Medical Issues Thread Not DoDMERB

A1Janitor said:
The only inaccurate information I have found with @Devil Doc is when he disagrees with me. ;)

I wish the people who contacted Mr. Mullen shared their results. I understand that each case is individual and can’t always be applied to similar candidates.
Click to expand...
We agree on most topics.

My reason for intruding in the DoDMERB thread on occasion is to get feedback on the medical conditions so others can learn from it. Feedback from the candidate or parent to be more specific.
 
A1Janitor said:
I wish the people who contacted Mr. Mullen shared their results. I understand that each case is individual and can’t always be applied to similar candidates.
Click to expand...
Seems like many moons ago I reported my DS was successful in getting a DQ cleared after said DS completed a solid reading of paragraph 4 and contacted some guy with intricate knowledge of DODMERB.
 
Dad_2024 - Our honor and privilege to serve---and only one of the myriad of reasons we do:wiggle:👍:wiggle:
 
Devil Doc said:
We agree on most topics.

My reason for intruding in the DoDMERB thread on occasion is to get feedback on the medical conditions so others can learn from it. Feedback from the candidate or parent to be more specific.
Click to expand...
This is hard though. As someone who is currently going through it. My DS has a DQ for a shoulder dislocation issue, and of course I’d like to know if 99% get waived or 99% don’t. However regardless of the percentage you really don’t know whether or not you’ll be in that 1% in either case.

For his specific case the doctor who performed the surgery has cleared him and the doctor we went to for the AMI has cleared him. We’ve gotten the information to DODMERB, and subsequently to each of the academies.

My advice to my son has been, “control what you can to make sure they have everything they ask for, keep checking email/spam, train like you’re gonna get the waiver and appt., especially running, and leave the rest up to God.”

Just wanted to share my thoughts as someone going through it.

I would for sure share the results though if we thought it would help future candidate groups. For me though each injury itself is different and so is the protocol to fix it.

I will admit though I’m not a DR and have never played one on TV.
 
@HopefulDad2026 awesome post and advice to your son, Dad. Every case is surely different. I got inspiration from your post and my son isn't waiting for a waiver decision. I dropped him off at Dulles six hours ago for his flight back to California. The waiting and anticipation and worry doesn't stop with waiver or admission decisions. We've waited and fretted with him about MOS assignments. duty station assignments, and promotion and education boards.

I've told the story here about my son's journey from high school to commissioning and if that worry and waiting wasn't enough, it continued for the next 10 years and will go on I'm sure until he no longer has living parents. DS is on his first B billet after three operational commands. This B billet however has him in the field and has him close to the tip of the spear without being on deployment. He was extended on his first operational tour and did two deployments with them. He was supposed to have orders to TBS as a staff platoon commander/instructor but that was changed to CENTCOM/Forward. We live just through the woods from Camp Barrett/TBS/FBI, etc. and was getting excited to have him back. The CENTCOM thing was only for a year and he got to fly home once so it went pretty quick. He then got orders to https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Agencies/Deputy-Commandant-for-Information/MCIOC/ which sounded awesome and again, is on the TBS side of MCB Quantico.

"Mama's getting her baby back." I must say DW handled it well when he called and told us he was going to California instead. He got an ORDMOD to the 1st Marine Division. He called his monitor, "WTF, dude" and the monitor said, "I don't know, bro" or something like that. Monitor told DS he got told from on high to change his orders. DS was told this never happens and the only way he could go five-plus years operational without a B billet is if somebody asked for him. So off he went to Camp Pendleton. He spent two years at Division with most of that as the CO of Mobility Assault Company which is as badazz as it sounds. He's now on the down slope of his three years at 29 Palms and was selected to attend the command and staff course for his first masters.

Whew, that's exhausting just rehashing and writing it out.
 
Devil Doc said:
@HopefulDad2026 awesome post and advice to your son, Dad. Every case is surely different. I got inspiration from your post and my son isn't waiting for a waiver decision. I dropped him off at Dulles six hours ago for his flight back to California. The waiting and anticipation and worry doesn't stop with waiver or admission decisions. We've waited and fretted with him about MOS assignments. duty station assignments, and promotion and education boards.

I've told the story here about my son's journey from high school to commissioning and if that worry and waiting wasn't enough, it continued for the next 10 years and will go on I'm sure until he no longer has living parents. DS is on his first B billet after three operational commands. This B billet however has him in the field and has him close to the tip of the spear without being on deployment. He was extended on his first operational tour and did two deployments with them. He was supposed to have orders to TBS as a staff platoon commander/instructor but that was changed to CENTCOM/Forward. We live just through the woods from Camp Barrett/TBS/FBI, etc. and was getting excited to have him back. The CENTCOM thing was only for a year and he got to fly home once so it went pretty quick. He then got orders to https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Agencies/Deputy-Commandant-for-Information/MCIOC/ which sounded awesome and again, is on the TBS side of MCB Quantico.

"Mama's getting her baby back." I must say DW handled it well when he called and told us he was going to California instead. He got an ORDMOD to the 1st Marine Division. He called his monitor, "WTF, dude" and the monitor said, "I don't know, bro" or something like that. Monitor told DS he got told from on high to change his orders. DS was told this never happens and the only way he could go five-plus years operational without a B billet is if somebody asked for him. So off he went to Camp Pendleton. He spent two years at Division with most of that as the CO of Mobility Assault Company which is as badazz as it sounds. He's now on the down slope of his three years at 29 Palms and was selected to attend the command and staff course for his first masters.

Whew, that's exhausting just rehashing and writing it out.
Click to expand...
Appreciate you sharing your story about your sons journey. And yes, I'm sure the waiting and anticipation will just move on to different topics down the line. Including for us, DS2, who doesn't share service aspirations, however, there will always be something.
 
HopefulDad2026 said:
Appreciate you sharing your story about your sons journey. And yes, I'm sure the waiting and anticipation will just move on to different topics down the line. Including for us, DS2, who doesn't share service aspirations, however, there will always be something.
Click to expand...
For sure. My daughter who is two years elder to my son has two sons. Fretting over grand kids is doubly hard because I also worry about my daughter, worrying about them. A couple years ago my now 7 yo grandson was admitted to the local children's hospital for mastoiditis. I was worried to death of course and the wife and I went to visit him in the hospital. He was afebrile and kicked back in bed with a tablet device of some sort the hospital provided. He was living it up. He recovered nicely and moved on to the next crisis.
 
1. Actual medical conditions are issues to be discussed between patients and their health care providers, not uninformed folks on public websites...uninformed because they don't have all the accurate details that the providers will have and uninformed because they are not the treating "PHYSICIANS."

2. Medical elements of applications to US Service Academies, ROTC programs, USUHS, and others = DoDMERB applies the standards in DoDI 6130.03V1. The DoDMERB medical Case Managers and Physicians are trained and experienced in "Accession Medicine." The approach is to treat each case as it though it were your own---grant it the import of your promotion, retirement, or something as equally as important to you as these applications are to these applicants. Many of those standards are "History of..." not current medical status. NOT ALL DQs ARE THE RESULT OF A DIAGNOSIS AND NOT ALL DIAGNOSES RESULT IN DQS.

3. Service/Program Medical waiver authorities take their decisions equally as seriously. They conduct an individual "risk assessment." Can this DQ be assimilated into the respective program and Service with success?

4. In any subjective enterprise, there will be differences in medical waiver decisions based on the training; experience; "Service/Program needs/guidance @ the time of the decisions, yada, yada, yada. Certain conditions in the Army have been removed from all the 3 and 2 star accession organizations and are elevated to the Director of Military Personnel Management. That policy has been in existence since Sec Esper was the Sec Army. Will that ever revert back to those GO waiver authorities? It might and might not. That policy doesn't exist in the other Services.

5. So, medical advice on a public forum beyond "consult your own health care provider," is beyond inappropriate, just as "if it was not diagnosed, don't report it." The medical history form asks (do you) "currently have or any history of?" Applicants should answer honestly and comprehensively. :spacecraft:
 
While I agree that @MullenLE shouldn’t discuss specific medical decisions, applicants surely should be free to discuss their results.

And others should be allowed to discuss issues generally. Most people understand that there is a final decision maker, and discussion by others won’t change the decision.

Larry is a great resource for this forum and does an incredible job for applicants. A top employee in the federal government.
 
A1Janitor said:
While I agree that @MullenLE shouldn’t discuss specific medical decisions, applicants surely should be free to discuss their results.

And others should be allowed to discuss issues generally. Most people understand that there is a final decision maker, and discussion by others won’t change the decision.

Larry is a great resource for this forum and does an incredible job for applicants. A top employee in the federal government.
Click to expand...
Not only should they be allowed to, they have the absolute right to, and sharing information and results between parents and applicants can help to inform the process and strategize on how to move forward. There is not one source of information, and pretending otherwise is silly. The regs are available to the public. Do your own research. Become your own advocate. Build your case with your care providers. The gov’t is not your friend.
 
The third is subjective....some agree and some obviously don't agree. That is the democratic way.

Some have predispositions to what they thought was written, others actually read what was written.

Applicants and parents can share whatever they wish to share.

Sometimes, as in this scenario, @ the laser point, there really is one source...the decision makers. DoDMERB is the sole source to qualify (Meets Medical Standards)/DQ (Does Not Meet Medical Standards) and the Service/Program waiver authorities are the sole source to grant or deny medical waivers, if processed for a medical waiver.

As in the beginning, some will agree with the medical waiver decisions (99.9% of waiver granted decisions) will and some will disagree (99.9%) with the waiver denied decisions. :wiggle:
 
Not all healthcare providers are "PHYSICIANS."

Anyway, I'd like to talk about dermatology. Besides ear, nose, and throat complaints and musculoskeletal issues, skin disease is a common sick call presentation. Many of the conditions are easily diagnosed and treated. The officers and crew on a destroyer stand to get about the same level of derm care as those on the larger ships. IDCs can do a wet prep with potassium hydroxide for example to diagnose tines pedis or athlete's foot. Tinea cruis or jock itch. There's usually no need for the lab test however due to the location and appearance of the rash. Tinea is easily treated with an anti-fungal. Most people treat it over the counter themselves. I've had patients come in with a raging, angry rash which they self-treated with hydrocortisone cream. HC cream causes a fungus to flourish.

The ABCDE's of skin cancer are easy to remember and recognize. I never messed around with moles. They got a quick consult to dermatology. Thankfully most of them turned out to be a common nevus and that's just fine with me. Melanoma kills and should not be dilly-dallied with as far as getting a diagnosis and treatment.

Sun burn is a common skin condition I had to deal with. Easily preventable but also easily gotten. I'd have and have gotten burned myself when going from our east coast port in January to the Caribbean. Going home with a tan was the goal but lots of people got burned so bad they never got to the bronze stage. I heard from my early days to later in my career that getting a sun burn so bad that it required a visit and treatment from sick bay, or especially a rack pass, that the sailor or Marine could be written up for destruction of government property. I never saw that happen once in 26 years. I tell my high school students that the sun exposure they get today will show up 8-10 years from now. Preventing skin cancer is a bunch more attractive than surgery and biopsy scars.
 
Specific to dental, our current 3C has had outstanding dental work done on the Yard. He had a sore tooth, scheduled his appointment (tough with their class and watch schedule), and said the dentist was spectacular. He has a lot of work scheduled, apparently our local dentist pretty much botched all the work we paid for. This kid has always dreaded the dentist and said this was painless and he pretty much slept for two hours while the work was done.
For sure MIDN need to advocate for themselves in this regard and schedule appointments. Yes, Covid has made it a little tougher to get in.

As for medical, our son had major injuries to his lower limbs last year. He had outstanding medical care at BMI and has been pleased with the outcome. He was facing surgery in both legs and with the help of the physicians and specialists, they worked out a treatment plan to avoid surgery and recover and it worked. Again, advocating for themselves is key and not reporting an injury or an illness to 'tough it out' is not recommended.

Great thread @Devil Doc
 
Athletes foot - coconut oil works for me. I am glad to know that cortisone cream doesn’t work - I used to always use it and it never worked!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top