Greetings Fellow Veteran's,
First, I want to thank all of you for your service and for your time to advice to everybody on this Forum and thanks to the founder of the site. This is a copy of a post I put in the new members welcome area. I copied and pasted a reply with some questions one of the members asked me. Anyway, please take a look at what I provided and any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Have a great and blessed day. See below...
On the issues you want to re-open :
they are for what disabilities ? I had 11 items (Benign prostate hyperthrophy-20%, Right triceps tendonitis-had elbow surgery to fix tricvep tendon that ripped out while fighting a fire-10%, Left wrist sprain-10%, cervival spine degenerative arthritis clained as cervical DDD and spondylosis-10%), that were listed when I received my decision letter form the VA back on 2007. Of the 11 items four of them I received a service connection and a percentage. the others were listed as service connections and a zero percent assigned. The zero % assigned issues included Thoracolumbar degenerative arthritis-intervertebral disc degeneration, Right shoulder rotator cuff tendonitis, Left thumb carpometacarpal joint sprain, left knee patellofemoral syndrome, impotence, surgical scar right elbow, left carpal tunnel syndrome-minor) They did not give a rating for the high cholesterol that has been an issue for many years during my 21 years of military service.
I have been having issues with five of the areas and they have gotten worse. I have not gone to a doctor for all these issues because I had started a new job and did not have sick time and vacation built up and I have always been a person with a strong work ethic and not wanting to take time off for me to take care of my issues. I know that probably has not been the smartest thing to do, but I have been dealing with the pain and not complaining about it for many years to include before I retired. I was one of those guys that never complained very much when on active duty and lived with issues rather than complain because I loved the military and did not want to get kicked out for a Medical Board or anything like that. Also, some of the issues were personal and embarassing to discuss with doctors.
However, it is at a point now where all these things are impacting me. I also had questions about the Gulf war syndrome because I served in the Gulf war and never gave a lot of thought to filing any type of claim for the Gulf War Illness/Syndrome. I do and have had a lot of the symptoms such as sleep issues, gastrointestinal problems, joint and muscle pain, weakness, and fatigue. Anyway, I was not sure if I could have that addressed since it was not specifically mentioned in my claim when I retired.
On the Rating Decision that denied the issues -
what did it state in the Reasons and Bases Section - A lot of the reasons they stated were because I went to the doctor once or only a few times and a lot of other things they said about the issues I got zero % for. Some things said that at the mediccal appointment I was abIe to tie my shoes and button a shirt, etc... Well, just because I was able to do those things did not mean it was painful. Unfortunately I did not appeal during that first year because I had so many things going on in my life at the time. So, that is why I am asking about what I need to do to re-open my case for the issues to attempt to get the ratings changed. I now have some leave and vacation days to make some appointments to get some of my issues looked at and documented in my records. I am guessing I have to have a current documented history before I attempt to ask the VA to re-open my claim. I just want some advice on the best way to go about this whole situation.
what is the date on that Rating Decision ? The date of the rating decision is March 20, 2007.
Anyway, as I said in the first forum post I did yesterday, I was wondering if someone had any advice on the best way for me to go about re-opening, what I should do, how long I need to wait, and if I have to have doctors visits on file before I can re-open and then does anybody have a good recommendation of which service agency in San Antonio I should use to file, such as Texas Veterans Commission or some other agency. Any suggestions, support, or assistance is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely
SG
Soaringeagle17