Va disability & C&P question regarding veteran with suicide risk

[Lagin02]

So my husband is going though the VA disability process. He began treatment in April doing CPT which aggravated his symptoms immensely. In May, he was fired from the job he has held for 8 years. In June, he was put on disability leave from his National Guard unit after command became aware of his suicide risk and they have mandated that he continues the therapy which is only making the situation worse. He has been in for 15 years and most likely will be medically chaptered out which has worsened his depression significantly. Due to his suicidal thoughts I am trying to manage this financial crisis as best I can because I’m afraid he is being pushed over the edge. He just stares off into space and sits in our basement. I filed for VA disability at the beginning of June because prior to all this he was our only source of income. I left my job a couple months before he was fired because my income was not enough to cover daycare after our son was born. I can’t leave him alone with the kids in the state he is in right now. I payed off our bills for a couple months with our savings but we only have a month left before we will be homeless. I also expedited his claim due to financial hardship in June. His claim seems open and shut to me. He did is C&P exam in July 31st but the VA still haven’t received the report (it was a VA doctor that did it not a contractor).  I called on Thursday to ask where it is and was told “it’s not ready yet” by the office where it was conducted. 

My understanding is you must prove three things:

The stressor:

His stressor occurred in Iraq in 2007. There was a CID investigation due to the circumstances around the event and there are still people in his unit that were in Iraq with him and knew what happened. I don’t want to write details because it would defeat the purpose of confidentiality but there is no denying that it was extremely traumatic and involved death and serious injury of service members in a small convoy. I also have a memorandum signed by the commander sending my husband to the combat stress unit in Iraq after the incident when he became suicidal. In my mind there is no denying the stressor. 

A current diagnosis: 

He is currently under treatment for PTSD at the VA doing CPT and is on medication. His team wants him to do an in-patient program in Chicago but as it stands with our impending homelessness, it just isn’t an opinion right now. 

The Nexus: 

He marked off symptoms of ptsd on his demobilization paperwork and stated he encountered stressors. In his periodic health assessment 6-month and also 1 year follow-ups for his Iraq deployment it shows he endorsed every symptom of PTSD and one Depression question. He was supposed to be referred to mental health according to this form but for whatever reason it slipped through the cracks. His current treatment is focused on the events that occurred during his first deployment. 

I called the VA homeless assistance line and was told that they will place my husband in transitional housing but me and our children (6-month-old and 9-years-old) will need to “find somewhere else to go.” I called the White House VA line and was told “I am so sorry but I don’t know what else I can tell you to do” His ebenifits portal broke 6 weeks ago due to duplicate files and was supposed to be fixed 3 weeks ago but is still broken. I have called veteran resources but all in our area require we have a “resolution” if they assist which we don’t because I don’t know if or when he will start to improve. 

So if your still with me, I have a couple questions: 

How long does it take for the doctor to send a C&P exam? Is it normal that it wouldn’t be don’t weeks after the exam? 

What are the chances that this will be resolved before the end of September when we will be homeless? If we do become homeless how do we follow up with the case with no address? 

Will the transitional housing be able to make sure he doesn’t follow through with his suicidal thoughts? I’m afraid that separating our family and having to toss everything we have build over the last 10 years will push him over the edge and I won’t be there to make sure he is okay. 

Is there anything else I can or should be doing? 

Is there any chance he could get better soon? Like it gets really bad but than starts then better? He has a bachelor’s degree and if he stops staring off into space and having these episodes he could get a job paying good money or I can work and he can watch the kids. I can’t imagine throwing everything we own in a dumpster, having my family torn apart, and taking my kids to a homeless shelter. I don’t even know how to explain it to my 9-year-old. He always struggled but at least he was functioning by numbing everything and isolation prior to opening this can of worms. We were financially comfortable so I just don’t understand how things got so bad so fast.

[ShrekTheTank]

2 hours ago, Lagin02 said:

The senators office got back to me today. They requested documents to prove what I was saying and I sent them everything. The DHS notice of cancellation of our food assistance over $10, the VA homeless note out of my husbands blue button report, past due bills, and case status with completion date on VA.gov. I sent everything and including  a form for my husband to sign allowing the senator to do a inquiry. Under the section asking for details I wrote “a news organization is interested in doing an interview but they want to do it while we are throwing our stuff out to go to a homeless shelter and I would prefer not to humiliate my children and husband if I can prevent it. They called my 10 minutes after I faxed it and said they are requesting a “dire need decision” and senators aid said she already spoke with her VA lesion to let her know that the paperwork would be sent by tomorrow morning and this needs to be resolved quickly.  She also said that someone from VBA (I think) would be contacting me soon to assist with past due bills. 

I have never heard of the "Dire need decision"   Sounds like you hit the right door hard enough!  Now knock that sucker over!  Do not give them an inch!  They can do far more than they say they can!  

For me when my senator made a request for me, within a week I had my back pay!   So this is very good news!  

[vetquest]

@Lagin02, looks like you have stirred up a hornet's nest.  Keep banging on it until you get full resolution.  I also have never heard of a "dire need decision" but it sounds good.

[GeekySquid]

3 hours ago, Lagin02 said:

The senators office got back to me today. They requested documents to prove what I was saying and I sent them everything. The DHS notice of cancellation of our food assistance over $10, the VA homeless note out of my husbands blue button report, past due bills, and case status with completion date on VA.gov. I sent everything and including  a form for my husband to sign allowing the senator to do a inquiry. Under the section asking for details I wrote “a news organization is interested in doing an interview but they want to do it while we are throwing our stuff out to go to a homeless shelter and I would prefer not to humiliate my children and husband if I can prevent it. They called my 10 minutes after I faxed it and said they are requesting a “dire need decision” and senators aid said she already spoke with her VA lesion to let her know that the paperwork would be sent by tomorrow morning and this needs to be resolved quickly.  She also said that someone from VBA (I think) would be contacting me soon to assist with past due bills. 

Thats how you burn this mother DOWN!!! Make them scurry like the rats they can be¡

[Buck52]

Lagin02

So sorry to read about all what your going through, its just ridiculous what you and your family is going through, but your not alone it happens to a lot of veterans,,,from established ones that come down with a  service connected diseases/Injury's later in life and can't work and support their family's and then wait on the VA to help and release his/her benefits and during the waiting period the veteran loses everything he has worked for all his life, this type situation only make things get worse.

what you have did is about all you can do..as for as being homeless  if your family gets kicked to the street...Are they any =family you and your hubby/kids can go stay with? until these issues are solved? or a good friend? i

if so just put in a change of address in to that location  and stay put until the VA Issues your hubby his deserved benefits.  he should get some back pay when they award his decision  and it should be at the 100% rate.

Your hubby issues should go to the front of the line  but unfortunately  it just don't seem to work that way   until we lose everything and our family's are broke into  and that's a crying damn shame.

After he is awarded a favorable decision  Be sure to check his early effective date,,it will be when he first filed his claim  so you will need to check this date when he is awarded a decision. (for back pay)

unfortunately the politicians do nothing to help veterans like your hubby  maybe they are afraid they will lose some of their high paying income of around 250.000 a year or more   grrrrrrrrrrr

We have plenty of room and an extra bedroom you and your family would be welcome to come stay with us for free  no cost to you or your family what so ever  food and shelter is something we give to our fellow brother in dire need unconditionally...but we realize you maybe in another state far away.....but do try  and seek help from family and friends....if theres no one that will help...well then you know who your friends once were.

Keep your chinn up and have faith  things will get better

God Bless you guys  and I hope and pray the VA comes to a decision soon.

 

[Berta]

Me too Buck- today is the first time I have been able to read all this----

I do believe the VA will grant him compensation-and that your situation will get better.

But, as a PTSD spouse myself, I hope he might consider the PTSD in house program at some point.

I don't know if it is the same type on program you mentioned that  my husband was in. Inhouse 21 days at the Buffalo VAMC.All combat vets.

It was the first really effective treatment he got from VA, in addition to a VA PTSD  psychologist who, after a battle I had with them, started to treat him. His other VA psychologist was a wonderful man, but was the VAMC's employee Shrink.

My husband was only employed by VA for a few years and should have been with their PTSD psyche for years after that.That other psychologist did not have a good background in  PTSD and refused to document anything ( because he dealt with alot of personal employee problems and did not trust the VA , as their employer, to have access to the counseling sessions).

The inhouse program altered the direction of his anger, and gave him better ways to cope with it.He also was appalled at how a few other veterans there described their behavior with their spouses,in the group sessions  and was ashamed to admit , to the VA, for the first time since  he first went to VA in 1983 that he too had considered his spouse as a blame target.( and also his ex wife). Survival guilt causes  a lot of anger in combat veterans, but they can learn to cope with anger better.

Here in NY if someone is fired they can collect unemployment insurance,if they have paid into the UC system enough......butmaybe he couldn't because of the drill pay...???

I worked at a VA Vet center and his symptom of staring, and tuning everything out , I guess you might call it ? ,is something I never saw in the PTSD vets I worked with.I am assuming he never had any type of TBI inservice?

It is an unusual symptom,but maybe just a coping mechanism, that can get better with treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

[GeekySquid]

44 minutes ago, Berta said:

I worked at a VA Vet center and his symptom of staring, and tuning everything out , I guess you might call it ? ,is something I never saw in the PTSD vets I worked with.

just as information the conditions is called disassociation, and is in many ways like a flashback in that the vet is "seeing" events in their mind, like watching a movie unfold. some vets live out that event in real-time while others just "see it" in their mind without any external display.

Like with all MH conditions the "strength" of the particular event is individual dependent.

While this "seeing events" is a bad thing for them, it can change and they can experience the real time re-living of events like are commonly associated with PTSD flashbacks. These can be much worse in the grander scheme of things because they include a potential danger to others if the veterans "sees" them as an enemy during the flashback.