Hey guys,
Just wanted to get on here and share my story so that others may prevent themselves from entering the same situation.
Back in March of 2013 I injured myself PTing on base (Severe high ankle sprain). I reported the the Naval hospital where they gave me an injection of ibuprofen and sent me on my way (on a Friday too ... awesome). I gave it the entire weekend off with RICE, and Monday morning came and I couldn't stand up. I called the ship and they told me to come into work and see ships medical. It took two of my buddies to help me onto the ship and down to ship's medical just so that they (medical) could chastise me for going to the hospital on Friday.
They examined me and LT determined with his X-Ray eyes that everything was fine and I just needed to take it easy and wear a boot for a week or two (my ankle was blue and the size of a grapefruit). I insisted that I go and get imaging done because I have sprained my ankles before and this felt very different, and was told that, "He already told me no" and that if I went against his recommendation "I would be disobeying a direct order." Being the good 2nd class I was at the time, I bit my tongue and obeyed. I stay in a boot for 2 weeks and then hobbled around limping ... for 8 months.
Finally it came time to transfer, and upon my arrival to my new duty station I went to medical and reported my discomfort in my ankle. This discomfort ranged from a dull pain in the morning, to sharp pain that sent tingles up my leg, to a pain so bad that I would literally just fall over as my leg gave out from under me. They referred me to Ortho, who then referred me to get an MRI. I had my MRI on a Monday, Tuesday I was called by Ortho to schedule an immediate appointment, and was told that I needed surgery that Friday.
They discovered that I had a large Osteocondral Defect on the very top of my Talus where the Tibia meets and a rather large bone fragment "floating around" in my ankle destroying all the cartilage that was there. Also I had 2 torn ligaments on the outside of the same ankle (whoooo). The doctor actually said the words, "I can't believe you have been walking around on this!" I had surgery that Friday which included a Brostrom procedure to fix my ligaments and arthroscopy with debridement to help my Talus.
Of course, none of that worked and 5 months later I had another Arthroscopy that also ... didn't work. So I entered the IDES process at that point. If things weren't interesting enough, don't worry, they get better.
I started having a lot of pain in my left elbow and left ankle over time. After MRI's for both, they discovered i have a large Osteocondral Defect on my left ankle as well, with significant tendonitis in my left elbow (yay). But nobody will touch my left ankle, until my right ankle is strong enough to support the surgery, which isn't going to happen.
Here comes the C&P examination. It took over 30 days to get an examination scheduled, at a large VA facility, in a not so densely populated area. Whenever I finally got the examination, everything that could go wrong with the portion covering my ankles, went wrong.
The nurse filled out all of her notes on blank paper (red flag 1). She never actually asked me about how much pain I was in (red flag 2). She never watched me walk to see how difficult it was for me (red flag 3). But more important than all of that, she used the wrong tool to gage my range of motion, ROM, (BRIGHT RED FLAG 4).
This culminated in my report from the VA stating that I have 0-25 degrees of dorsiflexion and 0-45 degrees of plantar flexion (HAHA!) ... With every other REAL doctor I have seen in the last 3 years stating on the record nothing more than 3 degrees dorsiflexion, and 11 degrees plantar-flexion. I basically cannot move my right ankle, and I have ankylosis present within the ankle that causes pain and loss of ROM as well.
On her C&P report it even states on the page that I have decreased ROM due to ankylosis, and then literally 1 inch below that statement, in a block that says "Ankylosis present in ankle", she checked "No Ankylosis present". I couldn't believe my eyes, that someone could mess something up so bad whenever the statements are 1 inch apart, on the SAME PAGE! After noticing, I brought it up with my PEBLO and VA Advocate and both said I couldn't challenge a C&P exam and would have to move forward with the results.
This resulted in me putting a package together and sending it with my NARSUM that outlined my conditions and presented correct facts from my doctors over the past couple of years. It was cited as the reason I was found UNFIT, which was what I was looking for.
So my results came back UNFIT, but found me 20% DOD and 40% VA. I didn't really care about the DOD percentage as much as the 40% VA, which was broken down as 10% for each ankle, 10% for elbow and 10% for my tinnitus. 10% for my ankle is extremely low, especially whenever I literally cannot walk without a limp, and can't flex my foot practically at all. And due to my random falls that occur, my wife won't even let me carry my own son up to his room to change his diaper.
I was told that I could challenge the results, but that I would have to go to a formal board, and that nothing was guaranteed. I was told I could challenge the VA but that the C&P examination is basically gold to them, even though it is done by some Nurse and I have licensed Doctors over the past 3 years that contradict her statements. With my wife getting a new job across the county in our home of record, and starting in July, I accepted my findings so that I did not have to spend more time away from my son (you can replace money, but not time).
So now I am awaiting discharge, which by the way whenever i accepted my findings and selected a date, apparently the Navy looks at your date and laughs, because I was given a date 17 days earlier, even though I picked a date that was only 60 days from the day I was informed.
I was told my best bet moving forward is to create a new claim for my ankles after I am discharged and present all the relevant information to the new VA i will be at at that time.
Anyways thats most of my life story, there is a whole lot more to it but my fingers got tired so that is what you get. If anyone has any questions or thoughts please post them! Have a great upcoming weekend!
Just wanted to get on here and share my story so that others may prevent themselves from entering the same situation.
Back in March of 2013 I injured myself PTing on base (Severe high ankle sprain). I reported the the Naval hospital where they gave me an injection of ibuprofen and sent me on my way (on a Friday too ... awesome). I gave it the entire weekend off with RICE, and Monday morning came and I couldn't stand up. I called the ship and they told me to come into work and see ships medical. It took two of my buddies to help me onto the ship and down to ship's medical just so that they (medical) could chastise me for going to the hospital on Friday.
They examined me and LT determined with his X-Ray eyes that everything was fine and I just needed to take it easy and wear a boot for a week or two (my ankle was blue and the size of a grapefruit). I insisted that I go and get imaging done because I have sprained my ankles before and this felt very different, and was told that, "He already told me no" and that if I went against his recommendation "I would be disobeying a direct order." Being the good 2nd class I was at the time, I bit my tongue and obeyed. I stay in a boot for 2 weeks and then hobbled around limping ... for 8 months.
Finally it came time to transfer, and upon my arrival to my new duty station I went to medical and reported my discomfort in my ankle. This discomfort ranged from a dull pain in the morning, to sharp pain that sent tingles up my leg, to a pain so bad that I would literally just fall over as my leg gave out from under me. They referred me to Ortho, who then referred me to get an MRI. I had my MRI on a Monday, Tuesday I was called by Ortho to schedule an immediate appointment, and was told that I needed surgery that Friday.
They discovered that I had a large Osteocondral Defect on the very top of my Talus where the Tibia meets and a rather large bone fragment "floating around" in my ankle destroying all the cartilage that was there. Also I had 2 torn ligaments on the outside of the same ankle (whoooo). The doctor actually said the words, "I can't believe you have been walking around on this!" I had surgery that Friday which included a Brostrom procedure to fix my ligaments and arthroscopy with debridement to help my Talus.
Of course, none of that worked and 5 months later I had another Arthroscopy that also ... didn't work. So I entered the IDES process at that point. If things weren't interesting enough, don't worry, they get better.
I started having a lot of pain in my left elbow and left ankle over time. After MRI's for both, they discovered i have a large Osteocondral Defect on my left ankle as well, with significant tendonitis in my left elbow (yay). But nobody will touch my left ankle, until my right ankle is strong enough to support the surgery, which isn't going to happen.
Here comes the C&P examination. It took over 30 days to get an examination scheduled, at a large VA facility, in a not so densely populated area. Whenever I finally got the examination, everything that could go wrong with the portion covering my ankles, went wrong.
The nurse filled out all of her notes on blank paper (red flag 1). She never actually asked me about how much pain I was in (red flag 2). She never watched me walk to see how difficult it was for me (red flag 3). But more important than all of that, she used the wrong tool to gage my range of motion, ROM, (BRIGHT RED FLAG 4).
This culminated in my report from the VA stating that I have 0-25 degrees of dorsiflexion and 0-45 degrees of plantar flexion (HAHA!) ... With every other REAL doctor I have seen in the last 3 years stating on the record nothing more than 3 degrees dorsiflexion, and 11 degrees plantar-flexion. I basically cannot move my right ankle, and I have ankylosis present within the ankle that causes pain and loss of ROM as well.
On her C&P report it even states on the page that I have decreased ROM due to ankylosis, and then literally 1 inch below that statement, in a block that says "Ankylosis present in ankle", she checked "No Ankylosis present". I couldn't believe my eyes, that someone could mess something up so bad whenever the statements are 1 inch apart, on the SAME PAGE! After noticing, I brought it up with my PEBLO and VA Advocate and both said I couldn't challenge a C&P exam and would have to move forward with the results.
This resulted in me putting a package together and sending it with my NARSUM that outlined my conditions and presented correct facts from my doctors over the past couple of years. It was cited as the reason I was found UNFIT, which was what I was looking for.
So my results came back UNFIT, but found me 20% DOD and 40% VA. I didn't really care about the DOD percentage as much as the 40% VA, which was broken down as 10% for each ankle, 10% for elbow and 10% for my tinnitus. 10% for my ankle is extremely low, especially whenever I literally cannot walk without a limp, and can't flex my foot practically at all. And due to my random falls that occur, my wife won't even let me carry my own son up to his room to change his diaper.
I was told that I could challenge the results, but that I would have to go to a formal board, and that nothing was guaranteed. I was told I could challenge the VA but that the C&P examination is basically gold to them, even though it is done by some Nurse and I have licensed Doctors over the past 3 years that contradict her statements. With my wife getting a new job across the county in our home of record, and starting in July, I accepted my findings so that I did not have to spend more time away from my son (you can replace money, but not time).
So now I am awaiting discharge, which by the way whenever i accepted my findings and selected a date, apparently the Navy looks at your date and laughs, because I was given a date 17 days earlier, even though I picked a date that was only 60 days from the day I was informed.
I was told my best bet moving forward is to create a new claim for my ankles after I am discharged and present all the relevant information to the new VA i will be at at that time.
Anyways thats most of my life story, there is a whole lot more to it but my fingers got tired so that is what you get. If anyone has any questions or thoughts please post them! Have a great upcoming weekend!
