Broken

After such an excellent moment yesterday that lead to a good post. I'm sorry to upset those with this "down" post.

First off, I arrived home to find that my deductible I met last year was not credited to the change over in insurance in October. Meaning anything I had performed after the change over is not covered. Not too happy about that.....considering I already know I will owe over $150 presently, and that's without another test that I'm still waiting for the bill. (sigh)

Then we got a large envelope from Veterans Affairs. For those that don't know David has been suffering from a multitude of problems from during and after his military experience. Too many to list here. Not to mention, some of them quite personal. Back when he got out of the Marine Corps he filed for disability. Surprisingly he rated for a small amount. However, we weren't just happy for the disability rating, but more importantly that he had service connected coverage (if it's service connected you can go to the VA for treatment and it's covered.) As time goes on some of his problems that were supposedly "diagnosed" (with no successful treatments) have gotten worse. One of them being consistent non-stop pain. It wasn't until he self-diagnosed himself with fibromyalgia, with multiple doctors confirming the diagnosis, that he has had some "relief." Most of the relief has come from knowing what he has. Unfortunately the physical relief hasn't been much. As with endometriosis there is no cure for fibromyalgia. You just hope to keep it at bay with medications. After being diagnosed, determining that the military misdiagnosed/undiagnosed him, and having the conditions worsen, he decided that it was time to seek some form of disability through the VA. Not necessarily monetary, but at least service connected. While seeking further disability he had multiple other problems addressed during the process. After going through the process and hearing multiple legal people and doctors say that he should have rated for a higher disability long ago (in other words, "it's in the bag."), I must admit it was hard not to get our hopes up. We tried to keep ourselves in check. Fast forward 5 months later......

You know that VA envelope that we received today? Yes, that was the decision in regards to David's disability. And guess what it said. No further service connection disability granted. I read the 8 pages or so thoroughly. I couldn't keep my head from shaking in disbelief. Once again, it was hard not to be hopeful, but we couldn't believe it. Not only could I not believe no further service connection was granted, but as I read their reasons why they chose not to.....For instance, it was stated to the effect of, "Since fibromyalgia wasn't brought up until 2009 this is not service connected." Are you kidding me? True, the word Fibromyalgia was not mentioned prior to 2009, because it was never diagnosed as such. But look at his medical history. Everything aligns back then, to his symptoms now. The list goes on, all in the same sense.

So, where does that leave us? We can appeal. We will appeal. Thankfully we have some connections that should be able to help us. In addition, we have copies of 90% of David's medical history from the military. Once again, it'd be excellent to get monetary disability, but mostly what we're looking for is service connection.

The military broke my husband. In more ways than one. Most people, even the ones we know, have no idea what he went through while he was serving. And although him and I talk about everything I wouldn't be surprised if there are stories that I haven't heard. From the outside no one would know his history or what he's presently going through. He's a genuine nice guy that goes about his business day to day.

Some may think I'm mad. No. I'm sad. I'm not looking for a pity party. But sometimes I must admit, it's hard to face certain things. Here we are at 26 and 28, both with multiple health problems that most people never deal with, or will only deal with when they are older. I shake my head, but hey, those are the cards we've been dealt.