Wish Me Luck

[jbasser]

I am going in front of the ALJ tommorrow. Wish me luck. It has been 2.5 years to get this far.

J

[John Purser]

Thanks Tamara. I am also happy for you. How long did it take for them to contact you for your interview?

J

John,

Congratulations. Go man go.

Have you got a link to the steps you took? I'm a year into my fight with nothing to show for it but conflicting "judgments" and I'd like to see how I'm doing compared to the route you took.

Thanks again for the good news. We all like to hear it's POSSIBLE if not easy.

[jbasser]

It took 28 months from first claim to ALJ hearing with 2 denials. 1 was at 6 months, the other one was at 9 months. Then I got an atorney. Dont miss any deadlines. Get an attorney, make sure they have all medical information. Most important thing is to get a fair Judge.

J

[Speaking Out]

Congratulations! It is so good to come to the board and read good news. It has been a long road for you, but you stuck with it and good job! Enjoy!

[jbasser]

Now, to get the vA to award 100% P&T is the next battle. It should not be too much longer.

J

[tdak]

Thanks Tamara. I am also happy for you. How long did it take for them to contact you for your interview?

J

J

Hey!

I actually never had to go to a hearing. An ALJ decided on the case by what evidence I had sent in and ruled favorable for me without having to go to through a court hearing (thank goodness for that). It took just about 2 1/2 months months from the day they received my appeal to the day I received the approval letter from them. But it took them Then as soon as I received the letter I called them the next day and set up an appointment to add my children on my claim even though I had already done that prior, I had to now take responsibility for them because I actually was approved. My original denial took over 7 months to get and when I sent the appeal in I overloaded them with tons of paperwork backing up my claim from at least 6 other doctors.

The only thing I am going to do now is appeal the date they paid me retro from. I was awarded disability back all the way to July 04, but they only gave me retro back pay 1 year prior to the date I filed which was Oct 06. (the second time) I was not fully aware that if I appealed the denial the first time I filed which was 2004, I would have probably been awarded SSDI then (you live and learn). So now I am going to write another long appeal letter (my other one was 4 pages) asking if they will award me retro back to my original filing date of Feb 04 for them since they already gave me the disability back to July 2004. I figure it can't hurt to appeal. and I haven't had gainful employment since 2002 because of it. I am not going to expect anything out of it, but

Just keep moving forward with the VA.

Good luck

Tamara :)

[jbasser]

The Judge told me I would get my letter one day this week, to giveit an extra day and then call the office to set uo the appointment, I would like to see it before the first of the year with the holidays looming.

Thanks for the input as we enjoy our retirement.

J