Putting in for SSDI

[The 12th Commandment]

The MS has taken it's toll on my career (my performance when I've been there hasn't been up to my own standards though they've been wonderful to me) and I'm kinda relieved to finally have made the decision. I've been really slammed with optic neuritis the last couple years and when your job, geographer/GIS admin, involves primarily working with computers there's not much you can do to tough it out when you can't focus for more than a couple hours without needing an hour nap. Plus my memory has gotten so bad that I can't even remember what the notes I made are talking about and I just hurt all the time.

Working my ass off for 23 years will now pay off some as my estimated SSDI (social security disability) and my pension will be enough to live relatively comfortably. I'm in the process of getting my house refi'ed so my mortgage payment will go down a couple hundred. They let you work a minimum amount when your on SSDI so I plan to work part time and maybe volunteer somewhere. Maybe go back to school and get a masters.

Kinda weird to be facing starting something new again in my forties, I thought when I switched careers from appraiser to GIS that I would work out my years with local government and that would be that. Life doesn't follow our little plans though and the measure is going to be whether I can make something useful of myself again. I know I can.

Anyone else on SSDI? PM if you have any suggestions for dealing with the process that you don't want to share with everyone. Any other comments or advice are/is welcome too.

[Skin'Em84]

Not on SSDI, but good luck!

[twa]

No help,but best of luck to ya

My sister is in the same boat with a few more issues

[pjfootballer]

Are you able to get health insurance through your retirement? That is important, because you would not be eligible for Medi-CAID with your income (including your SSDI payment & pension) and it is usually a 2 year wait for Medicare. Take the health insurance through your pension. I do Medicaid applications and apply for disabilities for a living in a hospital.

[The 12th Commandment]

I'll be using the insurance from my pension after cobra wears out and until I can get medicare. From what I can gather that's the best solution.

I gots other issues o'plenty, twa, they just don't qualify for anything.

[Predicto]

Don't have any information for you, but I want to send you my support. Sounds like you have a good plan there.

[Monte51Coleman]

I am sincerely happy that such a program does exist for those who truly qualify, like you. I also wish that it only existed for those who truly qualify.

[Teller]

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions or advice, KAO, but I certainly wish you the best of luck -- and more importantly, the bet of health -- going forward.

[twa]

I gots other issues o'plenty, twa, they just don't qualify for anything.

Like that is news?....don't take long to know you got issues;)

Life sucks at times,but it beats the alternatives...or so some say.

I'll shut up now:)

[gbear]

I am both sorry it has come to this so quickly (even if it seems like a forever long road) and happy for you.

Have you read the posts on MS world? http://www.msworld.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=19

They have a whole forum devoted to how the system works, and they have a few people from within the system who post regularly.

Yeah, I look in there periodically on the rough days. I can totally understand how MS makes a normal desk job into a herculean feat of endurance and concentration.

Warning: do not ever let yourself sit and do nothing...and please call me if you should ever find yourself in a dark place you know not how to escape.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've always sworn that when I retire, I would bring this quote back fromtejokid on MSworld back out because it's one of my favorites:

Sometimes who we used to be wasn't really "us" to begin with. Maybe it was not who we really were so much as a collection of roles we played. The hard worker, the soccer mom, the dad who was a rising star at his job, the great outfielder--all those things.

What we are now is "us" stripped of a lot of our roles. We define ourselves by what we do, not by what we are. When, suddenly, what we do isn't possible any more, we're left with something we don't recognize because it's been covered up by all the roles we play.

Maybe the question isn't, "Who am I now?" but "Who am I?" We're a go/do/purchase society--when we can't go, do, or purchase things we want to be identified by (the Hummer, the newest iPod)--holy cow, what's left? Just us. Unadorned, unembellished us.

It's so hard to accept ourselves that way. Our culture is like those old west movie sets--a big facade on a building that's built like a box behind. If a wind storm blows the facade down, we look at what remains and think--well, that's not very interesting. Where's the sign? The architecture? Where's the fun in a boring, square structure?

In reality, what's behind the facade is all that matters anyway. Denuded of our roles, we're left with what we've always been. Who we were was often great (and often not)--who we are now is where all the good stuff came from to begin with.

We've lost a lot, but there it stands before us--the opportunity to remake ourselves.

from MSworld.com

[The 12th Commandment]

Awesome quote g. Really appreciate it. The prospect of starting over, once the decision is made, is strangely exhilarating. Three times in my life I started over and I did a bang up job each time. No reason to think I wouldn't again. Besides, with my eyes hurting like they do, I couldn't watch more than a couple hours of tv anyway, so the couch potato thing won't do. Maybe I'll even get to go fishing a little more often.