Med Board Update

I know it's been a while since I last updated the blog.  I'm not sure where the month of May went.  It flew by super fast.  Probably because we were so busy.  Ben had tons of appointments.  And it felt like we were always on the go.  Which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, but it can be exhausting.
But anyway, an update on where we are in the whole med board process.  We finished all the doctor appointments for the VA.  He had to have a complete head to toe physical done, xrays done, eye and ear exams/tests done, and a psych eval.  All of those were done in a week.  And most of them were downtown Honolulu.  Have I ever told you how much I hate driving down there?! That's another story for another time though.  So now that the appointments are all done, we are just waiting on the results/write up from the VA.  We should have that anytime now.  We were told it typically takes about two weeks from the last appointment, and it's been about three now, so we should have it any day now.  Hopefully next week.  Once we get that though, our Army doctor can finish his write up.  When he finishes that, we get a copy that we can take to legal to have them review to make sure we aren't being screwed over.  Once we are happy with it, everything is sent off to Seattle where it is reviewed by the Army and VA.  And that's when the real waiting begins.  The average wait time to get our rating back is about 8 months right now.  Of course that can be shorter or longer.  It really depends on who you talk to.  We've had people say we'll be done by October/November, and others say it will be February/March.  I'm hoping it's on the shorter end.  But with how complex Ben's case is, it may take a bit longer.  The VA doctor who did Ben's physical said his case is one of the worst he's seen, and he's been doing it a while.  Just goes to show how much the Army has beat him up.  They never would have let him join with all the problems he has now.  Anyway, sorry, I got of track again.  So we are just waiting now.  I'm hoping we'll be home by Christmas.  But I'm not making any promises.  We really won't have a good timeline until we get our rating back.  And even then, that's as long as we agree with the findings.  We can always send it back if we don't agree with what they say.  As long as we get at least a 30% disability rating though, we'll be happy.  Because that means it will be a medical retirement and we'll be getting a monthly paycheck the rest of his life.  The higher the rating the better, since that's more money, but we'll take the 30% if that's what they give us.  I'm sure it will be more though, just because of all the problems he has.
So that's where we are.  Just waiting.  It's always hurry up and wait.  Hopefully we'll have more news soon though.