ICD installed, what to expect?

S

sgt.c.king

PEB Forum Regular Member
A little history about my condition. I was medivac'd for heart palpitations. Over a 6 month process I ended up receiving a Medtronics insertable loop monitor. I ended up having 22 "Recorded" episodes of VTach and 23 "Recorded" asystole events. I went in last Monday for an EP study and a possible ablation. They ended up ruling everything out except for what I took as a severe case of VTach, so they put in an ICD. Now my orders just came back reassigning me to WTU.

So here are my questions. I have no recorded history of this, and from what my Electrophysiologist tells me this condition can just come about. In your opinions, am I likely to get service connected?

Also, I have been reading a lot of forums on the net and what I am gathering is I could be found fit for duty and/or only get 10% disability. From what I read in the regs though, it states I am unfit for duty and should receive 100% / 100% for the ICD. Being as how that is the regs, how much room to wiggle does the meb/peb process have?

I have 15 years in, and my goal is to get the medical retirement at 100% and VA disability at 100%. Do you think this sounds like a stretch or wishful thinking?

Any advice or knowledge on this would be great.
 
Okay, so I just spoke with my Electrophysiologist and this is what I got from him. Hope this helps with anyone's reply.

I have officially been diagnosed with "Sustained Symptomatic Ventricular Tachycardia."

He stated that I will require an AICD for life.

I am thinking that because of this I should have no problem for Permanent and 100%. The Sustained VT is 100% and the ICD is 100%. And since he put in my records "For Life," I am hoping they rate me permanent.
 
Sounds like you are thinking/analyzing this correctly. If you are unfit, you should get 100% from the military. That is the only caveat that I can see, if they somehow found you fit. This seems unlikely, but depending on the impact on your duties, your treatment providers assessments and your chain of command's input, it could possibly happen. Again, I doubt it, but the facts of your case could change the outcome.

Hope both your health condition and your MEB/PEB go well for you!
 
Like I had said, I have orders to WTU, so my C.O.C. is tracking that I wanted to start the MEB when I get there. For some reason I got a call at 0630 today telling me to go see my BN PA to start my MEB in the morning. I was a little worried why they are trying to start it 3 weeks before I report to wtu.

I called my civilian cardiologist and my electrophysiologist today to see about any info I might need to take with me. Luckily my EP is also the director of the VA here in Nashville, and his office said that the report they sent the army is most likely the reason they are calling me in.

His report states "Sustained Sympomatic V-Tach." With that being said I have all those recorded events of VT and the Asystole. So they said that they are assuming the army got the report and wants to get rid of me ASAP. Not sure if it works that way, but hopefully soon. I have not been allowed to go to work since March, so I hope that will also play in my favor. That and my profile says "absolutely no physical or emotional stress."

I'll post tomorrow and tell what the PA is doing. I know him well so I am sure he will share with me why he is being rushed on this.
 
Jason,
If you could let ppl know what almost happened to me that would be great. Now I don't know how it was going to play out or what-not, but I found out that it was TriCare that had been calling my BN PA and telling him to start a MEB on me. Like I said, I am not sure how that was going to play for me, but ultimately I did not want my BN or Tricare having anything to do with my MEB so I signed in early from Con Leave and signed into WTU. I figure they would be less likely to be influenced by TriCare.

Have you ever heard of TriCare butting into the MEB process? My PA specifically said that TriCare called them to have them start my med board. It just seems really out of their lane to be butting into that.

It just got me thinking that I did not want any politics or anything effecting my deal. And I had orders to WTU already, I was just waiting until after con leave to report. Oh well, two weeks less of con leave to have the professionals take care of me.
 
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