Any one else unemployed with no SSI?

[Constancejackso]

Looking for other jobless, angry scoliosis patients

Hello, At twelve I wore a Boston back brace and had a 27
degree curve. The doctors wouldn't operate on me then. They took me out of my brace too early I believe, I was only fourteen. My doctor was deported and the hospital did not set me up with another doctor.
When I was 36, I was working in a factory whereI was lifting over 30 lbs consistantly everyday. One afternoon, I injured my back with several fratures. They erased my work record- so no work man's compensation. I have seen six doctors since two who tell me I can work any where and do anything. "Just be careful." As some of you know you can't be careful in a factory. Four of these doctors have put such tough limitations on me. It's impossible to find a job in an industrial and restaurant town.
I have tried to get disability several times and that's not working.
I was wondering am I alone in this confusion due to my birth defect?
Carolyn

[Spencer's Dad]

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know your are not alone. There are many people who have experienced the frustration of government red tape associated with SSI. I would recommend two things to you.

First, get some retraining to do something not in a factory setting. Go back to school, get some certifications. Whatever it is you need to find something you can do that will not put you at risk for further injury. There are many community college or technical college programs that are relatively quick (1-2 years) and that qualify for pretty good paying jobs (How about becoming an X-ray Technician or respiratory therapist?). I know it is hard and may seem impossible to go back to school since you are unemployed, but as you have now found out, you can not rely on the government to take care of you. Only you can look out for you.

Second, with respect to SSI. I don't know how you have applied in the past, but you need a lawyer with experience in dealing with the Social Security Administration to help you qualify. And you need to realize that it is the policy of the Social Security Administration to reject all applications at least once. You must reapply and reapply. This is why a good lawyer is essential. They know how to write the applications and rewrite them to meet the SSI criteria and demands.

You are also not alone because we are all here on this forum to support and encourage you. Life deals us some pretty tough cards sometimes and the folks here have been awesome in helping me through some my bad hands. I know their support will help you too.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[heidel]

[quote=Constancejackso]Looking for other jobless, angry scoliosis patients

Hi there,
i stopped working in oct 06 due to pain, exhaustion, and not being able to do any one thing for more than 15 minutes at a time...(i am 50 and have a 54 degree thor/lum) and have applied for SS and am in the 'awaiting trial' phase...through legal aide of west virginia (free lawyer help).
i am not angry YET. I trust that my doctors records will be enough.
i did a lot of looking online at the SS website for disability to understand what kind of diagnosing they need to see on the MD reports...residual capacity stuff...is some of it and I found a pain management doctor who did testing on me to show where i have a lot of nerve damage that affects my abilitys... just keep investigating, looking online, asking ?'s.
DON'T GIVE UP !
cidny

[nzgirl]

I'm sorry to hear your frustration and anger about your situation. I can see it is a difficult time for you, and I hope that it will get better soon.
I've switched occupations partially due to my scoliosis, but also due to a general lack of job satisfaction. I was (and technically still am) a registered nurse, but am re-training as a clinical psychologist through doing a PhD. I realised during this training how lucky I am to be able to switch jobs and re-train, a lot of the people on my course are working part time whilst studying. The way I got here was through seeing a vocational psychologist and taking some career interest tests and talking about stuff I wanted to do.
I know nothing about the experiences in the USA, I'm in another hemisphere!. However, I wanted to say that for me, changing my occupation made a big differences in my life satisfaction and pain levels. Aside from looking at your legal stuff, I would suggest looking at finding a job that you are at least mostly happy with. That helps a lot with tolerating life that is difficult when you have scoliosis.
Reading your post, I see that your geographical location makes stuff difficult for you. I was wondering if there are somethings that you could do online or something that could get outside the restrictions caused by your location? thinking outside of the traditional modes of employment in your town. Just because the doctors say you can do anything, doesn't mean you can. You know your body, and you may have more choices that are readily apparant... i hope anyway
All the best.

[Cakedec]

I completely understand your frustration as I have had a double scoliosis that has made being employed difficult all of my life. I trained in office work and found that the sitting made my shoulders and neck hurt too much. Then I was able to learn cake decorating which was easier on my back because I could move around. However, my curves got too severe and I had to have surgery last year.

After the surgery, I realized that I would not be able to do the heavy lifting (30-40 lbs.) and standing 10-12 hours on cement floors required for the decorating (although I enjoyed it). However, it has been a great strain on my family not to have the income. I decided to get some retraining from a medical transcription company. They trained me in-house for 6 months to learn to transcribe ER reports from hospitals. This can be done from your own home for many companies. There are also on-line training courses that you can take to learn transcription if there is not a company in your area where you can train.

I am in the process of setting up my office in my home and plan to start transcribing on 9/11. Another advantage of this is that there are shifts around the clock that you can do.

Take stock of your interests and skills, maybe with a friend or counselor, and see if there isn't something else that you can do. Some community colleges have testing/aptitude surveys available. You don't want to put extra strain on your back, even if you have not had surgery because it could cause problems down the road as yet unforeseen. If I can do it at 48, you can do it at your age.

Deb
age 48
posterior surgery 7/24/2006
for s curve T72, L77
T5 to L5
50% correction
DON'T WAIT TO GET STRAIGHT!!

[CHRIS WBS]

That's an excellent idea, Deb. My sister-in-law is a medical transcriber and she works from her home. She has her computer station set up in the basement adjacent to her laundry room. And she loves working from home. Good for you.

Chris