Gulf War Syndrome

 Dear John,

I was watching a show called Diagnosis on Netflix.  The New York Times has a doctor who writes a column about people who have undiagnosed illnesses, and then tries to crowd-source for a diagnosis.  It was episode 3.  A middle aged Hispanic man was losing his mental acuity.  They talked a lot about how his memory was bad; he wasn't able to keep his job.  He had inflammation in his brain that was expanding.  He was a veteran who had served in the Gulf War.  

Once they added the information about his service, a bunch of people weighed in with a diagnosis of Gulf War Syndrome.  They spoke with the leading researcher of Gulf War illness, and she was speaking about brain inflammation.  I was angry and sad, because you were working so hard to push towards getting some investigation into inflammation in your brain, and you just ran into roadblock after roadblock.  Seems like they give away MRIs like candy to everyone else, but you were never able to have anyone prescribe one for you.  Would you have seen the lesions that this man has?  Maybe I should have demanded an autopsy.  I don't even think they have a medical examiner here any more - I just saw that one of the CSIs had to go halfway up the state for an autopsy the other day.  Sigh - it doesn't make any difference in the long run.  There is no treatment available.  

Anyway, back to the show, because the man had only been in the Army for 8 years, he didn't think about GWI.  He never pursued VA care.  But after the show, he did get VA care.  He was diagnosed with and being treated for PTSD.  Looks like they're being a little more generous with that diagnosis now.  You could never get them to admit that you had PTSD.  He's at least getting disability, I think, which is good because he couldn't work.

Meanwhile, I got the bill from the EMS from the day you died again last week.  I had sent it to the VA for payment through Community Care.  They hadn't paid it in a year.  I called the VA today - they could tell me, but not the EMS billing, what the problem was.  Turns out, the billing company submitted the bill with your birthdate wrong - they had it as November instead of January.  The VA can't give out your personal information, apparently.  Sounds like they are contract workers too.  It was weird.  The EMS billing company will resubmit it and maybe get paid someday.

Then I got transferred over to ChampVA - I got a notice around January saying that they had paid for coverage for all of 2022.  That's funny, since I sent in my application in about August and never heard anything from them again.  I called a couple months ago, and they said "your application was just processed today!"  They said the same thing today.  S's application still hasn't been processed, I don't think.  It's fine, I guess.  I have 180 days once they send out my paperwork to submit claims for past services.  Turns out I can submit claims from the day you received your disability certification.  So it looks like I get to go through 10 years worth of healthcare to see what I can get repaid for.  Once S's stuff is done, I can get repaid for her stuff too.  She actually has all those bills from her doctor.

I also took the car in for an oil change.  

I'm selling one of your watches (at a discount) to one of my online friends that you used to complain about.  I know you wouldn't really approve, but I think she will appreciate it more than most people.  It's for her husband, who seems like a nice guy.  Maybe I'm just being passive aggressive, by doing something you wouldn't like.  Hard to say.

Love,

A