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Howdy All! Been a while since I've posted, but I've been reading, lurking and watching.....oh yes....I've been out there watching.....(that was creepy). Took some great advice and contacted Ted Ebert from the VA, via e-mail about my frustration with 95 medical and psych records belonging to other veterans being contained within my C-File, and that they were cited by the VA's last C&P examiner (held by Veterans Evaluation Service in Houston by a 12 year old nurse practitioner dude with a ponytail and a whopping 2 years of experience as a nurse practitioner......ok he may have been 16 years old.....maybe) and the VA's rater (who apparently only knows two functions on his keyboard....copy and paste). Early this year, Mr. Ebert was able to get the VA to acknowledge and purge all of these records, and the latest C-File I received in July looks like it was finally Mission Accomplished after several years of pleading with them to pull the records and reassess. While waiting on this, I received another IMO from Doctor David Anaise on multiple conditions. Although Mr. Ebert advised that the actual C&P examination report, rating denial and the rating decision letter (all three had information from medical records of other individuals) could not be removed or redacted, he advised that he would note in the file that there were incorrect records and that these documents had cited them. The VA finally did a reset and pulled me back down from pending a BVA Appeal back down to the run of the mill Notice of Disagreement, and has now recently scheduled me for a third C&P examination with QTC (My first time dealing with them in this six year Disneyland ride line.) The first C&P by a real doctor at VES was favorable to me, the third was blackballed by Nurse Skippy with the ponytail citing other veteran's records, and now it looks like I'll see another doctor at QTC from what I read. I did an "interview" over the phone with an office employee, who went over the DBQ questionnaire with me and had me answer her verbally line by line each question on the multiple DBQ's. They had already FedEx'd me the DBQ questionaires with appointment information and instructions, which I filled out as instructed, but she said that this would save time and make it easier for the doctor to review than reading my handwriting or filling it out himself. (Don't worry, I plan to bring my own handwritten copies as well, as well as the IMO from my oncologist, affirmative C&P from the VES doctor in 2012, the IME/IMO from Doctor Ellis and the IMO from Doctor Anaise, as well as my STR's and other supporting medical materials. I may also bring a couple of Doctor Seuss books just in case. The office employee was patient and friendly thus far. Fangs may be out when I arrive next week, but who knows? She even let me give her more information when I called her back with additional symptoms that I had forgotten to tell her in the initial telephone interview (I wasn't home when she called, and she caught me flatfooted.) I'll keep everybody advised of what happened on my first QTC experience. Gotta be better than the last VES experience....I hope. This one will involve C&P's for service connection on several conditions and a rating increase on another. Have a great weekend! Mark

Howdy All, It's been a while since I've been on here, and I wanted to share that I finally got my C-File copy that I requested way back in February of 2013. I ended up finding the military and civilian medical records of four other individuals tucked inside, about 89 pages worth, and found that a majority of my own SMR's and civilian medical records were missing. I'm working on that through my appellate process, and I'll keep y'all posted. It does look like the C-File is missing most of my separation physical examination testing and report documentation though. I was able to reconstruct a bit with copies that I had and have since forwarded on to the VA, along with a lot of personnel documentation that wasn't in the file either. However, the thing that intrigued me was that I finally was able to read what my VA examiner, a medical doctor (retired USAF Colonel) working for the contract company Veterans Evaluation Service had provided in my C&P examination report. This particular examination was for service connection for Mononucleosis, incurred while on duty. I noted that he did service connect the Mononucleosis infection on my DBQ, advising that the first sign occurred while I was on active duty. However, he goes on to state that while I show no "active" signs of Mononucleosis, the resulting Epstein Barr Virus (virus that causes infectious Mononucleosis), has caused residual conditions of Chronic Fatigue and "recurrent viral symptoms and infections". He even went so far as to add my other claimed condition, Hodgkin's Lymphoma as a secondary condition to the Mononucleosis (I have a NOD already filed on this, along with the Mononucleosis and Epstein Barr Virus residuals.) I believe the rater probably went with the "no evidence of active Mononucleosis" and denied. On the Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Epstein Barr conditions, the rater stated that there was no record of Mononucleosis in service, which even the VA examiner noted was present. (Which now that I have copies of my SMR's in my C-File, I know that evidence of diagnosis was present and available upon rating.) I've picked up the football with a medical opinion letter from my oncologist, linking my Hodgkin's Lymphoma condition to Mononucleosis and Epstein Barr infection, so I'm working on that. However, here's my question: Should I go ahead and file a new application on the Chronic Fatigue and "recurrent viral symptoms and infections" conditions right now? Or wait? I already have claimed conditions that are in NOD for joint pain, sleeplessness and sinusitis. Would these cancel each other out with a Chronic Fatigue or "recurrent viral symptoms and infections" claim? Also, because he diagnosed these conditions on my Mononucleosis DBQ, will the VA trash them immediately? Any thoughts or advice would be deeply appreciated. Have a great weekend! Mark Oh yeah....and when people on here say to get your C-File copy first before starting on this adventure......DO IT! I wish I had saved myself the years of waiting and stress by requesting my copy at the onset.

Does anybody know if there is a minimum distance for travel reimbursement to and from a C&P examination? Maybe like a 50 mile radius or something? Just wondering. Y'all have a great weekend. Mark

Has anybody out there had any dealings with a company called Veterans Evaluation Services? Apparently, the VA has contracted with them to perform C&P examinations and testing on veterans. I see from their website that they are apparently headquartered near Houston. I was called yesterday (Saturday) by a representative of this company (called me from a Tennessee telephone number) who advised me to call an 877 number on Monday to schedule my C&P examination. He did not know what conditions I was being examined for. (I have several, but tons of medical documentation on a few). He was polite, and told me that he simply didn't know, but that I would learn more on Monday when I called the number. He further advised that his company was also contracting with "local" doctors to administer the examinations, and that I might not even have to drive to Houston. I'm still not sure what he means by local. I'm 2 hours from the VAMC in Houston. Any information about this company and its services would be appreciated. And better still, any veterans that used them during their C&P process have good/bad experiences? Any advice would help me. I'll try to post more tomorrow after I make the call to them to schedule. Have a great week. Mark