Spread of cancer

got me curious
Why would your wife loose survivor benefits if its melanoma???

are they trying to say it was a pre-existing condition???

I am sure that you received some sun exposure in Vietnam so wouldn't it have been aggravated by the military even if it was a pre-existing.

I am approaching retirement myself and recovering from thyroid cancer so i want as much info up front as possible to make sure i have the least amount of problems possible

also i asume you have had radiation or chemo therapy... wouldn't they have to prove that neither of those caused the melanoma as well

Samsungtech1 said:

VA
I had the VA change the docs rating of T4 to T2c. Then when they found it had spread to the bladder they said that when he said highly likely for recurrence
That was why he did the radiation. They pick & choose what they put in those reports.

I spent 18 months, back in the 60's, in the Sahara desert. When I was diagnosed with melanoma nobody at the VA suggested that could have caused it.

I guess I just do not trust them anymore. My urologist told them about the nodule on my lung and they never told me. It was found because I went to a regular er and they did it for another reason. Otherwise I would never had known.

I quit going to the VA after my experiences on the last couple visits. The last one the doctor their told me there was no sense in spending thousands of dollars on me and they would just wait and see what happens next.

Mike

strange
personaly I would get a copy of your medical file and take it to a civ doc.

reading a touch on prostate cancer it seems to me that t2c is a lesser condition to T4.. why would you have the VA lessen your condition.

T2 CS involves a palpable tumor apparently confined within the prostate.
T4 Clinical Stage is not commonly seen at the original diagnosis. It indicates local invasion of a structure adjacent to the prostate other than the seminal vesicle(s).

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I quit going to the VA after my experiences on the last couple visits. The last one the doctor their told me there was no sense in spending thousands of dollars on me and they would just wait and see what happens next.
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if a doc said that to me i would ask him to put it in writing so i would be able to sue them for not takeing care of a problem when it was less of a problem.

For myself at least I will have Tricare since I am retiring so I will have an option (mostly paid for) besides going to a VA hospital. I dont know if you have a similar option or not.

I also would talk to your urologist and ask him why he didnt inform you.

of corse I also ask for printouts of all my lab results as well as any doctor notes (shouldnt cost you much if anything in money to get them).

They also should be able to take a sample of the tissue in your lung and find out what type of tisue it is.. if its prostate tisue its from your prostate and its rather simple (Biopsy) to have this done.

good luck
craig