Wednesday, April 06, 2005
No return, part 2....
First, I wanted to thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. This is a bumpy time in my life, but you make the road smoother. I am finding I am not as brave as I had thought.
Talked to the rheumy this afternoon. We agreed that the only feasible improvement I can hope for (barring a fibro, Sjogren's, and other ailment cure) at this time would be if I find a workable med for the periodic limb movement disorder. I need more time before I know if I've exhausted my options in that regard.
I have three more months of short-term leave available to me before I positively have to file with Social Security (my long-term disability insurance insists their recipients must file if there is not a specific return to work date), so I have a tentative return to work date of the first week of July. The odds of me actually going back to work are small, but I'll take one last shot at a miracle. If I have not improved by July, I'll go on long-term disability and file with Social Security.
I won't wait until July to start gathering paperwork, though, because I understand it can take months to get everything in order before actually applying with Social Security. Better to have everything together and never file than delay what is already a lengthy process. I have at least eight docs to get copies of my records from.
One upsetting monkey wrench about this whole thing is that I got ANOTHER denial of benefits from the disability insurance guys today. My rheumy provided all the paperwork they're requesting, and they claim it's not enough. So they've been sitting on my benefits for a month.
I'm going to call them tomorrow and make sure they got the functional capacity form that was sent to them. They gave me another one in the mail today. If they have it and are just disputing my doc's word, I'm getting in touch with the union president because I know I'm not the only one having trouble with the company.
I helped Dan apply for a government job last night. I figure the pay will be better than the average salary where I live. We'd have to move to the east coast, though.
I guess this is probably all dress rehearsal for dealing with Social Security in the future. Yuck. I think the whole thing is more political than health related.
Am already looking forward to when things calm down again.
Pain level: 8
Fatigue level: 8
Talked to the rheumy this afternoon. We agreed that the only feasible improvement I can hope for (barring a fibro, Sjogren's, and other ailment cure) at this time would be if I find a workable med for the periodic limb movement disorder. I need more time before I know if I've exhausted my options in that regard.
I have three more months of short-term leave available to me before I positively have to file with Social Security (my long-term disability insurance insists their recipients must file if there is not a specific return to work date), so I have a tentative return to work date of the first week of July. The odds of me actually going back to work are small, but I'll take one last shot at a miracle. If I have not improved by July, I'll go on long-term disability and file with Social Security.
I won't wait until July to start gathering paperwork, though, because I understand it can take months to get everything in order before actually applying with Social Security. Better to have everything together and never file than delay what is already a lengthy process. I have at least eight docs to get copies of my records from.
One upsetting monkey wrench about this whole thing is that I got ANOTHER denial of benefits from the disability insurance guys today. My rheumy provided all the paperwork they're requesting, and they claim it's not enough. So they've been sitting on my benefits for a month.
I'm going to call them tomorrow and make sure they got the functional capacity form that was sent to them. They gave me another one in the mail today. If they have it and are just disputing my doc's word, I'm getting in touch with the union president because I know I'm not the only one having trouble with the company.
I helped Dan apply for a government job last night. I figure the pay will be better than the average salary where I live. We'd have to move to the east coast, though.
I guess this is probably all dress rehearsal for dealing with Social Security in the future. Yuck. I think the whole thing is more political than health related.
Am already looking forward to when things calm down again.
Pain level: 8
Fatigue level: 8
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