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Asbestos Related Lung Disease, Denied!

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Old 5311

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My diagnosis was for asbestos related lung desease; emphysema. Maybe I went wrong using the word "asbestosis". Who knows? The damage is located in the upper lobes vs lower. This is what the RO emphasized.

Quote from my Rep:

For VA purposes any post drug predicted FEV1 reading above 80% are considered normal, your's was 108%, this is one of the reasons the VA Dr says your breathing problrems are un related to asbestos, he also says you have dammage to the upper lobes of the lungs and asbestos always effects the lower lobes first, so if you have asbestos exposure related lung disease and show effects to the upper lobe, you should also see it in the lower lobes, again according to the scans you submitted, you only have involvement in the upper lobes - and none in the lower lobes.

My VAMC test results:

FEC: PREDICTED-4.95. PRE DRUG REPORTED% 3.90. PRE DRUG PREDICTED 79 <. POST DRUG PREDICTED 95. %CHANGE 20.

FE1: PREDICTED 3.42 PRE DRUG REPORTED% 3.24 PRE DRUG PREDICTED 95 POST DRUG REPORTED % 3.71. POST DRUG PREDICTED 108. %CHANGE 14.

I was also exposed to Sodasorb and Barylyme while diving..

Any thoughts out there regarding this?

Thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Edited by Old 5311
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MMC, I will be thinking about you. When you have your PFT, Keep a copy of the results. Pay close attention to the Diffusion reading percentage. I have a C and P on Monday for Lung conditon. This is leading to a Cue claim when th e VA did not diagnose asbestois related Lung disease in 1994. The RO will tell you anything to get out of awarding a claim. If you need a statement from someone who served on Subs and actually removed asbestos, ( NEC 9583) Submarine repair. I would be happy to assist.

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MMC, I will be thinking about you. When you have your PFT, Keep a copy of the results. Pay close attention to the Diffusion reading percentage. I have a C and P on Monday for Lung conditon. This is leading to a Cue claim when th e VA did not diagnose asbestois related Lung disease in 1994. The RO will tell you anything to get out of awarding a claim. If you need a statement from someone who served on Subs and actually removed asbestos, ( NEC 9583) Submarine repair. I would be happy to assist.
By the way take a look at this BVA decisoon for asbestosis. It explains the veteran had upper lung cancer. Show this to the RO.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp92/files3/9226449.txt

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John

In May 04, I lost my job of 31 yrs with the gov't because of my asbestos disease - just couldn't breathe so I was unable to due my job. I applied for IU the same month and was awarded IU in June 04. Two weeks later, I received a letter from the Atlanta, GA VARO stating P&T awarded effective June 04.

I know I had it much easier than a lot of vets - the Atlanta GA VARO has been excellent for me as well as all the doctors in the North Florida/South Georgia Vets Health Care Program.

Bob

Carrie- sounds like they are getting the dependents squared away- hard to say if it means good news or not-

Dr Bash is Great- did he associate anything the vet has with asbestos exposure?

I can snail mail you a scanned copy of that MOS list if you feel comfortable emailing me with your address-

I will try to look up some of those ships- however- his service personnel records (which I hope you have)

and actual proof of duties that required his direct exposure to asbestos- this is what VA might well need-

he probably slept under it in the piping but needs to clearly prove that is ship duties put him into direct contact.

Each of those ships might have a web site- if he needs buddy statements-

and certainly he might want to access Military.com to see if anyone there might have been on one of those ships too-

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Carrie- I just re-read your post-

Since he was a Marine- he would not have any MOS on the Navy list I have-

He will then definitely need to prove what he did aboard ship -the MOS PIES list wont help-

sorry about that- he would have to narrow this down to what specific ships he was on too- when he was exposed.

I am sure his SRB ( that is what the Marines call it)

might show some of his duties-

SRB- Service Record Book- NAV 118

(can be requested at NARA web site)

yet he might need to get a statement from his CO or anyone who could verify what he did to get exposed and on what ship and when.

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Berta,

Dr. Bash did review his medical file and films, scans, etc. and in his medical opinion it is asbestosis. He mentioned pleural plaques and interstitial fibrosis. Then he wrote another letter showing medical studies of 10% higher risk for bladder cancer after asbestos exposure, and that his recent diagnosis was further proof of asbestosis.

Another good thing, SS ruled out occupational lung disease because he was trying to get extra compensation for it, if it that had been the cause. He didn't even think about asbestos exposure then. They have the SS hearing transcripts.

The VA contacted them to let them know they were requesting some other service records, but they aren't sure what those are. They sent everything they had. So maybe the request for dependents info is a good thing. As with everyone, we'll just have to wait and see.

Carrie

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i first applied for service connection back in 1990 for lung condition do to asbestos exposure .

they sent me for several test and after going through them all denied me.

my wife and i , pulled all of my records and started to go through them, because they told me the reason they denied me was that they couldnt find any proof that my breathing problem was asbestos related .

after going through all of my medical records we found several pages where i was treated for breathing trouble and hospitalized . the thing that got us both was that we found page from 1994 that was one of the last exams they sent me on , and the page reads and I quote : results exisbit restrictive disease. The veterans disease is demontrably active . diagnosis/clinical test results : Obstructive lung disease , status post asbestos exposure.

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Edited by ammodad
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