disability

Anyone here ever apply for disability assistance (in the US) through social security? If so, did you manage to actually get it? They denied my wife (who has breast cancer) because they said they expect her to be able to work again in a year. Uh, yeah, okay, what about the whole year she is spending on chemo, US Government? I suspect maybe her doctor was too cheerful and optimistic in his writeup. Maybe I should ask him to tone it down.

My wife got approved on the first go. I have no idea how much our success was due to the quality of our application vs. blind luck vs. a sympathetic SSA case worker. Based on the materials that we put together, I reckon the key is to put together a concise but compelling narrative, emphasis on readability. Patient's statement, doctor's statement, employer's statement, and in our case, a statement from me giving a brief history of my wife's decline.

Good luck on future applications, and good luck to your wife in the cancer fight.

I think the SSA worker was a big part of it; the one time she did talk to my wife on the phone, she questioned that my wife had put down "intermittent memory lapse and confusion" as side effects of chemotherapy and said "Is this true? because I have to send you for a psychiatric evaluation if so". WTF.

By all accounts of everyone I know, getting SSI or disability is a long, very difficult process. The only people I know who wrangled it successfully had the help of a (pro bono) lawyer. Good luck.

i started to type out a long post about all this but deleted it.

akm, feel free to webmail me (can you still do that on here? looks like you can.)...i am full of advice from many years of personal experience with this excruciating and frustrating shit.