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5 year Rating Protections

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broncovet

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Great info, now I'm trying to decide if any of this applies in my situation.  I'm almost 64 years old.  I have a total rating of 70%.  My lumbar disability has been 40% for about 15 years.  

I had surgery June of 2016, and requested temp 100% convalescence pay.  They finally granted it on reconsideration, but scheduled a C&P to see if my level of disability has changed.  I had the C&P exam two weeks ago, where the examiner claimed I had 50 degrees forward flexion, and now eBennies shows my lumbar spine rated at 20% effective that day.

Back in 2009, I filed for sciatica and for TDIU, and had a C&P exam in 2010.  The VA C&P examiner Nurse Practitioner, who was absolutely hateful and extremely dishonest, reported thoracolumbar forward flexion of 84 (YES, 84! degrees).  I can promise you there's no possible way I could have done that since 1973, but that's what she wrote down in the C&P report, and VA DID NOT attempt to reduce  my 40% lumbar spine.

But now, it looks like due to the surgery, after 15 years at 40%, I will be rated 20%.  

Believe me, I'm glad I had the surgery.  My spine was sliding forward so much that a wrong move could have meant a severed spinal cord.  My hips don't hurt as bad as they did.  My lower legs have issues, obviously, but are somewhat better than they were.  My Range of Motion really is probably still about 30 degrees + or - a little bit, and the surgeon said it probably wouldn't improve with four fused vertebrae and two 8" rods attached.  

However, I thought they might drop it to 20%, and as long as they followed the rules, I don't guess I'd have much recourse, but I want to make sure they're following their own guidelines.  They didn't warn me that they were seeking reduction, but it looks like it is happening.  

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