According to the US gubermint...I am no longer classified as "disabled".
Hip... Hip... Hooray! (I guess??)
Over 30 years ago things got extra tough. Went thru HELL after a sore throat, meat wagon ride to ER and admitted for Diabetes. A rough first year or so then BAM! Had cancer surgery.... given 10% chance of surviving 12 months... never expected to see 40, guess the stats were off in my case, I am obviously still here!
In the mid 80s... diabetes not in the greatest of control, a bit on the brittle side. Went thru voc rehab, VA you name it. Heck the VA even sent me to their shrinks, for complaining about too much. They sent me back to the do-little med docs, not nuts, not even depressed, just "adamant" something else was wrong (not cancer or diabetes related).
Fast forward to 2007..... oops had an MS moment, only this time I fell and tore my left rotor cuff. Went thru several eye docs, shoulder surgery, P/T and an ENT = more MRIs. Oh ya ORDERED to actually use a CANE, not just haul it in the car for just-in-case.
Started having much more serious foot/ankle problems. Had considered a scotter for my gumby stix for legs for years, more serious now. A few more falls, another surgery. Eye surgeries (cataracts) and laser treatment.
One foot doc sent me to a neuro (forgot about him) for testing, suspect left-leg weakness might be MD. NO not MD but nobody bothered testing WHY I was having so many problems. (not that that was anything NEW?
Then it was air casts, followed by the AFOs..but no Dx despite loads of testing. Some times mobility was a scary thing.Time I wonder if they would ever find what was really at the root of things. You know actually connect the DOTS? I went thru a scary kidney function decline, went thru a few Nephs on that before getting back up away from stage-4 on that one.
Then a new eye doc, out of town. I was desperate to get my diplopia prisms updated. Been there done that a few times before. And again, no prism update... NO I needed to see a NEURO for possible/probable MS. The doc said there was NOHTING in my formal med Hx that related to my diplopia. A complication that started in 1964 (when I was 18) and got worse in steps ever since. Nobody ever questioned WHY this started at such an odd age before.
So I landed here while my fam doc called me in for a MS it fits talk and pushed to get me into some MS clinic somewhere to get it formalized. Long story short and several U R 2 OLD (4 drug trial) clinics....of all places, its was the VA, the same VA that sent me to the shrinks decades ago, that formalized the long standing RRMS Dx.
Now that I have AFOs, crutches, and walkers around the house, don't go anywhere without my Crystal (cane) use a power-chair part-time and scooter for outings or anything larger than a tiny store or barber.....NOW that I have all these tools that help me get thru my day, I am no longer on the US Gov DISABLED LIST!
A Soc-Sec letter came today formally notifying me that I am now RETRIED instead.
It may not sound like much to most people, but to me it marks a milestone I never expected to see.
Gomer
(Ya ain't taking me handicap tag tho, I NEED IT)
Hip... Hip... Hooray! (I guess??)
Over 30 years ago things got extra tough. Went thru HELL after a sore throat, meat wagon ride to ER and admitted for Diabetes. A rough first year or so then BAM! Had cancer surgery.... given 10% chance of surviving 12 months... never expected to see 40, guess the stats were off in my case, I am obviously still here!
In the mid 80s... diabetes not in the greatest of control, a bit on the brittle side. Went thru voc rehab, VA you name it. Heck the VA even sent me to their shrinks, for complaining about too much. They sent me back to the do-little med docs, not nuts, not even depressed, just "adamant" something else was wrong (not cancer or diabetes related).
Fast forward to 2007..... oops had an MS moment, only this time I fell and tore my left rotor cuff. Went thru several eye docs, shoulder surgery, P/T and an ENT = more MRIs. Oh ya ORDERED to actually use a CANE, not just haul it in the car for just-in-case.
Started having much more serious foot/ankle problems. Had considered a scotter for my gumby stix for legs for years, more serious now. A few more falls, another surgery. Eye surgeries (cataracts) and laser treatment.
One foot doc sent me to a neuro (forgot about him) for testing, suspect left-leg weakness might be MD. NO not MD but nobody bothered testing WHY I was having so many problems. (not that that was anything NEW?
Then it was air casts, followed by the AFOs..but no Dx despite loads of testing. Some times mobility was a scary thing.Time I wonder if they would ever find what was really at the root of things. You know actually connect the DOTS? I went thru a scary kidney function decline, went thru a few Nephs on that before getting back up away from stage-4 on that one.
Then a new eye doc, out of town. I was desperate to get my diplopia prisms updated. Been there done that a few times before. And again, no prism update... NO I needed to see a NEURO for possible/probable MS. The doc said there was NOHTING in my formal med Hx that related to my diplopia. A complication that started in 1964 (when I was 18) and got worse in steps ever since. Nobody ever questioned WHY this started at such an odd age before.
So I landed here while my fam doc called me in for a MS it fits talk and pushed to get me into some MS clinic somewhere to get it formalized. Long story short and several U R 2 OLD (4 drug trial) clinics....of all places, its was the VA, the same VA that sent me to the shrinks decades ago, that formalized the long standing RRMS Dx.
Now that I have AFOs, crutches, and walkers around the house, don't go anywhere without my Crystal (cane) use a power-chair part-time and scooter for outings or anything larger than a tiny store or barber.....NOW that I have all these tools that help me get thru my day, I am no longer on the US Gov DISABLED LIST!
A Soc-Sec letter came today formally notifying me that I am now RETRIED instead.
It may not sound like much to most people, but to me it marks a milestone I never expected to see.
Gomer
(Ya ain't taking me handicap tag tho, I NEED IT)
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