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Crossroads
6 years ago
Yesterday was my birthday, and I want to thank everyone that gave me well wishes. Being born in december, I’ve been used to having disappointing birthdays where I seem to be forgotten and be told that “you’ll get your birthday gift on christmas.” So it’s nice that I actually get notes, messages and comments that understand that and want to remind me that I have shoulders to lean on.
But this journal isn’t about that. I have never posted a journal here. Instead, I usually muse about monthly things on my patreon and maybe smaller things on my twitter. I’m not very sociable, but I figured I’d try harder on those places.
However, I’m in a situation that warrants a journal posting. Currently, I’m at a crossroads. Proudly, my significant other started her new career in late October. This was huge as not only would this help pull us out of our financial issues, but she also gave me blessings to stay at home and spend all my time on my art. “So long as you can make something from that, I don’t really mind what you do,” she told me. Because of this, I created over 50 still image renders in November. Already it was a huge boost from her new career. Unfortunately, we also reserved dire news in November.
My significant other is a disabled veteran; she receives a monthly payment to compensate for the injuries she received. As well, she works to manage her chronic pain and to figure out what is causing it. In september, she visited a specialist outside of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) system who pretty much gave us a 2 hour lecture on what the cause of the pain is and that the VA has essentially been misdiagnosing her for the past 4 years. This was absolutely brilliant as maybe they could actually fix what is going on, but then, in November, she received a letter notifying her that she will no longer be receiving the majority of her monthly payment. It talked in detail about how they reviewed her case and that based on their findings she could not be as disabled as they initially rated her. Instead, they lowered her rating to 20% disabled and said that over $1000 of her monthly payment would be withheld. They also clarified they have the right to ask for repayment for any payments they gave to her during the time they deemed for her not to be as disabled as they rated her initially.
We didn’t sleep that night. Instead I kept re-reading their documentation, I also began looking up legal advice. I thought that maybe the outside specialist convinced the VA that the issue wasn’t that bad; my mind raced that what if they just cut off her treatment and her pain is no longer managed and she’d have to quit her new career. We’d be homeless nearly instantly.
But, amongst the documentation, it says that the decision was made after missing a C&P Exam. We saw that both the exams were for Foot & Back pain. The date listed for both was on the same day; we were perplexed because her foot doctor is in one city, and her back doctor was in another city (4 hours away.) They’ve never scheduled something like that, we would’ve noticed. My significant other is also very organized, we could easily open up her calendar/journal to that specific day to see if she did miss something. On her calendar, all it showed was that she was scheduled for a shift at her part-time job. What the hell even is a C&P Exam, we asked ourselves. It’s not on the calendar and the VA has never asked her to see her foot and back doctor on the same day.
This where I found it on a Veterans Legal blog. C&P is a Compensations & Pensions Exam. Basically, to determine if someone should still be considered disabled. The VA does these for some people based on their disability. The VA also sometimes contracts it out to an outside company to do it. From what I’ve read, the outside company has, uncommonly, not sent out a notification for the exam, but also, wouldn’t the VA also sent out a notification? Something had to have occurred on their end, because she was just never notified about it.
Now we’re at the butter of this horrible meal; she was listed as a no show for the Exam in June, and they barely got around to telling her she’s not longer considered at her original disability rating in November. During that time, she was still going to back and foot doctor appointments. Why did not a single person at the VA notify her of anything she missed? Was there no process in place to just say, “hey this is bad, you missed your C&P exam.”
We filed an appeal, but it took 6 months before the VA told her that she will stripped of the majority of her benefits. I don’t know how long the appeal will take, but they’ve informed us that in february she will no longer be receiving the full amount of her pension. (a $1k difference)
This now brings me to the crossroads that I stand at. We need to make up that difference every month now. Really, I need to make that difference up every month.
With the immense help I received from friends, like you, during our move for her new career, I feel like I need to be done asking for more. I feel crappy that it feels like begging, but… this is another obstacle to climb and I can’t do it at my current pace.
I’ve applied for several jobs in our new area. I’ve had 2 interviews that would get me back into my graphic design career. The salary these 2 companies promise is immense, I wouldn’t have a financial worry, but.. I don’t like that career. I love the work, but I’d much rather have the reward this work gives me. Still, if I get a call back from one of these 2 interviews (or any of the others), I have no choice but to accept it.
This is something I hate to put onto you, but.. I have 300+ followers here; if only 200 of you bring $5 a month to my patreon, I won’t have to go back into a career I hate. I won’t have to stop or slow my work here. We won’t have to worry about the VA taking most of her pension, we can calmly go through the appeal process.
This was hard to write, so I apologize, but I thank you all for the support over the years.
–
I promise my patreon is worth it. Right now, the stuff posted publicly are things created 5-6 months ago for my patreon. Most (if not all) of my renders have alternative/nude renders included. I have tiers for requests and the $5 tier gets you access to comics that I’m currently working on (over 60 pages of comics, with up to 3 pages added every month.)
https://www.patreon.com/unnamed
But this journal isn’t about that. I have never posted a journal here. Instead, I usually muse about monthly things on my patreon and maybe smaller things on my twitter. I’m not very sociable, but I figured I’d try harder on those places.
However, I’m in a situation that warrants a journal posting. Currently, I’m at a crossroads. Proudly, my significant other started her new career in late October. This was huge as not only would this help pull us out of our financial issues, but she also gave me blessings to stay at home and spend all my time on my art. “So long as you can make something from that, I don’t really mind what you do,” she told me. Because of this, I created over 50 still image renders in November. Already it was a huge boost from her new career. Unfortunately, we also reserved dire news in November.
My significant other is a disabled veteran; she receives a monthly payment to compensate for the injuries she received. As well, she works to manage her chronic pain and to figure out what is causing it. In september, she visited a specialist outside of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) system who pretty much gave us a 2 hour lecture on what the cause of the pain is and that the VA has essentially been misdiagnosing her for the past 4 years. This was absolutely brilliant as maybe they could actually fix what is going on, but then, in November, she received a letter notifying her that she will no longer be receiving the majority of her monthly payment. It talked in detail about how they reviewed her case and that based on their findings she could not be as disabled as they initially rated her. Instead, they lowered her rating to 20% disabled and said that over $1000 of her monthly payment would be withheld. They also clarified they have the right to ask for repayment for any payments they gave to her during the time they deemed for her not to be as disabled as they rated her initially.
We didn’t sleep that night. Instead I kept re-reading their documentation, I also began looking up legal advice. I thought that maybe the outside specialist convinced the VA that the issue wasn’t that bad; my mind raced that what if they just cut off her treatment and her pain is no longer managed and she’d have to quit her new career. We’d be homeless nearly instantly.
But, amongst the documentation, it says that the decision was made after missing a C&P Exam. We saw that both the exams were for Foot & Back pain. The date listed for both was on the same day; we were perplexed because her foot doctor is in one city, and her back doctor was in another city (4 hours away.) They’ve never scheduled something like that, we would’ve noticed. My significant other is also very organized, we could easily open up her calendar/journal to that specific day to see if she did miss something. On her calendar, all it showed was that she was scheduled for a shift at her part-time job. What the hell even is a C&P Exam, we asked ourselves. It’s not on the calendar and the VA has never asked her to see her foot and back doctor on the same day.
This where I found it on a Veterans Legal blog. C&P is a Compensations & Pensions Exam. Basically, to determine if someone should still be considered disabled. The VA does these for some people based on their disability. The VA also sometimes contracts it out to an outside company to do it. From what I’ve read, the outside company has, uncommonly, not sent out a notification for the exam, but also, wouldn’t the VA also sent out a notification? Something had to have occurred on their end, because she was just never notified about it.
Now we’re at the butter of this horrible meal; she was listed as a no show for the Exam in June, and they barely got around to telling her she’s not longer considered at her original disability rating in November. During that time, she was still going to back and foot doctor appointments. Why did not a single person at the VA notify her of anything she missed? Was there no process in place to just say, “hey this is bad, you missed your C&P exam.”
We filed an appeal, but it took 6 months before the VA told her that she will stripped of the majority of her benefits. I don’t know how long the appeal will take, but they’ve informed us that in february she will no longer be receiving the full amount of her pension. (a $1k difference)
This now brings me to the crossroads that I stand at. We need to make up that difference every month now. Really, I need to make that difference up every month.
With the immense help I received from friends, like you, during our move for her new career, I feel like I need to be done asking for more. I feel crappy that it feels like begging, but… this is another obstacle to climb and I can’t do it at my current pace.
I’ve applied for several jobs in our new area. I’ve had 2 interviews that would get me back into my graphic design career. The salary these 2 companies promise is immense, I wouldn’t have a financial worry, but.. I don’t like that career. I love the work, but I’d much rather have the reward this work gives me. Still, if I get a call back from one of these 2 interviews (or any of the others), I have no choice but to accept it.
This is something I hate to put onto you, but.. I have 300+ followers here; if only 200 of you bring $5 a month to my patreon, I won’t have to go back into a career I hate. I won’t have to stop or slow my work here. We won’t have to worry about the VA taking most of her pension, we can calmly go through the appeal process.
This was hard to write, so I apologize, but I thank you all for the support over the years.
–
I promise my patreon is worth it. Right now, the stuff posted publicly are things created 5-6 months ago for my patreon. Most (if not all) of my renders have alternative/nude renders included. I have tiers for requests and the $5 tier gets you access to comics that I’m currently working on (over 60 pages of comics, with up to 3 pages added every month.)
https://www.patreon.com/unnamed
All the same hope the situation improves
We have no idea how long their appeal process takes, but atleast, if the appeal is approved, she would receive back pay for all the months she didn't get receive her full pension.
But only if she's approved; even then, she'd still have to take a C&P exam to determine if she's still disabled (no doubt she'd demonstrate that).
I'm hoping this week gets me a call back from one of my interviews, but as the week goes on, I'm losing faith.
Best of luck and wishes