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Old Tue Jun 4, 2019, 09:14 PM
Bob Macfarlane Bob Macfarlane is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Soutwest Ranches, Florida
Posts: 126
Finally ??

Hard to believe, very close to fifteen years ago now that I filed a claim with Veterans' Affairs for MDS.

Ten years ago the Board of Veterans' Appeals ruled that my MDS had been caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam and remanded the claim back to Saint Petersburg to be rated. Months after the remand the region found a doctor willing to opine that "YES, MDS is cancer but not malignant in MY CASE.

On March 10, 2015, I had a second hearing before the BVA. Another positive decision but also another remand in 2017. Somehow, I got blessed and the claim did not end up going back to Saint Petersburg but remained in DC with a group that was supposed to be a FAST TRACK.

Just this past week (almost two years after fast track) I received a Fed Ex package tell me to go to a non-VA (Labcorp) on Monday, June 10, 2019, for a CBC. Funny because the VA does a CBC at least once a month and often times twice.

Then yesterday, I received another package saying I have an interview with a NP on Saturday, June 8, 2019. She is supposed to ask me how my life has been affected by MDS. Her expertise is in high blood pressure and diabetes. My BP runs around 105 / 55 and A1C is normal. Guess I will spend the time educating her on MDS.

Why bother when I was rated at 100% in 2010? According to the coding for MDS I should be rated at 60%. Between 2005 and 2010 I was rated at 40%. The additional 60% would have put me at 100%. Today a veteran with a spouse at 40% receives $685 at 100% it is $3,227. 60 months at a difference of about $2,600 per month does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the "Why bother."

It has been a heck of a ride but I swore I would live until this was settled.
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