Intro
Hi Gomer and others,
I had to take a break from the website. Physically no issues other than my everyday MS issues, just some psych stuff. I see we vets have own forum now. I am glad, I think I ticked off some of the civilians in the other threads and I know one that ticked me off and I refused to comment on any thread she posted on , yet she seemed to have to post on anything I posted on, so I took the hint and took a break.
About me: active duty Army 1984-1990, Army Reserve 1990-1993, took a break and then back to the Army Reserve 1996-2009 with a deployment to Kuwait in 2003 along with some sidetrips to Saudi, Iraq, Qatar, and UAE. I did all my time as an MP except for 1990-1993; I had to reclass to engineer because no open MP slots in units at home. On active duty, I did 2 tours in Germany with a year in between them to go to Presidio of Monterey(DLI) for german(graduated with honors). I am retired from the Army Reserve, put my retirement packet in June 2008, diagnosed with MS July 2009, got my retirement orders backdated to Feb 2009 in the Spring of 2010. LOL
I am also a federal civilian and I will say that the Office of Personnel Management, which handles retirement and disability for all federal agencies, is way worse than social security or the VA. I am not working because I was denied reasonable accommodation by my agency because I do not meet the statutory requirements of the job, so I am fighting for disability retirement.
I am service-connected disabled because I was diagnosed within 7 years of discharge from active duty. In hindsight, being activated was a blessing. Since I am service-connected, I go to the Nashville and Murfreesboro VA for all my healthcare needs. I have had nothing but good experiences; I prefer Murfreesboro(it's 10 min from home), but for some things, I have to go to Nashville. Murfreesboro is getting an MRI machine, so that will be one less thing to go to Nashville for in the future. I see that Dennis has had different experience with Nashville, I go to Nashville for dermatology, neurology, opthalmology and urology. Except for my dermatologist, it is usually a different doc everytime, but in Murfreesboro, I see the same PCP, physical therapist and psychologist. I have started seeing the same NP at the neuro clinic in Nashville and I really like her. She is going to put me on ampyra I am also on rebif, lyrica, and a host of other drugs for regularity and skin problems.
I never thought (nor did the docs) it was MS, until I fell and hit my head at work and the ER doc did a CT of my head and saw lesions. He saw that I put on the ER form that I had complained to my non-VA PCP about constipation and weird tight binding feelings in my torso. He also saw that I was seeing an ortho for my feet and had been referred to neuro for possible tarsal-tunnel syndrome in my feet and ankles with the test scheduled within the next week. I honestly thought that everybody experienced periods where certain body parts always fell asleep and wouldn't wake up(tingling). I thought I was just uncoordinated at times and prone to bumping into things and bruising.
I am a single mom of a wonderful 12yo daughter. She has put up with so much in the years leading up to the the MS diagnosis and since then, but we are both learning and she keeps me going when I want to quit. I can only hope that 2011, bring a closure to my fight for disability retirement and that I can bring a sense of normalcy to my daughter. I would also like to pursue going back to school, but I can't until the battle with OPM is done.
Feel free to ask or comment on anything, just don't trivialize my comments, ignore them before you comment on their worthlessness
Hi Gomer and others,
I had to take a break from the website. Physically no issues other than my everyday MS issues, just some psych stuff. I see we vets have own forum now. I am glad, I think I ticked off some of the civilians in the other threads and I know one that ticked me off and I refused to comment on any thread she posted on , yet she seemed to have to post on anything I posted on, so I took the hint and took a break.
About me: active duty Army 1984-1990, Army Reserve 1990-1993, took a break and then back to the Army Reserve 1996-2009 with a deployment to Kuwait in 2003 along with some sidetrips to Saudi, Iraq, Qatar, and UAE. I did all my time as an MP except for 1990-1993; I had to reclass to engineer because no open MP slots in units at home. On active duty, I did 2 tours in Germany with a year in between them to go to Presidio of Monterey(DLI) for german(graduated with honors). I am retired from the Army Reserve, put my retirement packet in June 2008, diagnosed with MS July 2009, got my retirement orders backdated to Feb 2009 in the Spring of 2010. LOL
I am also a federal civilian and I will say that the Office of Personnel Management, which handles retirement and disability for all federal agencies, is way worse than social security or the VA. I am not working because I was denied reasonable accommodation by my agency because I do not meet the statutory requirements of the job, so I am fighting for disability retirement.
I am service-connected disabled because I was diagnosed within 7 years of discharge from active duty. In hindsight, being activated was a blessing. Since I am service-connected, I go to the Nashville and Murfreesboro VA for all my healthcare needs. I have had nothing but good experiences; I prefer Murfreesboro(it's 10 min from home), but for some things, I have to go to Nashville. Murfreesboro is getting an MRI machine, so that will be one less thing to go to Nashville for in the future. I see that Dennis has had different experience with Nashville, I go to Nashville for dermatology, neurology, opthalmology and urology. Except for my dermatologist, it is usually a different doc everytime, but in Murfreesboro, I see the same PCP, physical therapist and psychologist. I have started seeing the same NP at the neuro clinic in Nashville and I really like her. She is going to put me on ampyra I am also on rebif, lyrica, and a host of other drugs for regularity and skin problems.
I never thought (nor did the docs) it was MS, until I fell and hit my head at work and the ER doc did a CT of my head and saw lesions. He saw that I put on the ER form that I had complained to my non-VA PCP about constipation and weird tight binding feelings in my torso. He also saw that I was seeing an ortho for my feet and had been referred to neuro for possible tarsal-tunnel syndrome in my feet and ankles with the test scheduled within the next week. I honestly thought that everybody experienced periods where certain body parts always fell asleep and wouldn't wake up(tingling). I thought I was just uncoordinated at times and prone to bumping into things and bruising.
I am a single mom of a wonderful 12yo daughter. She has put up with so much in the years leading up to the the MS diagnosis and since then, but we are both learning and she keeps me going when I want to quit. I can only hope that 2011, bring a closure to my fight for disability retirement and that I can bring a sense of normalcy to my daughter. I would also like to pursue going back to school, but I can't until the battle with OPM is done.
Feel free to ask or comment on anything, just don't trivialize my comments, ignore them before you comment on their worthlessness
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