Life Stinks

[WBDaddy]

Well, anyone who has seen the film by same name will claim that I'm just using an extreme example to attract attention, and maybe they'd be right, except the reality is I'm just trying to be witty in the face of some really crap-tacular reality, as I vent my frustration with life in general among friends and acquaintances.

For the last 10 months, as some of you are aware, I've been battling "radiculopathy" - aka pain in my arms and wrists that comes from my spine (specifically my neck). This has made working my regular job (medical transcriptionist) difficult, to the point where I've been on severely part time status (10 hours a week).

What I've kept to myself over the last few months has been an issue that has become the foremost problem in my life, that being paroxysmal atrial fibrillation - a serious heart arrhythmia that strikes randomly and without warning, and leaves me feeling like I've just run a marathon or two. The upside is that I've been on a drug regimen that has largely controlled this problem. The downside is that the drug regimen pretty much makes me tired constantly, to where I'm sleeping more than 12 hours a day and still feeling exhausted every minute I'm awake.

Because of this, my cardiologist and I agreed that surgery was the best choice. He sent a letter to my employer stating that I should not work at all until after the surgery (next week, actually) and the two months I would be on heavier medication afterward.

Unfortunately, my employer decided this was a good time to terminate me, and since I'd already burned out my FMLA leave because of the neck problem, there wasn't a fucking thing I could do about it other than file for unemployment - and unemployment told me I'd be eligible if it weren't for the fact that I'm medically unable to work.

Thankfully, through some help from friends, I was able to pay for this month's health insurance ($420) under my COBRA extension - saving me about $25,000 versus having to self-pay for yesterday's MRA and the surgery next week. Unfortunately, every cent of the long-term disability insurance payment I get every month (about $700) paid the mortgage, electric, water, and internet this month. Yeah, I said "internet" in that list, because if I let that go, I'd still be waiting for my LTD check, because I'd be mailing stuff back and forth to them instead of e-mailing it, and my power would have been shut off...

Anyway, I guess I'm just asking for wishes/prayers/whatever you happen to subscribe to regarding my surgery next week. There's about a 60% chance of it working this time, which happens to be better odds than just taking the medication that has made me into a zombie the last several months. If it fails, I have to go in and do it again, and the odds improve the second time to 85-90%. I'd much rather get lucky once and pocket my winnings than have to roll the dice a second time.

[Bettypooh]

While this may not be the best time to mention this, you may have a legal case against your former employer- especially in you had a work contract. Plus you may now qualified for some pro-bono (free) legal help. These things vary a lot from place to place so you'd have to check where you are. Yes, life does stink sometimes- but what can you do? It's here and you just do the best you can with it.

I'd also like to say here that we all could find ourselves in a similar situation, and that we need to remember that while our friends here may be someone we've never met, they still mean something special to us, and we shouldn't forget that.

Bettypooh

[WBDaddy]

Sadly, it was an at-will employment, so under Virginia law, my only recourse was to file for unemployment.

[drynot]

Whoa. Man that does sound rough. Sorry about your luck

I can't offer any advice but I sincerely hope things turn around for you in the future.

[Bettypooh]

Even in an "At will" state, sometimes there are rules concerning people losing their job over medical issues that began during their employment. It's worth a phone call to Legal Aid to see if they may have to cover you for this even if it doesn't get your job back

Bettypooh

[beallucanb]

I bet the ACLU would love to fight with your employer, check them out in your area.

[nhdl]

Hope the surgery goes well.

[Diapered Jason]

What about Social Security disability?

[Guest diaperboykcmo]

Under the disablities act, I didn't think they could fire you over stuff like that.

I'll pray for you!

[WBDaddy]

What about Social Security disability?

Applied for it - just waiting the inevitable months upon months required for them to decide...

[sarah_ab]

it will be hard to qualify for SSI if u are under 50... but if you have questions about the process you can aske me.. its what i do for a living...

as for legal action, if u have exhausted your FMLA and are an at will or right to work state, there does not have to be a job for you to come back to.. regardless of when you became ill

[WBDaddy]

it will be hard to qualify for SSI if u are under 50... but if you have questions about the process you can aske me.. its what i do for a living...

Mind if I PM you?

[sarah_ab]

sure thing wb...

[feralfreak]

it will be hard to qualify for SSI if u are under 50... but if you have questions about the process you can aske me.. its what i do for a living...

as for legal action, if u have exhausted your FMLA and are an at will or right to work state, there does not have to be a job for you to come back to.. regardless of when you became ill

you work in ssi? i have some questions about ssdi ive been wanting to find out about.

it only took about 4 months for me to get put on a temporary ssdi thing, waiting 6 months for a permanent descision, so WBDaddy it might not take as long for you because you have a serious cardiac issue. my mother had temporary disability after her open heart bypass and it didnt take long for her, you might be put on it sooner than you think

[sarah_ab]

there is no such thing as temporary SSI/SSDI. there is no such thing as federal 'short term' disability... The definition states you have to be unable to work for 12 continuous months of your disability will result in death. However, many states have temporary medical assistance for people....

again ssa.gov/disability actually has everything on there that I have to abide by. All the rules/regulations etc... its public knowledge... course believe me i understand how complicated it can be!

[feralfreak]

there is no such thing as temporary SSI/SSDI. there is no such thing as federal 'short term' disability... The definition states you have to be unable to work for 12 continuous months of your disability will result in death. However, many states have temporary medical assistance for people....

again ssa.gov/disability actually has everything on there that I have to abide by. All the rules/regulations etc... its public knowledge... course believe me i understand how complicated it can be!

well they put me on something, some kind of 6 month thing, i dont remember the exact term. i might have gotten what they put my mom on wrong, she had some kind of disability thing from the hospital(she is a registered nurse who worked in an open heart unit, now she is a travel nurse).

i looked on that site, couldnt find any answer, and what mainly has me confused is on the reporting responsibility, it said anything of value, but i dont know what counts, for example, if i feel the need to buy a gun, do i have to report that? once in a while i get an order for a woodworking piece(not very common, the last thing i was asked to make was a storage bench which i sold for 150, and that was at the end of last year, and my last order before that was sold in april of 2008 i think, maybe a few months before that, it was a cradle), will care about small and infrequent ammounts like that?

[sarah_ab]

i don't know, i do not work with the financial portion of the program only the medical portion call the social security office nearest you and they can tell you what they want.