Up until a couple of days ago, I never thought I had any heart problems other than a mitral valve prolapse. Earlier this week I had been to my private primary care doctor for a cough and intermittent chest pain. I had undergone a stress test and an echo of my heart in July by my cardiologist and was told everything looked fine so I did not think my recent chest pains were caused by heart problems. My pcp did a chest x-ray and EKG and said it wasn't my heart and he diagnosed me with pleurisy and bronchitis.
Wednesday night of this week I started experiencing severe chest pains and my wife called 911. I took an ambulance trip to the emergency room. After running some blood tests, I was told my cardiac enzymes were elevated and the cardiologist performed a heart cath. After the heart cath, the cardiologist informed me she had placed two stents in my heart due to a 99% blockage in one part of my LCD and 80% blockage in another part of my LCD. I believe the LCD she was referring to is the left anterior descending artery of my heart. My cardiologist advised that I did not have a heart attack but she said I was on the verge of a serious heart attack prior to placement of the stents. I am currently in the heart unit of my local hospital but I hope to be discharged this morning.
I am totally lost as to what I need to do in regards to a claim for AO related IHD. I am a boots on the ground Vietnam veteran so I think I would qualify under the AO presumptive policy. Any guidance anyone can give as to what is needed and how to proceed at this point in time would be appreciated. Even if I would be rated at 0% service connected (since I did not experience a heart attack), at least this would make benefits available to my wife in the event I later had a fatal heart attack. Your thoughts ans suggestions would be appreciated.
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georgiapapa
Up until a couple of days ago, I never thought I had any heart problems other than a mitral valve prolapse. Earlier this week I had been to my private primary care doctor for a cough and intermittent chest pain. I had undergone a stress test and an echo of my heart in July by my cardiologist and was told everything looked fine so I did not think my recent chest pains were caused by heart problems. My pcp did a chest x-ray and EKG and said it wasn't my heart and he diagnosed me with pleurisy and bronchitis.
Wednesday night of this week I started experiencing severe chest pains and my wife called 911. I took an ambulance trip to the emergency room. After running some blood tests, I was told my cardiac enzymes were elevated and the cardiologist performed a heart cath. After the heart cath, the cardiologist informed me she had placed two stents in my heart due to a 99% blockage in one part of my LCD and 80% blockage in another part of my LCD. I believe the LCD she was referring to is the left anterior descending artery of my heart. My cardiologist advised that I did not have a heart attack but she said I was on the verge of a serious heart attack prior to placement of the stents. I am currently in the heart unit of my local hospital but I hope to be discharged this morning.
I am totally lost as to what I need to do in regards to a claim for AO related IHD. I am a boots on the ground Vietnam veteran so I think I would qualify under the AO presumptive policy. Any guidance anyone can give as to what is needed and how to proceed at this point in time would be appreciated. Even if I would be rated at 0% service connected (since I did not experience a heart attack), at least this would make benefits available to my wife in the event I later had a fatal heart attack. Your thoughts ans suggestions would be appreciated.
Georgiapapa...
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