100% Permament & Total, Smc Housebound--Can I Work? Confused!

[Waynoe]

Hello, I have been rated service connected 100% Permanent and Total Disabled with a SMC Special Monthly Compensation-S and that I have been found to meet the housebound criteria. I also receive SSDI. The 100% is based on one claim--others follow with an accumulated 165% service connected disablement. Retirement date: Jan 2006

I recently received a Bachelor's degree under the Post 9/11 program.

I'm cautiously seeking some extra income as a trial, however, I am confused with all of the information I have sought over the internet to include the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 38 in particular section 4.15.

My regional VA Officer said that it shows that I am 100% service connected P&T and that I can make any amount I choose without penalty.

Can anyone help unconfuse me on all of this information? and/or Am I risking much too much?

[carlie]

Could be a possibility you loose the SMC/S - but I doubt it,

just posting this as food for thought.

jmho

[Waynoe]

Thank you all for your posts, jbasser--I'll look into the ticket for work program. I've checked it out pretty good, but I will give it another glance.

Also, thank you Pete53--the older I get the more I'm seeing "caution" one must take before proceding with both the VA and SSA.

I will be visiting a VA "center/Lounge" tomorrow and I'll have plenty of questions to ask. If I have to play it save than that is what I'll do!

Waynoe

[Berta]

I too am concerned with what Carlie mentioned....

If SMC S is awarded for Housebound, that means the VA considers you to be basically confined to your home.

Of course many people work from their home these days.MY PC man works in India every night

( but what I mean is he teaches PC stuff via the net ,from his home, for a large PC firm ,to people in India and certainly makes good wages doing that.)

But he is not Housebound....

It might depend on how the VA wrote up the SMC S determination. when they awarded you the S award.

I assume you seek employment that would be outside of your home.

[Berta]

gee I forgot to add, you did VERY well on your claim!

"Also, my rating is based on a rare disease of my lungs and midsection for breathing in spores while doing my military duties (job). The disease is called Mediastinal Fibrosis and deadly--it is not in the ratings schedules--I had to fight for it. I once needed a lungs and heart transplant, but a Surgical doctor put stents inside my lungs because my pulmonary arteries were closing with some already closed."

I assume they gave you an analogous rating..... what diagnostic code did they use?

Also it could help others here to know what the VA attributed this disability to, in your service.

"breathing in spores' .... can you tell us a little more on that and when and where you served?

Mediastinal Fibrosis ...I got 348 hits on that at the BVA web site..... but some may not be the same condition you have...just maybe the word Fibrosis is in many of them...

Were the spores from inside buildings or within the outdoor environment?

Do you also have a heart condition that this caused and is that service connected too?...


"I had to fight for it" I sure commend you for taking them on!!!!!!!!!!

[Waynoe]

Hello all, to address carlie and Berta.

The SMC-S was based on my accumulation of Rating (165%). I don't think that I will lose that, because most of my ratings are a result of Mediastinal Fibrosis with the exception of "bad knees" which at this time are rated 0%.

To address Berta about questions and Mediastinal Fibrosis--yes you assumed right, I am looking for work outside the home on a trial basis, because I never know what my future holds, short-term nor long-term. I am contemplating AmeriCorps--a company that has volunteer positions to allow people to earn a little income and at the same time earn an education stipend. The position I'm seeking helps Disabled Vets around the USA.

They didn't rate the disease under any code because there are none. I had to prove my case! How?

-- I breathed in a spore call Histoplasmosis--a result of running network cable in a hanger in the beams where pigeon droppings reside--so I breathed in a lot. Not thinking anything about it, I noticed over the next 5 years a chronic dry cough, flu-like symptoms in which I was seeking military doctor help. For 5 years they said I had the flu and "exited" me out the doors. The Histoplasmosis is treatable with a drug call Sporanox; however, unfortunately (for me), the Histoplasmosis when untreated, it becomes fatal in the form of Mediastinal Fibroses--this has left my lungs and midsection a mess.

-- I have 3 stints in my upper left pulmonary artery (this is what saved my life). I then approximate 3 years later, had a small stint placed in my right lower lobe because that part of the lung was dying for lack of oxygen—I was very short of breath. NOTE: The stints are dangerous to insert, because the surgeon has to run a cathedral through veins and ultimately through the heart to get to the closing pulmonary arteries. The danger is that if when they go to put the cathedral into the pulmonary artery, the opening is very small and on top of that the cathedral is "bouncing" with the beating of your heart. When they "shoot" the cathedral into the artery it can burst it and you will immediately die. Fortunately for me, both procedures were a success and I walked out of the hospital.

-- When they put the stints in they do a systolic and diastolic pressure reading in your lungs--same as a cardio echo; however, the reading withing the lungs is extremely accurate and rare to get. My reading was at a rate of one at exercise--this causes the heart to work hard all day long to get the oxygen to the needed places of the body which in turn causes extreme fatigue (many naps-- ). This was how I won my case, because my pressure was way above other 100% scheduled listings' qualifications.

Hope this answers all of your questions and moreover helps any others that unfortunately find themselves with this ugly disease. There is quite a bit of information on the Internet about Mediastinal Fibrosis now for there was very, very little when I found out about the "sickness".

--

[Berta]

WOW, you sure explained all that very well.

And you sure have a good understanding of your medical conditions , which every vet (and their spouses) need to have as well.

OK SMC S for 100% plus 60 .....not Housebound.....

Great...but not great with all you deal with........

"pigeon droppings".......... now I understand your disability better...I thought maybe it was from mold spores....

The Military can be a dangerous place, wherever one serves and due to whatever they do.

Our moderator and Radio show host, Jbasser knows exactly what you described above and I wish he was a VA doctor because he is so smart!

Thanks for that very informative explanation. It could definitely help someone else out there who might have been exposed the same way and incurred this disease.

I still believe sea bird urine and feces on decks of ships in the Pacific contaminated sailors with AO.

Sea birds can carry dioxin levels in their bodies for a very long time.