hypertension It Is Finally Over Bva Granted My Appeal

[Testvet]

for all of you regulars you know what I have been fighting and how long I have been fighting it. I got the letter from the BVA today they granted my appeal on Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease secondary to PTSD.

They took exception to note that Dr Boscarino's study warranted inclusion the the Federal register, and also my IMO from DR James Ketchum the retired Colonel from Edgewood Arsenal and the Judge noted that I had been a test subject at Edgewood and that DR Ketchum accepted DR Boscarino's study as being a logical scientific study and that it was more plausible than my exposures to chemicals and drugs during the Cold War human experimentation.

Since my PTSD was awarded back to Dec 2003 and I started the claim on my heart disease in Nov 2002 I am sure they will only give me back pay to Dec 2003

but I am happy now if I have a heart attack and die they hace to give my wife and son benefits. YES

[SouthernBelle]

Congrats, you deserve it!

[Testvet]

thank you Southern Belle I am just a persistent old goat they just would not deal with the exposures at Edgewood at all and I beat my head against the wall at the VA since I first contacted Sec Principi back in Nov 2002 because I knew my claim was going to be a mess between the experiments at Edgewood when they were still doing the Cold War experiments they lasted from 1955 - 1975 I was there from June - Aug 1974 #6778A The aide at Congressman Wilsons office even told me about 1 1/2 years ago that there was some doors I would not be able to open because of the classification of data at Edgewood and that some claims just could not be won. I refused to believe him I am glad I wouldn't listen to any of the SO's that told me I could NOT win either, the PVA rep stood there and told me he had never heard of anyone getting CAD or hypertension SC secondary to PTSD and he wouldn't even file for it, of course I revoked his POA

Veterans need to realize that just because these people claim to "know everything" doesn't mean they are accurate I was told a long time ago I should have been happy with my intial award of 50% for PTSD since it was more than a LOT of vets get. Some of these SO's are so full of chit it ain't funny keep appealing and keep digging for the evidence

The Judge would not have granted the claim if my medical evidence did not support the award, so I feel vindicated now after my 7 year fight and my wife can spend it on furniture or whatever else she wants the VARO has made her life hell and she deserves whatever she wants, she has had to put up with me while I was going thru this, and every set back of course irritated me as it does anyone I felt like Alice in Wonderland knowing I had a good claim but it was like I just could not get anyone to listen to reason they had me tagged as a crusader and a pain in the azz, and the DRO was not bashful about it either.

In Jan 2005 he spent an hour yelling at my wife and I because I wrote the White House over the tactics the RO was using on the claim,how they refused to even address the exposures at Edgewood on my denials even they acted like I had never even mentionaed the experiments at Edgewood and when they were forced by Sen Larry Craig then the Cairman of the VA Committee that flat out lied to him saying the Army sent me back to Fort Lewis on 10 July 1974 despite the fact that was the day I was hospitalized at Aberdeen because EA does not have a hospital and I did not go back to Fort Lewis until 22 August 1974.

That was in Oct 2005 in April 2006 they awarded my PTSD at 100% then claimed I had signed a statement saying I would drop all other issues in exchange for the 100% award for PTSD I never agreed to drop my cardiac claim that had been filed in Dec 2002 my PTSD was on a seperate claim from the cardiac problems beause my first SO from AL had told my wife and I that I could only file for one issue at a time and since the heart problems were the most serious problemI had I naturally filed it first. I had a failed triple bypass my ejection fraction is 25% 2 of the bypasses have closed off I have had a stroke in April 1992 less than a year after Desert Storm that should have been automatically approved they just ignored it lie it never happened.

Nope they taught me to keep appealing and don't quit until you get in front of the Judge they put ne and my wife thru a wringer I get the feeling they hoped I would either give up or drop dead with Congestive Heart Failure they made the odds more in their favor the longer they drew this mess out. The average for life expectancy with CHF is 10 years my diagnosis was made in 1997 the math is not in my favor.

My advice to any veteran or their spouse is to not just give up and quit, appeal appeal and appeal and if you still can't win back up and regroup and get some new evidence and start it up again.....just my 2 cents

[SouthernBelle]

TestVet, You're BRILLIANT. I just needed to let you know. You're brilliant. You busted your butt, with a broken heart and all, and won. You need to tell everybody who'll listen your story. Tell the world, and get your wife a nice set of furniture. You'll both love it. And hey, Big Lots has VERY NICE furniture for dirt cheap. I got an entire living room set (microfiber suade and everything!) for $850, WITH delivery. Sofa, chair and a half, and ottomon. We could have gotten a loveseat as well, but the house wasn't big enough, and I liked the chair and a half. We could all three sit there, and feel close, but not squished.

[Pete53]

I love Belle to death but I think you need to buy quality furniture as it lasts longer and usually is much more comfortable. Big Lots is a great place to pick up knicknacks and small appliances and sometimes hardware and other stuff but their furniture is mostly cheap in quality and the prices not all that good.

Just my opinion

[Testvet]

Pete we have grand kids living with us, and my wife refuses to buy "good furniture" until they move out, weall know how rough kids are on furniture they tear it up by rocking jumping bouncing fighting etc, she wants a sleigh bed and new dresser and furniture for the living room I think she runs more to Ethan Allen type furniture but after the past 7 years of watching me have to fight with the VA andlisten to me rant and rave avout the azzholes she can buy anything she wants and I am not saying one word other than "thats nice dear" I have been married 4 times before her I has been educated rofl

[Hoppy]

Testvet,

You prevailed due to tenacity and the pursuit of truth. The medical evidence you obtained was the key. All those SO's just saw things in a light that was easy for them.

I was thrown out of the offices of several SO's myself. It took me 8.5 years to get a DRO to see the obvious. I only had one medical report. The report was based on a review of my SMR and stated that I had the disease in the military and there is no known cure. The SO's and the raters just did not want to award a chemically triggered disease. Angioedema had been associated with chemical exposure for decades in the state court systems. The doctors had been triggering the disease in lab animals with chemicals since the fifties.