My suggestion would be to gather all of your smr’s, private medical records, anything to do with your health if you haven’t already done so.    Make sure you always keep a copy for your own records.  Anything you submit, be certain you write your claim no. is on the top right corner and your name.
Whenever you do send anything in to the VARO, send it Certified Mail/Return Receipt Requested.

There are verifiable transmissions of Hepatitis C….look to the side-bar to the left on the HCVets web-site and browse through all of it.   As an ER Tech you undoubtabley had exposure to tainted blood along the line.   Any specific event you can trace it back to?    That could help in your defense for an EED…must be verifiable.    Masters of the HCV site will come along and chime in with solid tips and advise.   These are things we’ve learned in our 8 year claim process.

Especially the Nexus portion.   You are in for an education.    There is so much information here….if only we’d known when we filed in 2003 what we now know about my husband’s claim, we’d have done it different from the get-go.   By that, I mean following the advice here on HCVets, submitting all of his medical records pertaining to the HepC, etc.

We went the hard way through the muck of mud and my husband’s claim in pending a decision at the BVA level now.

There are alot of great people on this web-site that will chime in soon.   As for the EED back to ’73….not sure on that one, it’s usually from the date you file, AO claims will retro back 1 year prior to the date you filed.    Would be a sweet victory to get sc with an EED of ’73 though.

Best advice….get as much education as you can about this.   Take care of yourself first and see a gastro doctor for follow-up on the HepC.    You are going to need to know where your condition is presently, more for yourself and what treatment options may be available but also for your claim.

Keep us posted…..

Kindest Regards, Dave

When my husband was diagnosed in 1995 it was such a taboo subject, I remember hearing people (we were in the medical field also) talking about it like it was the most disgusting thing anyone could possibly contract….we kept it a secret except from close family members for a few years and then as we became educated about the illness and my husband began his 1st course of Interferon therapy, we started to let more people into our circle of trust (Remember “Meet the Parents”) – and we became more educated….the more we educated ourselves, the more we could educate those around us and how they could avoid and reduce their exposure to HepC virus…anywhere.    Some people were ignorant and nasty, others were open armed and offered positive feedback.

My main message is you need to get to a point at sometime very soon that you have this and accept it.    Reach out to family and friends, now you know why you are always so tired, etc.    You always have everyone here on HCVets too….we may all come from different walks of life and different backgrounds, but we are all connected by 1 thing and we are like a family.

You have your military medical records, right?    So there is a gap from your discharge date and 5 years ago with medical records.   That’s ok, because typically people who contract HCV won’t have symptoms for many years, often 20+ and some never do at all….my husband never did.   he found out through a random blood test his diabetes doctor ordered.   Liver enzymes were elevated, he was going in for the 5 year colonoscopy, took the lab results in, within a week he had an appt and about a month later we got the results (testing was much slower then)…..he has been on treatment 3 times, and even though the treatment didn’t rid his body of the virus, it did allow his liver to regenerate, to heal without constant attack from the virus and yes, it was very hard to go through.   Some folks get through it without too much trouble, others….it’s hell on earth.

Your viral load at over 3million should not alarm you.    It’s basically a test used to gauge how treatment is attacking the virus….it doesn’t mean that the higher your number the sicker you are.   My husband’s all time high was 23 million +  and he got as low as 600 at the end of his 1st 48 week round of treatment only to have it jump back up within 6 months.   His doctor has told us when he doesn’t feel well, it’s probably when the virus is replicating itself.

You said you were AO exposed?   Have you filed a claim for your heart disease?   A new presumptive disease just added to the list is Ishemic Heart Disease.    I’d get those medical records from your heart doctor if I were you.

When you submit documents to the VA such as medical records, be certain they pertain to the claimed disease/illness only.   In other words, you wouldn’t submit medical records about your broken leg as it doesn’t relate to your heart or liver.     Submit what is relative to the claim and always be sure to write your name, SS and/or claim number on every scrap of paper you send in to the VARO, sending them the copies and keeping originals for yourself.   Send everything and anything in either FedEx with a signature required or US Mail with Return Receipt and Certified…it’s a few extra bucks, but insurance that someone on the receiving end must sign for the package…and you know what’s in it.    Send a cover letter with the list of documents you have enclosed, even using the date of the “doctors letter”   ie:   Nexus letter from Dr. IM Hurt dated XX-XX-XXXX.    Chart notes from Dr. UN Pain dated from – to …..etc.

Focus on yourself first.    You should ask the PCP why or how these results were missed?    I would want to know.   If your PCP is a GP, they may or may not have seen something looking odd on your medical records….but, if like you said you didn’t see a doctor for all those years and then 5 years ago you have a heart attack and now find out you are HepC positive.

Main message…..get any and all medical records you can, for sure request yoru service medical records…you can find info on the how to’s in the column to the left of this board, and forms also.    It might take a few months to get them but you should have them before you go any further.   You may already have them and having been in the field of medicine with a more probable exposure possibility, then you might just slide on through to a sc.    Your going to need those smr’s from when you were in the Army and were dx with Hep though to even think about going back to ’73.   HepC was Non-A/Non-B prior to 1988 or 1989…..the medical field didn’t even know the virus existed so they slapped this label on the finding of this “new” strain of virus.

Stay positive as you can.   Reach out to those around you.   Educate yourself, ask questions, keep a daily log, get those medical records…..all of them.

And, stay connected here.    We are all in this together.   Whatever any of us can do to help you, we will do so.    You are welcomed here always.

AZeeJensMom

Any other questions, don’t hesitate to post them….

Stay well.