"Asthma/reactive airway disease/exercise induced bronchospasm" Waiver chances

99Gold said:
Just to temper expectation. DODMERB states that they will not reimburse candidates for medical expenses incurred. That is why they prefer you to go through DODMETS to do all testing. Doing on your own is always an option, but one you pay for.
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There are 3 below options, below options I copied form my the original request.
  • The first option, the preferred option, is to use our contractor, CIV Team. CIV Team is already aware of your Medical AMI requirements and will assist you with locating the nearest subcontracted physician or test facility in your area. If need be, CIV Team has 30-days to find a provider. Log onto their website: https://www.dodmets.com to see the physician assigned to complete your AMI. You can also call CIV Team, at 215-587-9600. We will not reimburse you for any transportation or lodging costs you may incur. The subcontractor will send the results of your medical AMI directly to DoDMERB at no expense to you.
  • The second option is to complete the AMI at a Military Treatment Facility (MTF). This option is also at no cost to you, but access to the MTF may be an inhibiting factor. Also, not every MTF will be capable of completing every possible medical AMI. We are not responsible for delays in obtaining appointments or appointments canceled by the MTF. This letter will be your authorization to obtain the AMI and must be brought with you to the military installation for base/post access. You can find military facilities at: http://www.tricare.mil/mtf/
  • A third option, unless otherwise directed in this letter, is to have the AMI completed by a private physician or test facility of your choice, at your own expense. The government WILL NOT pay for, nor reimburse you for, this option! If you choose this option you will need to make the appointment yourself, and you will need to email the results dha.ncr.dod-merb.mbx.helpdesk@health.mil. To repeat, the Government WILL NOT, under any circumstances, pay, or reimburse you for this option.

We are going to use the first option, nothing has not been updated on DodMet site yet, we called them, and they said it takes few days for it to get updated on their site. So I am going to call them again in couple of days.

Will post the progress here, as we move along.
 
MyKidsDream said:
Just to add further progress on this, we have received the MCT and pulmonologist request from DODMERB today.
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That’s great to hear! Has USAFA requested a medical waiver for your DS? Or were the MCT and pulmonologist test requests triggered by other SA/ROTC medical waivers? Crossing my fingers USAFA will trigger/request mine but I wanted to know if they’ve triggered others who‘ve applied to USAFA facing the same medical DQ.
 
ScreaminDemons said:
That’s great to hear! Has USAFA requested a medical waiver for your DS? Or were the MCT and pulmonologist test requests triggered by other SA/ROTC medical waivers? Crossing my fingers USAFA will trigger/request mine but I wanted to know if they’ve triggered others who‘ve applied to USAFA facing the same medical DQ.
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This is for USCGA, he has been accepted there with the medical waiver still pending. On other SA still waiting to hear.
 
MyKidsDream said:
Just to add further progress on this, we have received the MCT and pulmonologist request from DODMERB today.
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We did the MCT test few days ago. My son's breathing ability dropped to 29% on the last iteration (in total there are 5 iterations). By browsing through the internet, seems like the limit is 20%. So, my son is pretty depressed (even after all the encouragement we have given him), I am also a little disappointed. Don't know is it the end of road for him for SA's? The results are not in the DodMerb portal yet.

PS: We still have to go to the Pulmonary doctor for consultation.
 
MyKidsDream said:
There are 3 below options, below options I copied form my the original request.
  • The first option, the preferred option, is to use our contractor, CIV Team. CIV Team is already aware of your Medical AMI requirements and will assist you with locating the nearest subcontracted physician or test facility in your area. If need be, CIV Team has 30-days to find a provider. Log onto their website: https://www.dodmets.com to see the physician assigned to complete your AMI. You can also call CIV Team, at 215-587-9600. We will not reimburse you for any transportation or lodging costs you may incur. The subcontractor will send the results of your medical AMI directly to DoDMERB at no expense to you.
  • The second option is to complete the AMI at a Military Treatment Facility (MTF). This option is also at no cost to you, but access to the MTF may be an inhibiting factor. Also, not every MTF will be capable of completing every possible medical AMI. We are not responsible for delays in obtaining appointments or appointments canceled by the MTF. This letter will be your authorization to obtain the AMI and must be brought with you to the military installation for base/post access. You can find military facilities at: http://www.tricare.mil/mtf/
  • A third option, unless otherwise directed in this letter, is to have the AMI completed by a private physician or test facility of your choice, at your own expense. The government WILL NOT pay for, nor reimburse you for, this option! If you choose this option you will need to make the appointment yourself, and you will need to email the results dha.ncr.dod-merb.mbx.helpdesk@health.mil. To repeat, the Government WILL NOT, under any circumstances, pay, or reimburse you for this option.

We are going to use the first option, nothing has not been updated on DodMet site yet, we called them, and they said it takes few days for it to get updated on their site. So I am going to call them again in couple of days.

Will post the progress here, as we move along.
Click to expand...
We did the MCT test few days ago. My son's breathing ability dropped to 29% on the last iteration (in total there are 5 iterations). By browsing through the internet, seems like the limit is 20%. So, my son is pretty depressed (even after all the encouragement we have given him), I am also a little disappointed. Don't know is it the end of road for him for SA's? The results are not in the DodMerb portal yet.

PS: We still have to go to the Pulmonary doctor for consultation.
 
MyKidsDream said:
We did the MCT test few days ago. My son's breathing ability dropped to 29% on the last iteration (in total there are 5 iterations). By browsing through the internet, seems like the limit is 20%. So, my son is pretty depressed (even after all the encouragement we have given him), I am also a little disappointed. Don't know is it the end of road for him for SA's? The results are not in the DodMerb portal yet.

PS: We still have to go to the Pulmonary doctor for consultation.
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Sorry to hear that. It is a hard process for sure. So many ups and downs and never really knowing ... for a long time.... what the end result will be: BFE or TWE.
 
Bduett said:
Medical turned in (Aug.) within a week DQ’d. USNA within a week or two requested a methacholine challenge test (MCT) and a review from pulmonologist. Took FOREVER to find a place to get MCT. Literally, I was calling all over the state because the places DODMETS gave wouldn't do it b/c he was “pediatric”. We also had to schedule around football. Finally got it completed the week before Christmas. Results provided the 20th of Dec. waiver granted Jan 7th.

USMMA requested waiver late Nov. All they wanted was a spirometry test and his previous medical records from allergist. Turns out a spirometry test was part of MCT, asked to have those test results forwarded to the Waiver Authority at USMMA. Active medical codes have been cleared for that SA but still sitting in under waiver review.
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Same happened to my son. Couldn’t find a pulmonologist to perform the MCT & when we did it was a 3 month wait. We submitted all the required paperwork but no update on waiver status as of today.
 
MyKidsDream said:
We did the MCT test few days ago. My son's breathing ability dropped to 29% on the last iteration (in total there are 5 iterations). By browsing through the internet, seems like the limit is 20%. So, my son is pretty depressed (even after all the encouragement we have given him), I am also a little disappointed. Don't know is it the end of road for him for SA's? The results are not in the DodMerb portal yet.

PS: We still have to go to the Pulmonary doctor for consultation.
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Like others have said, it’s not over till it’s over. Maybe the Pulmonary doctor may interpret the result differently and it’ll be better news. Maybe not. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I hope your Son has a solid plan b and c to fall onto, and best of luck to him in his future endeavors.
 
MyKidsDream said:
Just to add further progress on this, we have received the MCT and pulmonologist request from DODMERB today.
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DS had these test done in August. Did your request say anything about providing test results within a certain date range? We are waiting to hear back from DODMERB regarding a waiver. He has Asthma/reactive airway disease also, very minor and he has improved on his test each year the last 4 or 5 years. Thinking about getting the MCT and pulmonologist test done so we have the results ready when/if they request this info but don't want to spend the money if his test in August will work.
 
Jdub said:
DS had these test done in August. Did your request say anything about providing test results within a certain date range? We are waiting to hear back from DODMERB regarding a waiver. He has Asthma/reactive airway disease also, very minor and he has improved on his test each year the last 4 or 5 years. Thinking about getting the MCT and pulmonologist test done so we have the results ready when/if they request this info but don't want to spend the money if his test in August will work.
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Totally understand doing it on your own - cost for us would have been 800-1000 for it.
 
Jdub said:
DS had these test done in August. Did your request say anything about providing test results within a certain date range? We are waiting to hear back from DODMERB regarding a waiver. He has Asthma/reactive airway disease also, very minor and he has improved on his test each year the last 4 or 5 years. Thinking about getting the MCT and pulmonologist test done so we have the results ready when/if they request this info but don't want to spend the money if his test in August will work.
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Nothing was mentioned for the date range on the DodMerb request, although in the SA's conditional acceptance letter it said to complete all the necessary requirements by April.
 
blinkus said:
Like others have said, it’s not over till it’s over. Maybe the Pulmonary doctor may interpret the result differently and it’ll be better news. Maybe not. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I hope your Son has a solid plan b and c to fall onto, and best of luck to him in his future endeavors.
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Thank you. He has been accepted in other schools (not his first choice of course) and also has the Army ROTC scholarship.
 
My son just got his request for the MCT and pulmonologist from DODMERB also. Going to try to schedule it ASAP. Don't care about the cost if it helps him get into USAFA.
 
Jdub said:
My son just got his request for the MCT and pulmonologist from DODMERB also. Going to try to schedule it ASAP. Don't care about the cost if it helps him get into USAFA.
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Yep schedule these asap, we used the CIV team (https://www.dodmets.com) recommended doctor for both of these. As I have said earlier in my post, his MCT test was not up to the mark, but his pulmonologist visit / test was way better. The pulmonologist wrote a good recommendation as well.

We are now waiting to hear from DodMerb update and waiver from USNA and USCGA. This a very tedious process (the long wait in between makes me very anxious). But all will be worth when / if he gets the waiver for any of these 2 academies.
 
I agree with you, the waiting is extremely hard on my DD. She has been unde waiver review for 3 months and counting. We have not heard any updates since the initial notification. They have not requested any additional AMI.
 
Jdub said:
My son just got his request for the MCT and pulmonologist from DODMERB also. Going to try to schedule it ASAP. Don't care about the cost if it helps him get into USAFA.
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The cost should be covered. It took LOTS of whining to get DS his MCCT a few years ago. THey kept trying to send him to a place 4 hours+ away months in the future. Very frustrating. Eventually we got them to ok the local medical center a couple weeks out. Even then, it took 2 months to get results back to USNA for final approval...
 
justme said:
The cost should be covered. It took LOTS of whining to get DS his MCCT a few years ago. THey kept trying to send him to a place 4 hours+ away months in the future. Very frustrating. Eventually we got them to ok the local medical center a couple weeks out. Even then, it took 2 months to get results back to USNA for final approval...
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We also have to drive 2.5 hours for the MCT test, and about 1.5 hours for the pulmonologist. But in the end, it will be all worth if my DS gets what he wants.
 
Bduett said:
Sorry to hear that. It is a hard process for sure. So many ups and downs and never really knowing ... for a long time.... what the end result will be: BFE or TWE.
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I was wondering and never asked, today only I checked the meaning of BFE or TWE in the "Acronym list". We are still waiting for either of these.
 
I just wish they’d ask for it so we can get cracking on getting a MCT scheduled, or anything else we need to present for waiver consideration.

DQ 11/21, conditional appt 12/15. Requested previous pulmonary reports/pediatrician/PFT/spiro AMI on 1/12 (produced same day, and confirmed). Nothing since, now just waiting.
 
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