late 1980s. But Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) officials can’t find his payroll records. So they won’t give him credit for making the deposit. In an e-mail last year to Wisniewski, a DFAS worker explained that it was taking her a long time to look for his record because “I am trying to sift through 10 years of records to locate one piece of paper.” Then she added information that should give pause to anyone whose records are housed at DFAS: “Not to mention that for the most part, they aren’t in alphabetical order.… Sorry that it is taking so long, but in 1988, we didn’t even exist, which means that the work, if it is here, was transferred to us by disgruntled employees losing their jobs.” DFAS was created in 1991through the consolidation of many of the finance and accounting operations of the armed forces and Defense agencies. DFAS searched its records in Pensacola, Fla., Charleston, S.C., and Columbus, Ohio, unable to track down Wisniewski’s records. Wisniewski said other veterans he knows have discovered that DFAS lost their records. Retirement expert Flanagan said examples like Wisniewski’s show the importance of keeping a copy of all of your personnel documents. “I always remind my classes to maintain their own ‘personal’ personnel folders,” she said. “You never know when some documentation that is needed to prove credit for service or a payment might turn up mysteriously missing.” source: By Brian Friel Govexec

Arch, Just wanted to wish you good luck with your claims! You are so right to NOD them if you don't get what you deserve. Imagine, them losing their own records. Lost of confidence there, right! Gwen

Bill, Wishing you the best with your C&P outcomes! Glad that you got at least one good DR. that told things like they are. I remember going to the VA for some C&P exams with my husband, he got some bad reports from some of the Dr's Assistants and Interns. I finally demanded that he get to see a "DOCTOR!" It is also wonderful that you have lots of documentation from your primary DR to help with your condition...that should be just what you need! I don't know if you know it or not....probably do, but you are allowed to bring someone into the exam with you. (Spouse or friend) That allows you to have a witness! Also, it helps some people because they tend to get nervous and forget to ask questions. Let us know how things turn out!!! Again...best of luck! Gwen

Jerry O, I wanted to add my prayers and support to your wife and family! I think that hormones did or could have played a role. I had uterine cancer several years ago, and my doctor told me that hormone replacement for my hysterectomy wasn't possible. He told me that the hormones promoted cancer growth. So, I think it is worth checking into! Again....love and prayers to your family! Gwen

Congrats to your wife for getting her Social Security! Sounds like ya'll did a wonderful job of presenting her medical problems! Sorry, can't help on the tax question....but I'm sure someone will jump right on it! Good news helps my day!!!! B) Congrats!!!! Gwen

Hi, I think that letter will be a great help! I don't know if you have tried this or not, but I think it helped in my husband's case: Have friends and family members write letters stating how your disabilities have been increasingly disabling and how it has affected you through the years from their observations. Also, I wrote what I call a "wife's letter" detailing the day to day living ordeals and changes that my family as well as my husband have had to deal with because of his service connected disabilities. Best of luck, you deserve the best...you paid a dear price! Gwen

Bertha, Beautiful dining room and I love your china! I have to plug into my computer via USB to digital camera. I don't have a photo slot on my laptop, and it isn't that old...I just didin't think about it when I bought it. Also, my camera is old (just 2.0 mpg) but it gets the job done for most of my needs. (I'll update one day--maybe. LOL!) Enjoy, that's what I like about the digital....instant fun! Gwen

My husband, Dave....100% P&T TDIU 1996

Pete, I have been trying to remember Alex's name...thanks for posting about him. Does he still show up here from time to time? I wonder how he is. That man was such a help, as are you and so many others. Gwen PS: Sorry if this doesn't belong in this section.

I think that being a veteran helps with getting jobs. There are many places that give them extra benefits and preference. This is just my opinion, but I'd not turn down any disability comp that you might get from the VA. Who knows when it will get worse and then you need to put in for an increase. But, like I said....just my opinion on that. Good luck and thanks for your service! Gwen

Yes, be sure to file for Individual Unemployability! From our experience, the VA never tells anyone about it. If it hadn't have been for online help from Mr. Smith, Pete, Bertha, and others; (before the Hadit days on the old Prodigy Veteran Bulletin Board) I would have never known about it. Thank God, we now have Hadit to spread the word. Also, I (I did the paperwork...Dave wasn't able!) just wrote an informal letter requesting the TDIU for my husband and had him sign it. I put an attention line: Requesting Individual Unemployability. Now, there are forms online, but I think the letter would still work. I just wanted to add that it really didn't matter what your disability rating is...if you can't work because of a service connected disability....file for the IU! They will adjust the rating as needed. Dave, my husband, started out with a 10% rating. (So, don't let the rating keep you from asking for this!) Good luck, fight for what you deserve...you've paid dearly for it! Gwen