First of all, please don't offer me your sympathies. I am writing this to vent a little and to seek advice on where to go from here...

I sustained a fairly grave injury to my left shoulder during Desert Storm (1990). The military hospital, which I won't name, performed a procedure on me to re-attach the shoulder and stabilize it. They said everything was perfect now and healing terrifically.
Several months after the initial surgery I started experiencing migraine headaches. BAD ones. Vomiting, blindness, etc. The military ensured me that the migraines had nothing to do with the surgery and was most likely caused by my PTSD. I separated from the military, but was still having major problems with the shoulder.
I started going to VA hospitals and they would look at me like a drug addict when I had migraines or severe shoulder pain. They kept taking x-rays and telling me that everything was perfect (that was their orthopedic surgeon-clown), but they refused to take soft-tissue scans. They intimated that it was all in my head and referred me to psychological evaluation (which I never did because I'm not imagining this).
Last year I allowed the VA to talk me into an un-related hernia surgery which was done by a "doctor" that I had to have translated for me to understand what he was saying. That job was botched as well, resulting in a 6-month recovery time (should have been 1-2 weeks) and continuing pain to this day (which the VA also says is in my head).
I gave up on going to the VA for anything. Apparently I'm just crazy or something. So I got private insurance and 3 weeks ago I saw a civilian orthopedic surgeon that came highly recommended. He scheduled a couple of tests (an arthogram mri and a nerve conduction study). Twelve hours ago he gave me the news: the military did the wrong surgery on my shoulder, didn't repair any of the damage, just tightened up the joint and sewed me back together. They didn't remove the damaged pieces of bone, didn't remove the destroyed cartilage, and most of all didn't do anything constructive at all. Now I have "substantial and permanent nerve damage affecting my entire upper left quadrant" and the surgical sutures that they did have been unravelled for quite some time, with some of the muscles "almost completely severed, being held together mostly by scar tissue." He has scheduled my surgery for next Friday (2/11) but is going to try to bump me to this coming friday (2/4). He is also scheduling me for pain management. He says that he has to do a "complete anatomical reconstruction" of the joint, but that my nerve damage is permanent so he will not be able to relieve the pain. He put me on Neurontin and I have consults with the anaesthesiologist for further evaluation on what can be done.
I am extremely happy to finally have a doctor looking at this that is not a complete imbecile. When I found out that I wasn't crazy I cried (and so did my wife). However, I'm 37 years old and need major reconstructive surgery to fix a mistake made by military doctors and covered up by the VA.
Does anyone out there have any advice for me on how to go about getting disability and possibly suing the VA? Don't even know if that is possible. I could use details since the US Govt application and review process is...broken.
Sorry for this long story, and thank you for reading it. Please, I am not looking for sympathy. I'm emotionally stronger than that and I am surrounded by terrific people that are closer than family. But none of them have ever had to deal with the VA, and I'm ****ed off as well as just plain concerned that I may never be able to effectively work again.
Thank you and cheers.