June Chit Chat

[Parsi]

… I wish you did have SS. Does this mean that you do or do not have Medicare? I hope you at least have that. ...

I have Medicare. I hard earned just enough credits/units/quarters to have the government pay for at least part of Part A. So I'm currently paying $240 for Part A and $135.50 for Part B. I went with an Advantage plan that required no extra for that premium.

[Parsi]

Parsi, somehow 5 years comes to mind as the number of years my mother (and an aunt as well) had to work before being eligible for SS but those rules could have changed.

You might be able to play the MS card in job situations. I'm not sure how this works but understand that many employers are now required to accommodate various disabilities. If a job seemed to involve heavy lifting, they might hire you anyway with the provision that you be exempt from the heavy lifting part. I'm just guessing here.

Too bad Catdancer isn't here to provide some input. I believe she's an experienced disabilities counselor?

I've been getting Social Security statements for years. They have always read that 40 credits (or whatever the term at that time) were needed to receive SS benefits. For each credit you have to earn a certain amount, up to 4 credits per year. 40 credits equals 10 years work.
You could receive disability before that but you must have been working up to the point of declaring disability. I've been out of work for far too long.

With other job applicants available the MS card would not help. The others could do the work without the limitations.

Some job attempts are not worth it.
A few years ago I took on a paper route. The early mornings didn't bother me, though my husband wasn't happy. The pay barely covered gas. And my bladder was a major problem.
I tried Subway. But the stretching overhead to put the washed containers on shelves to dry and the pulling on muscles to open/close doors (there's a suction) sometimes made it impossible to finish a shift. And mopping floors is painful. It wasn't fair to have other employees carry the load.

I've been rejected at the interview stage because they assumed I couldn't do the job. I had not mentioned any limitations. Very daunting when I thought I would have been able to do the job. Now I don't have the confidence that I could.
A couple hours of work around the house puts me in pain and wipes out my energy for the rest of the day.

[Parsi]

Howie, how did we ever survive using those piddly coffee cups before the more generous coffee mugs were created?

Parsi, it's so nice to see you. You must join our monthly exercise thread that Sunshine starts as it got me off my butt and motivated me to exercise more. That and our inspiring 'movers' who show that consistent, regular movement really does help.

I know I felt the difference very quickly even though I started small and slow. Please think about joining in, every little bit of movement helps!

Please let us know if you hear from Cat too! ....

Yes, I know I should exercise and it has helped in the past. I think I even had participated in the exercise thread but dropped out. And now I rarely come to BT to be inspired by it.

[agate]

Parsi, that's the trouble with most jobs, isn't it? All of the talk about "reasonable accommodations" doesn't seem to include setting up a job where the employee can work at his/her own pace. The employer wants a certain amount and type of work done, usually in a set time frame, and someone one MS takes orders primarily from the MS and finds it hard to take orders from the employer. So--no job is possible.

I'm waiting for a job where I can say to the employer, "I'll get the work done--when I get around to it." The employer would have to trust that I'm not just delaying indefinitely and trust that I wouldn't be so slow about doing the work that I'd be useless. There's probably no employer who would have that much patience and trust.

You mention suction doors. I hate them. I can open one once with a lot of effort but I'd have a rough time if I had to open them often and repeatedly. Sustained activitiy involving muscles is next to impossible. Even crocheting has to be limited.

[Cherie]

WHen there are no see ums at the beach its usually when there is no wind. I found that as soon as I hosed down in the shower, they left me alone. If its hot, in NC, you might hose down and see if it helps you too. Its an old surfer trick.

It is very breezy here and they are biting up a storm. Rained last night and it seems to have slowed them down. David got back in the car yesterday afternoon after a hike and said there must've been a hundred that flew off him in the car and he was smushing them into the windows. Now he has to go out with the windex and clean his windows before we head home tomorrow.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Temp here feels like 103. I am of course indoors.

I am frustrated with the medical service. Last Monday the surgeon faxed the PT order. I have had NO PT for over a week now. I called but all they say is they will check on it. My legs are still quite weak and I am afraid to do much standing without someone right there.

It is almost 4 months (2/22) and I am a long way from being independent again. I am trying to trust that God has a plan. Jeanie :(

[agate]

I hope you can get the PT back soon, Jeanie. It's too bad that they've allowed a week to go by. Have you been able to do some of the exercises on your own, or aren't they the type you can do by yourself?

[Sunshine]

Call your PCP and tell them your dilemma and will they order the PT as you are going backwards in your healing

[nuthatch]

I didn't know exactly what a no see um was, so I looked it up. Yuck!! It probably will be a very bad year with these pests since they flourish in wet climates. With all the flooding, rain and humidity we've had in the U.S. this year, those tiny monsters could really cause problems with livestock (blue tongue disease), not to mention human misery.

I did read one good thing about the bugs.
Both No-See-Ums and Gull Midges are the only pollinators of the cacao tree, from which we get cocoa beans for our chocolate.

It's gnat season here. They don't bite but love to fly up your nose!
It's been very hot (up to 103) and unusually humid here too . . . a little cooler today at 95.
Stay cool everyone!

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

jeanie ~

I agree with Sunshine. Call your PCP and your surgeon and let them know that you're going without PT. Remind them of how long you have been suffering and were in rehab, and that you don't want to go back there or lose progress in your recovery. Try to get confirmation of when the order will be sent, and to whom, to get a PT to your home within the next 2 days. (Give them a deadline.) Then, get the telephone number for the party to whom the order is sent, and call them to make sure they received it. If not, then it's phone calls to the doctor, who agreed to order PT for you.

I would be happy to make all of those calls for you, Jeanie, but I have no authority to do so. If I could, I'd get you a PT there by Thursday, because I know how to be relentless. It's awful that we have to beg for what we need, but if we don't speak up, nothing will ever be done.

You really need PT, so you'll have to fight for it. It's a lot, and exhausting, I know. However, the consequences of waiting for the System to do its job costs you in rehabilitation. You want to regain your mobility and that should be paramount with your physicians too.

As always, I'm sending you healing, strengthening prayers and positive energy.

Love & Light,



Rose

[agate]

Rose, it's definitely all too easy to be overlooked. Or somebody makes a mistake and misfiles or misdirects an important piece of paper authorizing something you need. Jeanie, when I have a lot of calls to make, I try to space them so I'm making them only when I feel up to them, and while keeping in mind that I could easily be put on hold or sent to several other phone numbers before I find anyone helpful. It takes stamina to do those phone calls but there are times when they have to be made.

nuthatch, I looked up noseeums too. I don't think I've ever had a problem with them. Around here there are tiny black ants that don't bite and occasional spiders that do, plus the usual mosquitoes. I try hard to keep standing water off my patio but notice that some yards have ponds that must attract them.

Doesn't anyone have chiggers any more? I spent much of my childhood itching from their bites. According to Wikipedia, they're still around:

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[Howie]

Chiggers? Oh yes. Like you, in my childhood, running through the weeds, they would eat me alive.

[agate]

And at the end of the day you picked off all of the ticks and put something like calamine lotion on the chigger bites? The mosquito bites got something else--ammonia? And the chigger bites still itched all night long and on and on for days....

[Howie]

And besides running around in the ticks and chiggers, I was also very sensitive to poison oak, and ivy. I think I spent a good portion on my youth, scratching!

[stillstANNding]

Howie, maybe that’s what caused MS!

ANN