terrykohler
Well Known Member
After nearly 9 months from the date of my "incident", I received my SI medical. I certainly learned a few things along the way:
1. While current guidance for placement of a stent has been reduced from 6 months to three months, this really has to do with you physical, not the actual receipt of the SI.
2. If your cardiologist is not intimately familiar with the FAA, and they prescribe "new" drugs not on the FAA radar, you're going to get delayed due to requests for "more information".
3. If your cardiologist is not intimately familiar with the FAA and insists on providing information "their way", you'll encounter more delays.
4. If the government goes on shutdown, more delays.
5. All of these delays, by the way, come with the same weekly response - "You're slated for review". When? "Don't know".
Frankly, after the second submission of data and information to Ok City, the Feds did send a very concise letter detailing all of the information they required on my drugs, post surgical reports, etc. Two weeks later, my cardiologist's office sent me a two sentence reply which I knew wasn't going to fly. Thankfully, daughter #1 is a USN flight surgeon - she reviewed all of my files, drafted a letter to the FAA, and forwarded it to the cardiologist with a note to sign it, use it as a draft, or at the very least, hit all of the points she covered. JACKPOT. About a month after a new letter was submitted, I received my SI.
Conclusion of this tale:
My SI expires the end of June, 2014. I'm going to need a physical, stress test, blood work, etc. done three months prior (in order to help ensure I don't lapse). All data will be reviewed by Daughter before submission. All data requested by FAA will be submitted in a single package or e-file.
All worth it? Oh yeah!
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
1. While current guidance for placement of a stent has been reduced from 6 months to three months, this really has to do with you physical, not the actual receipt of the SI.
2. If your cardiologist is not intimately familiar with the FAA, and they prescribe "new" drugs not on the FAA radar, you're going to get delayed due to requests for "more information".
3. If your cardiologist is not intimately familiar with the FAA and insists on providing information "their way", you'll encounter more delays.
4. If the government goes on shutdown, more delays.
5. All of these delays, by the way, come with the same weekly response - "You're slated for review". When? "Don't know".
Frankly, after the second submission of data and information to Ok City, the Feds did send a very concise letter detailing all of the information they required on my drugs, post surgical reports, etc. Two weeks later, my cardiologist's office sent me a two sentence reply which I knew wasn't going to fly. Thankfully, daughter #1 is a USN flight surgeon - she reviewed all of my files, drafted a letter to the FAA, and forwarded it to the cardiologist with a note to sign it, use it as a draft, or at the very least, hit all of the points she covered. JACKPOT. About a month after a new letter was submitted, I received my SI.
Conclusion of this tale:
My SI expires the end of June, 2014. I'm going to need a physical, stress test, blood work, etc. done three months prior (in order to help ensure I don't lapse). All data will be reviewed by Daughter before submission. All data requested by FAA will be submitted in a single package or e-file.
All worth it? Oh yeah!
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
