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    Anyone still Active Duty?

    Looking to see if there is anyone else that stayed active duty.
    I was diagnosed 2011 and long story short fought a medical retirement and managed to stay active duty.

    #2
    Still AD

    I am still on AD status as well. My initial MEB was completed in 2010 and my yearly reviews have been good. I am C-2, which means no PCS anywhere without a Neurologist within 60 miles, however, I am like you, very thankful to get to stay AD and do what I love.

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      #3
      Originally posted by AF PA View Post
      I am still on AD status as well. My initial MEB was completed in 2010 and my yearly reviews have been good. I am C-2, which means no PCS anywhere without a Neurologist within 60 miles, however, I am like you, very thankful to get to stay AD and do what I love.
      Awesome I didnt think there was anyone else. I see AF, so are you Air Force?

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        #4
        There's a few of us...

        I am in the AF. There are a few of us, I have actually had one other ADAF MS patient in my career. I am typically pretty cryptic about who I am because I don't like people to know I have MS. I think I feel a little guilty because I got to remain on AD even though majority of people like us would have gotten early retirement.
        What branch are you in? What meds did you start on? I really appreciate being AD because I have no issues getting meds approved, I have been on Tysabri for over a year without any insurance issues. I hope you are having as good of military experience as me.

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          #5
          Pretty good expierence staying in so far, I have been looked at differently by some leadership and have had some comments made towards it. Alot of times I get people saying oh curvature of the spine...
          Im Army been in for a little over a year since appealing the medical boards decision to medically retire me. I started out taking Rebif then moved on to Gilenya. Much better since now I dont have to worry about keeping it cool when I go to the field, and possibly could deploy again.
          Rough start though I was stationed in the middle of nowhere in Germany and had to drive atleast 6hrs to get the hospital in Rammstein so there wasnt really support where I was.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Bryan333 View Post
            Looking to see if there is anyone else that stayed active duty.
            I was diagnosed 2011 and long story short fought a medical retirement and managed to stay active duty.
            Yes my wife is and she was just Dx'd yesterday during her first Neuro appointment. She is AD with approx 14 years in.. So far the base knows nothing about this and we are trying to figure out the best way to handle it with them. We are both in the AF (ANG) fulltime however I am a Federal Technician but she is AGR (AD) with all the same benefits as any AD person.

            Being on a Guard Base means we have no medical facilities so everything she does is with Civilian doctors and hospitals. We are both Civil Engineering troops and I am the Chief of the squadron and she is our Training Manager. She is in a non-deployable position but I know that she will never be able to pass a PT test again. She has an office job with zero physical taskings other than the PT test.

            I have read where some have been put out with pretty good benefits and some have what I think got the shaft, and some have been fortunate enough to be able to keep their position. She has two weeks worth of test before the Neurologist determines the type MS and severity along with treatment options so I think we are going to keep it quite until then and see what we think her options are going to be.

            If anyone has any insight or experiences that might help us we would appreciate it.

            Thanks,, ...

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              #7
              I haven't been AD since 1993 but I'm thinking you have two major issues to deal with right now.

              The most important is your wife's health. Like I said before, MS is serious. Its rarely fatal but your wife needs to respect what it is and what it can do. People who get bad news usually go through stages of grief, this is very normal and many of us have dealt with it. That means stay on YOUR toes. Both of you may go through some forms of the process. I'm sure neither of you planned for MS and there's a lot of unknowns you're both feeling. As the spouse, try not to over-committ to anything.

              There's a lot to learn about MS, just don't try to learn all of it in one night. To be honest, all of us here have MS but I think we all make up our own rules for dealling with it as we go. None of us, as far as I know, has the exact same symtoms or degree of progression. So, don't jump to conclusions. One of the universal thruths about MS, though, is that stress will make it worse, for both of you.

              The next issue is how the service plans to deal with your wife. A lot of this may be out of your control. Now might be a good time to start going through the regs so you're sure of your wife's rights within the service. Is there a way one or both of you can "lawyer up" within the system and chain of command? Who would she use as an advocate? Would both of you trust them to do the right things? You don't need to to look into this right now, but you might want to have a plan of attack thought out once you have a better idea of what's going on.

              You've got a good plan of keeping things quiet for now.
              Once the word gets out, you can't get it back. That includes the base and the in-laws and friends. People can sometimes make things really bad for what they think are all the right reasons.

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                #8
                Hello,

                Glad to see you made it over here. AF PA is a great resource as she, as she stated, "one of the lucky ones" as she got to stay on AD. She is in a critical job as was I.

                Are ya'll AF? If yes, she could be exempt from all the PT components except waist circumference with a profile. My chain of command wasn't told "officially" until I was picked for deployment to Afghanistan and then I had to tell my SQ CC that I had been given a probable MS diagnosis and then a month later it was confirmed.

                So I was diagnosed 3/22/2011 and then was officially retired as of 8/28/12. I was given 100% disabled rating by the VA, 30% by the AF (which is the minimum they give for MS). They VA looked at everything (literally) in my medical records, I believe when it was all said and done, I was at 270%. I have full use of base privileges, health insurance, etc.

                If it were me, I would wait for the "official diagnosis" before I inform the chain, not saying anything would be a whole different issue and although its likely MS, wait for the definite.

                Take care
                Melissa (dx. 3/22/2011)

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                  #9
                  Thanks for the insight and information. I feel that we had the official diagnosis the other day with the Neurologist. I stated that everything he had seen so far was pointing right at MS and I took it that the 17 test he has lined up for her is to determine severity, type and treatment options. I suppose they are also serving as a confirmation to what he pretty much already knows. This decision as of right now lies upon two MRI's that show lesions in the brain and the next MRI's are for her back and other areas.

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                    #10
                    This is where MS can get confusing.

                    Think of MS more as a label. Its actually a pretty straight forward thing- for unknown reasons the immune system has started treating the outer covering (Mylen) of the nervous system as foreign bodies. That's the core of what MS is. You can't feel the actual damage. What you really feel is the fallout of having damaged nerve pathways. MS also has a narrow DX window in terms of how often the nerve tissue is attacked. A nerve pathway without Mylen is like a bare wire without insulation. The signal that nerve carries might get shorted out or, since there are other bare wires nearby, might get sent to the wrong location.

                    There are also other diseases which can mimic that fallout, many times MS is DX'ed by exclusion of other causes.

                    The brain and spinal chord MRIs are important. Nerve tissue under attack tends to become inflammed and the MRI allows the docs to see it happening. The MRI can pin point where nerve tissue has been damaged in the past.

                    There's also another test called a Lumbar Puncture where fluid from the spinal chord is extracted and tested. This test can only show that damage to nerve tissue in the spine has occured in the past, it can't show where it happened. Think of the LP as an indicator and the MRI as the truth.

                    Your wife's Neuro will also want to perform some tests for reflexes and make other observations. You can check into them on the main forum but bare in mind that its much better if you don't know what they are yet. If we think we know what the Dr. is looking for, we can change our behavior enough to either show a positive or negative result by mistake and this just makes the diagnosis process more complex. Its better to be a "clean slate" during that first physical.

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                      #11
                      Hi Hank...

                      I would consider "official diagnosis" at the point the neuro says "you have MS now here are your medication options." All the testing is to confirm suspicions and rule out other possibilities.

                      The testing doesn't tell the doctor what type of MS your wife has, that's based on other factors, which I haven't quite figured out as it all gets kind of lost in translation. Most people are diagnosed with RRMS (relapsing remitting), but not everyone, there are those people who are progressive from jump.

                      I know it's hard to be patient and wait for all the tests to be completed. I don't recall if you mentioned it, but when will all the testing be completed? If I haven't said it already, I'm sorry for the diagnosis, while your wife may have the disease, as I told my husband today, it's a family disease. He's been my rock. Every appointment, every test, for everything, he's been by my side.

                      Please keep asking questions, knowledge is power.

                      Take care
                      Melissa (dx. 3/22/2011)

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                        #12
                        Ok here is what we have done thus far concerning doctors. She has had various symptoms since 2009 to include the weight loss and more recently balance issues, pain in the neck and back, vision problems some swallowing and minor chocking issues, head aches, movement of legs while she sleeps etc..

                        She has gone through 3 or 4 Family doctors to try to figure this stuff out over the past 3 to 4 years with no luck. The did test her thyroid and thought she had cancer, did a byop and ruled that out, then thought she had hyperthyroidism, did some test and ruled that out.

                        Finally her eyes got worse and she went to have her eyes examined and was told that her optic nerve was pail and she should have a MRI. This brings us to about a month ago, had the MRI and that is when they suspected MS. They ordered a more specific MRI (2 weeks ago) looked at it and found lesions, compared the two MRI's and said that some lesions had gotten worse while others had improved.

                        Referred to a Neurologist, she had that appointment last Friday and he had not seen the scans, but he did the reflex testing, walking test, strength test etc and looked at her eyes with a scope. That is when he told us, almost 100% sure it is MS and set her up with 17 test to complete over the next two weeks.

                        Today she went back to the optometrist and he ruled out Optic Neuritis and said she has Optic Atrophy. I believe that means a dying optic nerve (not 100% sure). Not sure if this is MS related or something separate. He did write a prescription for glasses, I hope they help.

                        Other test are being scheduled to include more MRI's, Spinal Tap, and more than a dozen blood lab test. The neurologist wants to see her back in his office when the test are complete.

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                          #13
                          I attached this link to the Cleveland Clinic re: optic atrophy; I'm pretty sure the moderators will let this link go through as there are rules about posting links to stuff but since the Cleveland Clinic is renowned for their work in MS I'm pretty sure it'll be allowed. If not, my email address is on my profile or just google it.

                          Although the neuro is almost 100%, they have to rule out all other potential reasons for the symptoms she is experiencing. MS is a diagnosis of exclusion by excluding all other possible diagnosis, they can conclude that it is MS. The additional MRIs will be with & without contrast looking for additional and active lesions in the brain and spinal cord. All of these are just more evidence to support the diagnosis. It sounds like you have excellent physicians caring for her.

                          I would say at your next neuro visit you'll have your diagnosis and at that point she would need to inform the chain of command. My MEB took about a year from start to finish and then if you don't like what they offer, you can appeal it.

                          PEB forums (google) is a helpful site to the military members on this site which provides info on how the MEB/PEB process works & it's for all branches of the military. Its like this site, not as easy to navigate, but worth a look. If you're Air Force, I can get you the AFI that covers all this stuff if you're interested, just let me know.



                          http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disord...c_atrophy.aspx
                          Melissa (dx. 3/22/2011)

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                            #14
                            Keep in mind that Hank has mentioned a couple of times that his wife is in the ANG.
                            The Guard and reserves can have different regs depending on the state and as far as I know, the rules are a little different than what some of us consider "active duty", especially when dealling with the VA.

                            (In my case, the Navy owned my rear end outright for six years. I didn't do Guard and was inactive reserve for five years after I got out. That's why I usually don't reply on Guard and Reserves issues. I have no idea how they work. )

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                              #15
                              Thanks Bob

                              I didn't catch the ANG part. That website would still be helpful. The AFI won't be but the website should be. You're right though its different between AD and guard/reserves.
                              Melissa (dx. 3/22/2011)

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