David5
How long have you been on Social Security disability? I know many friends who have been on it, and after, I think 2 or 21/2 years, they were intitled to Medicare. If you have been on it that long, I would call Medicare and enroll. It won't hurt to find out. If you do qualify, find a place like the Mayo clinic who specializes in amyloid.

To get even with me the VA diagnosed me by the psychologist Madison McKensie to have the following placed in file:
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
and
Somatic Syptom Disorder
The Staff at the VA said if I did not stop calling washington hotline they would call it alchoholism
Albumin Frac. 4.4, 3.5-5.4
Alpha-1 frac. 0.2, 0.1-0.2
Alpha-2 frac. 0.7, 0.5-1.0
Beta Frac. 0.8, 0.6-8.1
Gamma Fac. 1.2, 0.4-1.4
Pep total protein 7.3, 6.5-8.1
This shows normal pattern, no evidence of a monoclonal protein

You can have these tests run if you have symptoms of liver disease or kidney disease for alcoholism and protein tests to rule out some symptoms causes and look for out of range values. Everything looks fine, does this look like a man with alcoholism?
I asked to confirm the VA diagnosis of Alcoholism when the VA returned the answer with a test for non-prescribed drugs (a drug test) I passed all for no drugs the reason is this I believe the VA wants to take away my Soc. Sec.
What happens if you fail a drug test on disability?
If drugs or alcohol are mentioned in your medical records, after making an initial disability decision, Social Security will make a "DAA determination" to see whether your use of drugs or alcohol is contributing to your disability. If the SSA finds that it is, your disability claim will be denied.

The reason for request is that I was age 61 and felt my heart race and beating in my chest, the VA was closed on sturday so I went to local emergency room, the doctor told me that my heart was fine. I asked doc if it could be my thyroid and I did not know the test to pay for out of my pocket and had a list from Quest of tests and the doc quoted a law that he could not comment on VA patients but he took the piece of paper and tapped without saying anything on T4 tests. I paid to have T4 myself and it was not within normal limits.
I later had "flushing" and looked it up and I read it could be Calcitonian that needs tested.
Notice it says "Benign" I looked up test for Cancer in thyroid blood tests at quest and it said Calcitonian is a tumor marker for thyroid cancer. In the time of 1 year and 8 months I had Calcitonian tested out of my pocket every month. Long story short 0- 10 is HIGH mine went from 10 to 18 in 18 months. The VA said I will be fine.
The system is made to ask your patient rep. to ask the Primary Care Spinal Cord Injury Clinic for addition testing if they do not answer (They have 3 mo. to answer) if you do not get a response you can than go to the chief of staff for request than they have 3 mo. to answer. The SCI did not answer chief of staff took the full 3 months to respond with "you will be fine."
I called the Trump washington hotline again to force VA for the needed fine needle and results from VA said it was NOT Medullary Thyroid Cancer or Amylidosis.

This is the letter I recieved when I asked for Fine Needle Asperation on my thyroid.
Dear Mr. Wiens,
This letter is to provide notification that we recieved your written clinical appeal submitted on Sept. 30, 2021 for Chief of Staff to review your provider's diagnosis and treatment plan to return to clinic in a year. It is VHA policy that patients have access to a fair and imparitial review of healthcare decisions.
In review of your bloodwork over the last few years, your thyroid labs have appeared stable, and they do not indicate hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.
August 15 2013: TSH 2.59
March 25, 2015: TSH 4.42
June 20, 2018: TSH 0.64 Free T4 1.06
Sept. 12, 2019 TSH 2.62 FreeT4 0.81
April 20, 2021: TSH 3.10 Free T4 0.83
July 8, 2021: TSH 3.00
September 30, 2021: Total T3 72 Free T3 72 Free T3 4.6
The labs done on Sptember 30, 2021 were not complete. A TSH was not ordered and should have been included to appropriately analyze the results. Dr Woodman has ordered a complete thyroid panel to follow-up on the Endocrine team will follow-up with you regaurding the results.
Regarding the thyroid nodule, based on ultrasound characteristics the nodule appears benign and doesn't require intervention. The recommendation is for follow-up ultrasound in one year. A return to clinic plan is documented in the notes for May 2022 for thyroid ultrasound follow-up.
Thank you for your service.
Take a close look at the values that was posted on the letter.
(A normal range for TSH in most laboratories is 0.4 milliunits per liter (mU/L) to 4.0 mU/L. If your TSH is higher than 4.0 mU/L on repeat tests, you probably have hypothyroidism.)
March 25, 2015: TSH 4.42
(Typical results in adults for the free T4 test generally range from 0.9 to 2.4 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL). Like total T4 in adults, free T4 also varies in children according to age.)
Notice the values and see anything?

Dear Mr Weins
The recent review of records and/or medical evaluation you requested shows you meet the definition of catastrophically disabled for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care enrollment purposes.
Based on this determination, we have enrolled you for care in the Department of Veterans Affairs( VA) Health Care Plan through you local VA medical facility located at 3801 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
Veterans enrolled in Priority Group 4 are eligible for all needed services included in the Medical Benefits Package. Veterans who are determined to be catastrophically disabled are not required to pay inpatient, outppatient, or prescription drug copayments that would otherwise apply. If you have any questions, please call the enrollment office at (Phone number can only be seen by the question and answer creators), extension 65804.
Sincerely,
Stephen Ezeji-Okoye, M.D.
Deputy Chief of Staff

AND THEY SPELLED MY NAME WRONG!