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Posted 2/20/2011 11:25 AM (GMT 0)
I just wanted to update all of you on what is going on at this end of the world.  Lots to talk about....or at least a few things (I promise not to make this a book) so here is the scoop.

This weekend for some odd reason my pain has increased.  I can't help but wonder if there is a cold front coming in or something, cause usually when the cold fronts come over us I can tell.  There is increased pain in both sides of my lower back (L4-L5 region) and my knees get really tender from all the past surgeries that I have had on them.  I have developed arthritis in my joints of my knees over the years and that is what causes my pain.

It's a fact that it comes with getting older. Yesterday I spent the entire day just resting.  Hubby is taking me to a bowshoot today (Sunday) and I wanted to make sure that my back was prepared for the long walk.  It's not really a very long walk, but for someone with lots of pain, it can be a little hard to do.  So it's Sunday morning 5:07am and I am wide awake in anticipation for the days events.  I've been awake since 3:45am and it seems my back does not want to cooperate with me today.  Grrrrrrr!!!!!  My pain is worse, but I will go take a hot bath and see if that relaxes it enough to try.

As each of you know, an increase in pain is not very fun and I know its 2 hours before meds so that might be what I need to bring it down as well.

Okay.........so I got some really great news!  I recieved a letter in the mail yesterday from the SS ODAR.  Guess what?????  I got a FULLY FAVORABLE decision!!!!!!!!  Isn't that wonderful?  I was so excited I read each page to my hubby.  Of course he didn't get excited about it because he says he'll believe it when he sees a check.  God what a pessimest he is!  So I don't know what comes next.  Guess my attorney will be contacting me sometime this week to let me know?  I just think its cool that someone agrees with me that I am disabled!  Oh and they did tie in the depression, meds side effects, back and pain.  So I am hoping that things will at least be clear for some money.

Hey I didn't know that 85% of this money (that is if I even get some) is going to be taxable!?  Hubby makes about 48k a year and I read online that we are looking at 85% of my disability to be taxed.  That's crap, sorry to be so blunt, but it is....why can they do this?  I mean I am just trying to secure something that if something happens to hubby who is the breadwinner of this family, I am taken care of.  If something happens to him, I'm screwed.  I have no way to make an income and every last dime of his life ins is taken for bills and things.  Maybe then they won't tax it yeah

Anyway, my labradors (I have three, one of each color) are getting up there in age.  Jazzmine is the oldest and she is 12, Shadow is the middle child and she is also 12 and Remington is the baby of the family and he is 11.  The other day hubby went to let them inside and Shadow came into the living room at a trot and then fell over.  Her legs were straight as a board and I knew right then what was going on.  My black lab was having a seizure!  Scared both of us and hubby sat next to her for probably 5 min to calm her down.  Once she was back up and okay I watched her for the rest of the day to make sure she was okay and since then she hasn't had anymore, but I keep thinking that maybe this is the beginning of the end of my labs.  So sad!

Well, I best close this post for now.  Hope each of you, my friends, are having a low pain day.

Hugs

Scarred

Posted 2/20/2011 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Scarred, That is awesome that you got approved! What a nice surprize. I agree that it is a bunch of crap that they will taxing so much. Doesn't make much sense.

So sorry that your pain levels are so high right now. I bet there must be a weather something coming in. Us cpers usually know way before the weather guy! I hope you can get your pain under control.

I was really sad when I read about Shadow. How scary, poor baby. I live with my sis and she has 2 labs. We also had a couple of labs when we were growing up. They are amazing dogs! I sure hope it was a one time freak incident. I will send positive thoughts to you and Shadow both.

Please keep us posted on both of your conditions. I hope you have a great time today with Hubby! Try to not over do it. Take care.
Posted 2/20/2011 3:17 PM (GMT 0)

       Congrat's Scarred! I had no idea they taxed a person that much on this.

          For those of us who do not sleep well, I understand waking up in pain, and having to wait until you're scheduled time to take your dose. It makes for a long night. It's worse if your on IR med's. It seems to be better for me since my PCD upped my ER medication.

      Take care!

       SE wink

Posted 2/20/2011 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
Exactly! I just don't get it. I went to the bow shoot and I am now at a 10 ready to call the dr but I know there is nothing anyone can do for the pain. I've just got to wait it out! The pain is horrible! I can't get comfortable and am about in tears. They can't help me at the ER so why bother ya know?

On the other note....I am gonna wait and talk to our tax people so I am totally sure about the tax thing. But finally I'm officially a disabled person...God that is sad when THIS is exciting right?

Hugs

Scarred
Posted 2/20/2011 8:52 PM (GMT 0)
Thank God you got approved scarred. I'm so sorry about what happened to Shadow. I will be sending positive thoughts and prayers your way for you and Shadow. Take care and get some rest, if you can.

love and hugs
Loretta
Posted 2/20/2011 9:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Scarred, yep its true we do have to pay income tax on our SSD. My SSD has been taxable since day one and if you will go onto their website its all on there in black and white. Since you are married they use the combined income of your SSD and hubby's income for the year. I want to say and I could be wrong but, if the total income is $32,500 or more between the two of you its taxable. Hey, to me its a small price to pay to have a monthly income. In the event you became single then your tax would change and if you met a certain income level you may not have to pay anything per year. Someone I know gets around $1,000 a month and they pay no income tax on their benefits and they are single. You will start getting letters telling you how much you will receive a month, how much they owe you to date including past due benefits, a letter telling you how much they withheld to pay the attys fees and that sort of thing. Start checking your checking acct if you bank online because they are real good about putting money in your acct and no letter sent telling you they have done this. Your online deposit will have a brief explanation saying what the deposit is or rather who it is from. My money was deposited in my acct and I did not receive a letter saying I was being awarded benefits. Think that didn't put me in a talespin, lol. I just knew the bank had screwed up and called them and told them all about it. The bank informed me it was not their error and I still did not believe them. I was scared to death to spend a dime of the money because I had no clue who it was from for almost a month. I was so upset by this I did not bother to look at who the deposit was from, duh, was I in a snit or what, lol. So, congrats on getting SSD!!!!

Oh, am so sorry to hear about your baby and the seizures. Start keeping a log of the date and time if he has any more. I went through this with one of my golden retrievers. I did not know this was common in their breed. Willy started having them and I was able to link it to him and his heart worm medicine, it was the one for fleas and ticks. My vet did not believe me until we changed his heart worm medicine and he did not have anymore seizures. It scared me to death every time he had one and it got to where it was almost like he knew when he was going to have one too. My daughter's golden had to be put on medication for his seizures, he took his medicine twice a day and did great no more seizures. I can't remember what Buddy took for his seizures but its what they put people on for them. The vet wrote the script and she had it filled at the drug store. You may want to look online and see if Labs are prone to seizures, many breeds are prone to them. A couple of Willy's litter mates ended up having seizure problems and required medication daily.

Hope you can get the pain level down soon. I have no doubt you will, somehow you always manage to pull through it. I guess that is part of being a seasoned CPer, lol. We always manage to get past the bad pain some how. You are so right, going to ER is a total waste of time and money. Unless I see some blood or break a bone I don't bother going there.

So start watching your mail for letters from SSD people and keep an eye on your checking acct for money to show up that was not there the day before, lol.
Posted 2/21/2011 11:30 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the info Stray, I was sure that I wasn't reading that wrong. Hubby makes around 48,000 a yr. so I will be ready for the tax bill when it comes time. You are so right! I was always worried about what was going to happen to me if something happened and God forbid, something happened to my husband that I started increasing his life ins. to 300k. But we all know that the Gov gets their cut too so between his death taxes and the bills outstanding if something happens that will be pretty much gone.

So with me at least getting something for the disability I actually haven't been thinking of what will happen to me. I even went so far as to think that I would end up in a nursing home once hubby was gone cause I refuse to allow that burden to be put on my children. Now I'm confident that I will be able to live alone without any problems when this happens.

I know this may sound morbid for a lot of you, but when you have only one income coming into the house and a disabled person that depends on her spouse all the time for everything in her life, it weighs big on the mind. Hubby's dad is still alive and so far is in his 80's so I have no doubt my hubby will be on this earth for a very long time.

But, I worry about stuff like this. I wanted to make sure that I was covered if things should go wrong. My pain has gotten a lot worse in the past year and I just worry that I won't be independent for very much longer. So having the disability to fall back on helps out greatly.

My disability onset date is May 2003 and my date of last insured is 2006 so this was my last chance to actually get disability. Maybe you can clear this up for me Stray, how far do they go back when it comes to that back payment?
Posted 2/22/2011 5:58 AM (GMT 0)
I'm not Stray but I can answer your question. As far as the back payment goes, they go back to when you first filled out your application. So say if you filled it out on May 26, 2003 then they'll pay you for May 26, 2003 and forward. I hope that helps. I'm so glad and happy for you that you got your SSD and you don't have to worry anymore. I hope your pain is better tonight. Take care and I hope you are having a low pain night. How I know about the SSD is my husband is on SSD and I'm on SSI and we both got back payments to the time that we first filled out our application and they received it.

love and soft hugs
Loretta
Posted 2/22/2011 12:16 PM (GMT 0)
Scarred I have to differ with Loretta on this, its the date you became disabled, not the date you filed your claim. Whatever date your dr says you are disabled is the date SSD go by unless there is something in the medical records to change this date. I don't know what date is being used on you by SSD, did they agree with the date you gave or did they use a date they say you became disabled? Don't worry on this one, you will soon be getting a letter hopefully and on that letter it will state the date disability began. What did you mean by last insured was 2006? You should get a nice check for all of the back pay owed.
Posted 2/22/2011 12:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I have no idea how I missed replying to this! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I have recently received SSD myself and was awarded back to the date of my initial injury (the judge decided on the date). The backpay came in from the date of disability and then they paid backpay to my child from my day of disability. It was a nice windfall, but we're still waiting on the tax info for this year....which will be a hot mess!!! My husband earns a pretty good salary and I am medically retired (so I draw a retirement that is taxed). It all sounds perfect, but then I found out about the 85% being taxable and freaked out.

Since you received a notice, you can call the local office and tell them and then they will give you more exact information (at least in my case). They were the ones who also got the money for my child. Medicare should kick in for me this year too, but I will be keeping United as my first insurrance (because it was in force at the time of Medicare eligibility) or so I am told.

Anyway, this is wonderful for you and I'm so happy you were approved. I understand your feelings of stress on this one and have been there myself.

I wish you all the best!
Posted 2/23/2011 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
Stray;

Okay, what I mean by last date insured is since I did not work at any time after 2006 that all my credits that I got from SS were gone. I was told that if you don't work for a long time your credits are decreased as the years go by.

It says that my disabled date is the may, 2003. Alls I got for now was what the JA sent. Has nothing about how much or anything like that, but it does say that they will review my case in 36 months.
Posted 2/23/2011 6:08 AM (GMT 0)
Congrats, Scarred, on joining the ranks of us government proclaimed "broken" people! You have every right to be excited; I know I was certainly excited when I got my letter. Infact I got mine about a year ago.

Just to give you a heads up. I know last year when I got my letter from SSD stating I was disabled, and how much per month I was going to get here's some details. My date of injury was 10/2007, and I had filed in 11/2009 with a ton and a half of paperwork to support everything. I got lucky and didn't get denied; one of like 3% of people who file ... I was super lucky.

I guess because they do so many denials now that they put a cap on backpay. Not the figure, but the date. I think you only get like two years max back pay, but hey, it's better then nothing! Also before you'll qualify for SSD insurance there's also another waiting period. It doesn't make sence, and for us single folks it kinda puts us in a rock and a hard spot. I got my letter in 2/2010 stating I was disabled, but I didn't qualify for my Medicare until 11/2010. Go figure. The bad thing for me was it meant according to the state of Nevada I had to much income to qualify for state Medicaid, but no Medicare till October; eight months of no insurance. =P Hopefully you're covered through your husband so you won't have that waiting issue that so many disabled folks do.

However when you do qualify they will then begin to garnish your monthly check. They take $110/month outta my check for my insurance. Which hurts given I don't get that much per month to begin with. I did at least qualify for full assistance for my drug perscription plan, so I don't pay monthly for that. The only reason I have a seperate plan is because I didn't do the whole Medicare part C -- read all those over carefully. For me I stuck with strait Medicare simply because my Pain Management doc only took strait Medicare or PPO, and where I live there was only one PPO plan offered ... coverage wasn't that much better then regular Medicare, and it was going to cost an additional $116 per month on top of the $110. You an see why I didn't go that route.

But just getting approved is such a wonderful feeling. So you celebrate as much as you want!

I'm sorry about the cold front; hopefully warmer weather will head your way soon! I'll send warm thoughts your way. =)
Posted 2/23/2011 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Rav;

Thanks! Actually hubby has really good ins. where he works and for my back I don't have to worry about the bills as Wyoming Worker's Comp. has to pay for those. As long as it is related to the first fusion I am covered with my injury. I haven't got the letter saying how much as of yet. But I did find one of my last info sheets from SS regarding how much I've made over the years and stuff like that that they send out to just about everyone that pays into the system.

I cannot believe I only have made 53,000 in my entire lifetime!!!! Boy I really thought I would have made more! Oh well, guess I will know when I know right? LOL

Hugs

Scarred
Posted 2/23/2011 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
Scarred you will get letters setting out everything in the mail. The only letter that I did not get was the one stating I wa being approved for SSD, I got all of the others letters telling me how much in back pay I was owed, and of course one telling me how much a month I would receive. Just keep an eye out in your mail box. I am just so happy that you got awarded.

Take care.
Posted 2/24/2011 1:01 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Stray! I am watching the mail closely. Just got some more news (good or bad is still up in the air) tonight. Seems hubby will be getting a promotion on Monday from a parts man in the parts dept. to a full manager in the parts dept. So I will lose him a bunch more now. :-( This will be just like up home again where he leaves at 7 am and doesn't come home until 10p. EEEEK!!!

Oh well, hope it means more fundage huh?
Posted 2/24/2011 3:53 PM (GMT 0)

   Dear Scarred,

   Good morning  :-)    I am terribly sorry I am late in reading your topic! When I got half way down the page, I thought surly I had read it wrong. I cannot believe that after all this time, you are fully approved!!!! How crazy is that?!  I hope that you will finally have some breathing room. You have been through an awful lot the last few years and you deserve it! Congratulations!!!

 *hugg*
  dani

Posted 2/24/2011 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, it is good & bad news but anytime there is more money involved I say its a plus. And, once you start receiving regular checks perhaps the two of you can manage a special date night once a month and go somewhere special that you normally would not spend the money to do. That would really be a nice thing for both of you.
Posted 2/24/2011 10:57 PM (GMT 0)
Oh stray that would be great!!! Hubby and I seem to have lost touch with one another over the years it seems. I know he still loves me and cares deepy, but geez these last 10 years have been horrible on him and me. I feel so bad to have to ask him to do things for me, that sometimes I find myself thinking he'd be so much better off without my problems in his life. But, he has stuck by my side no matter what it takes and for that I respect the man very much. :-)

Dear Dani;

Thank you so much for your post! I have always looked forward to your input. :-) Now if I could only get them to get me a trial on the stim I would be sooooo happy! ha ha ha that one ain't happening anytime soon!

Hugsss

Scarred
Posted 2/25/2011 5:32 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry that I'm disagreed with. I didn't mean to seem like I'm just throwing out information. When I got my SSI (I guess that may be different from SSD, I don't know) They started me as getting payed back until the date on my application. I guess that's different from SSD. I thought they would be the same. I guess not. I can't remember when they paid my husband's backpay from and he gets SSD. I'm sorry if I confused anybody. I guess I won't give my opinion or anything when it comes to SSD or SSI :( I'm sorry :(

hugs
Loretta
Posted 2/25/2011 7:38 PM (GMT 0)
Loretta no problem. SSD & SSI are two totally different programs and yes SSI they do go by the date of the application. On SSD its the date the dr says you are disabled or the date SSD decides to give if they do not agree with your dr. Only reason I was able to give the correct answer because when I worked we handled SSD claims for some of our clients.
Posted 2/26/2011 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
Never be affraid to give your input, Loretta, even on something as complex and crazy as SSI/SSD. Like Straydog said, SSI and SSD are different (making them the same would be to easy for the government after all!) and I know with SSD that things are always changing. 10 years ago when my Mom was disabled how they handled backpay was different compared to how they handled mine when I got approved February 2010. I wish they still had the same standards in place; I woulda gotten way more backpay then I did. No harm done! *hugs*
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