Apologies for the long post. I am a 17 year Captain with 8 years prior enlisted, and I am a pilot. I am being MEB’d for my right knee. I had surgery last May to replace cartilage and fix the alignment of my knee cap. My off base surgeon told me to expect at least a year of rehab before getting back to my new normal. I have been told by her and my physical therapist that I shouldn’t run anymore so I don’t wear out the cartilage that was replaced. I had another similar surgery in 2014 to replace cartilage and it failed after 1.5 years.
What irritates me is that every time I went to the Flight Doc to update them on my progress; not once was I told that I would MEB’d since I was still healing. In the NARSUM that went to AFPC on 13 Feb, the doctor said Unfit for Duty and poor prognosis. My CC said return to duty if I could go to a non-flying/non-deployable position, and painted a good picture of me for doing admin work. The DAWG review prior to going up said “Fit”.
I have had 5 surgeries on the same knee for the same issue in 6 years. I can’t run on it to egress an airplane or be deployable so I know where the Flight Doc is coming from.
Also, this process has made my anxiety worse. Mental Health has tried to help me out over the past couple years in hopes of getting me back to flying. After my son was born and clung to life for the better part of 2 months and my wife nearly died in child birth, I was diagnosed with acute PTSD, then adjustment disorder, then nothing. Six months after I stopped Zoloft, I had a pretty stressful situation and needed to go back on medication. I did well for about 9 months until the MEB started last month, and now I am on more Zoloft and an anti-anxiety drug and diagnosed with “Unspecified Anxiety”.
I am wondering if I need to be MEB'd for the recurring anxiety or if that will just come out in the process.
What irritates me is that every time I went to the Flight Doc to update them on my progress; not once was I told that I would MEB’d since I was still healing. In the NARSUM that went to AFPC on 13 Feb, the doctor said Unfit for Duty and poor prognosis. My CC said return to duty if I could go to a non-flying/non-deployable position, and painted a good picture of me for doing admin work. The DAWG review prior to going up said “Fit”.
I have had 5 surgeries on the same knee for the same issue in 6 years. I can’t run on it to egress an airplane or be deployable so I know where the Flight Doc is coming from.
Also, this process has made my anxiety worse. Mental Health has tried to help me out over the past couple years in hopes of getting me back to flying. After my son was born and clung to life for the better part of 2 months and my wife nearly died in child birth, I was diagnosed with acute PTSD, then adjustment disorder, then nothing. Six months after I stopped Zoloft, I had a pretty stressful situation and needed to go back on medication. I did well for about 9 months until the MEB started last month, and now I am on more Zoloft and an anti-anxiety drug and diagnosed with “Unspecified Anxiety”.
I am wondering if I need to be MEB'd for the recurring anxiety or if that will just come out in the process.