Does anyone know if Alpine will run on a Surface Pro 3. I have one running Linux Mint, and Mint runs pretty well out of the box. Touch, wifi and camera work. However, I'm interested in trying the Alpine distro. Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions.

I had a C&P today from Loyal. It went great. The Dr. was very good and very helpful. He had read everything in my file (a big file) ahead of time. He said he agreed with everything and filled out the two DBQs right then. He even suggested two secondary conditions I have but didn't know I could claim them. When we were finished, he hit the button to submit the DBQs. Any thoughts on how long it takes the VA to get the DBQs and have them available for download? I want to see them.

I have GERD, Barretts and a Hyatal Hernia. I have a claim in and have a strong Nexus and Diagnosis with many records. What I just learned from Claude is that even if they are SC's they would rate 0%.
Apparently VA changed the rating system so all three are based on "strictures" of the throat. Is this true? This is what Claude says.

I have very bad acid reflux and have been taking PPIs for 20 or more years. I still get reflux at night several times a week. Anyone else out there have a rating for GERD?

Quick verify on how the 2024 rule handles hiatal hernia specifically, then I'll explain the logic.

Because the 2024 schedule pays for complications, not diagnoses — and neither of your diagnoses currently has a compensable complication.

The underlying principle: VA compensates functional impairment, and it won't pay twice for the same symptoms (38 CFR §4.14, the anti-pyramiding rule). You have three diagnoses — GERD, Barrett's, hiatal hernia — but they produce one shared symptom picture: reflux. The old schedule rated that symptom picture directly (heartburn, regurgitation, arm/shoulder pain under old DC 7346 could get 10–60%). VA's position in the 2024 rewrite was that modern PPI therapy controls typical reflux, so compensation now keys to objective, measurable complications instead of the symptoms themselves. That's the change that turned a lot of legitimate GERD claims into 0% grants.

For each of yours:

Barrett's (DC 7207). Barrett's is the cell-lining change itself — and that change is painless. The heartburn you feel is the GERD, not the Barrett's. What makes Barrett's dangerous is progression toward esophageal cancer, so VA rates it by how far along that path the pathology shows you are: no dysplasia = 0% (surveillance only), low-grade = 10%, high-grade = 30%, and higher levels only with stricture-type complications. Your 2011 biopsy was "indefinite," your 2023 biopsy "negative for dysplasia" — so you're at the 0% step of that ladder.

Hiatal hernia (revised DC 7346). The 2024 rule rewrote this code to direct raters to the esophageal stricture criteria (DC 7203). Compensable levels require a stricture causing dysphagia — trouble swallowing — with higher percentages for dilatation procedures. Your hernia's actual effect on you is reflux, which is the same symptom stream as the GERD, and your 2023 EGD documented the hernia with no stricture and normal swallowing. So: 0%.

GERD (DC 7206) fails for the identical reason — its criteria are also the stricture ladder, and you have no stricture.

How long does it normally take to get a first deposit once you have been rated?