 A question about diplopia and tumors
Hello all. I just have a question about how much in the informal PEB. My board should be sent off in the next few days (all I'm waiting for is my command to return my non-medical assessment in) and was just wondering if anyone here has anymore info on what is "the norm" for someone with a case like mine. I'm being boarded because back in October I had to have a right sided craniotomy to remove a schwannoma from the rear of my right orbital that had eroded away part of the roof of the orbit and started going up into my cranium. The surgery went well considering all the things that could have gone wrong, however after it I now have diplopia resulting from strabismus. I've tried to figure out what that would fall under the VASRD ratings but really can't figure it out. I was talking with my base optometrist here about the severity of mine compared to other people and she told me most people notice significant problems when theirs is are 3 diopters and mine is 18. I don't know what that is according to 6090 in the VASRD. The doctors i've been seeing have told me that if this is fixable it will most likely take numerous surgeries and I'll have to find a really experienced surgeon due to my strabismus being caused by a combination of some nerve damage and scar tissue. They told me a lot of times it takes 3-5 surgeries with 6 months of downtime in between each and in the end it still may not be corrected. Despite my vision problems, I'm more concerned with my tumor. The surgeons felt good about the procedure and it was benign, but told me for the next few years I should get 2 MRIs a year and after 5 years still get one once a year. I'm just hoping to get 30% so that in the unfortunate case that it ever does come back again, or I have any other serious issues I can continue seeing the doctors I had before. I'm also kind of fearful about the whole health insurance thing for myself. These kind of things are big red flags to insurance companies at 23 I've found. Thank you for taking the time to read my wall of text and I appreciate any input given.
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July 30th, 2008
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