Another Oops

This not quite so bad. I decided to make sure everything was right on the last blog and sure enough I found another oopsy. I sent the e-mail to all of the people mentioned and decided after the fact that I should check it. Well it says I am a 53 year old woman and guess what???? I am not 53. I just turned 56. So for someone trying to get help as an "old woman", I guess I blew it by lying about my age!!!!!! 53, 56 who cares. I am not getting help either way so why bother. But this is just another one of the brainstorms that hits me in the middle of the night. Sure wish they would hit while I am awake. Getting terrible headaches by being hit in the head at night (LOL)!!!!!!

But as an update, nothing has been done again and I have not gotten any responses from anyone acknowleding that they received my e-mail except for Maury and it was a "canned" response letting me know they had received it and it would be reviewed. That is the gentle way of saying SCREW YOU one more time lady. WE JUST DON'T CARE!!! Same as everyone else.

I read my daughter-in-law's comment. I think it would have been the Oprah Obama Party!!! Don't think she would take second billing to anyone especially a man. Don't think she would have let him have first billing. He might have been acting as president, but Oprah would still be first on the ballot. They would be " Oprah for VP, Obama For Pres." And she would make it perfectly clear that she would be running the show ecne if had to be done from her TV station. Just an assumption. But you know what that does to us!!!

OOPS!!!!! Sorry Mr. President

Okay where do I start today? I still have not hears from Disability on my reimbursement for my traveling expenses in November as of this date. Again, no one will answer me or call me back when I leave a message. I went through this for 3 weeks and was tired of dealing with them. So my husband called them on Monday and got hold of someone that was supposed to be in the department that did the transportation reimbursement department (which I have my doubts even is there). They told him that they did not have anything but a blank piece of paper with my name and nothing else as to where I came from or went to. Well, that would be okay, but I have a signed copy of the paper that I left at the front desk and was told that it would be sent to the correct person. So, she says she will take the information and he gave her my name, address, ssn, etc. Now she tells him that there are only 2 people working in that department and that they are behind and it could be 2 more months before I get my money. Well, typical, it will be 6 months before I can even get possibily 100.00 if that much from them. So what else is new with that since it has taken almost 3 years just to be denied 3 times? ( It didn't take me that long to lose everything I own) And why were they so reluctant to speak to me about the delay. They probably would have rather talked to be after they got off the phone with him!!!! So anyway, Sunday night I woke and could not sleep for a while thinking of all the ways that I had been screwed by trying to do things the right way. I had a brainstorm (and yes, it hurt!!!!). I decided that I would get up on Monday and begin to send my story to Oprah, Maury, Montel, Geraldo, and anyone else I thought might listen. I had already contacted several local news stations here in Savannah, CNN, Nancy Grace(directly) and the Senators and Governor. All to no avail. So I got up and composed the following e-mail to send to Oprah, Maury, etc.:


"Oprah, I am coming to you because I can not get anyone else to listen to me including Senators. I have contacted CNN & others but they seem to ignore my problem. Here is my story:
I am a 53 year old woman. I have RA&Fibromyalgia. I have a claim for Disability going on 3 yrs. I have been denied 3 times, the last with an ALJ. This started in 2006. I went back to work to keep form losing my home. I filed bankruptcy. It's up for dismissal. I can't pay that anymore& don't have 600.00 to change to chapter 7. I lost my home anyway. I live in Pooler Ga now. I finally got a hearing with the ALJ in Nov. of 2008 (2 yrs later) When we went to court in Nov. "their vocational expert" stated that the job I am doing now is all that I will ever be able to do. I work 15 to 20 hrs a wk making 480.00 a mo. I have nothing. I live with someone because I can't make enough money to live on my own. I had rather be in an old folks home but can't afford it either. I don't even have money or insurance to get the medicines I need. At this time I just feel like giving up. All anyone ever wants to do is ask me if I am depressed & do I need to see a Physiciatrist. I am beginning to think if I go see one I would be better off& have a better chance of getting what I have worked for all my life. I don't really get depressed, just discouraged & angry over the people who say they care & are going to help lying to me all the time. I want to think that you will help me share my story with everyone over the way that I am being treated but I also know that if you are like everyone else, I will hear we will look at it&get back to you & never hear from you again.Thanks for your time. I am sorry for taking up your time but I thought I would at least see if you care enough to at least consider it.
Thank You,
Katherine Peterson"

Okay understand that it says Oprah at the beginning of the e-mail. I changed it when I sent it to Maury at the beginning of the e-mail when I sent it to him and so that goes for everyone I sent it to. So while I was doing all of this I decided to try an even broader range of request. This would be to send this e-mail to the President ( our new fearless leader, so to speak!!!!) So I went on google and searched send letter to the president and found a contact site that gave me an e-mail address, the White House address, and a contact Phone Number(that one would be the biggest joke, but whatever). I found the e-mail address and copied and pasted the entire e-mail to the President of the United States!!! Great idea, don't you think?? Except that his copy reads exactly as I sent it to Oprah, which is fine. That is how it read to everyone I sent it to. Except that President Obama's is again exactly as sent to Oprah!!!! THAT IS RIGHT I sent it to him addressed to Oprah instead of him. Way to go don't you think? But who knows, it might be to my advantage to do it that way. This way he knows that I have contacted several different Media stations and talk show hosts and that none of his Senators or Congressmen have assisted me in anyway. Guess I will wait and see his response. Could be good or could be really bad!!!!

Well, that's all folks!!!!!

Different Day Same Story

Okay, I finally got my "denial letter" from the ALJ. I was denied due to the fact that (duh!!!!) I was trying to work to keep from going under. Which I am under anyway. If it were not for my wonderful Daughter-In-Law and Step-son, I would not know where I would be. But the issue with the Disability and the denial is that the judge didn't even ge the facts straight. First he says that I make 15,000.00 or more a year and I show I make 5760.00 a year. That is a huge difference from over 15,000.00 to 5760.00. Second he said that I work for Broadway Suites (don't know what that is). I work for Best Western, Bradbury Suites. Then he had the nerve to say that I voulunteerly left my job to move to Savannah. After I had already told him that I had to move to Savannah because I had lost my house and my car due to the fact that they had foreclosed on my house and I coukd not make my car payments. That is the reason that I tried to go back to work in the first place was to keep all of that from happening while waiting on the great system to help me. Then he said that I have gainful employment and that is why I was denied. How is working 15 to 20 hours a week at 7.00 an hour considered gainful employment??? What is that going to help me with? Don't get me wrong, it does help with small things like gas to get to the job and a few groceries, but not enough of anything to be gainful. Why does it say on the website that I can work and make up to 670.00 a month and still draw disability if that is not the truth??? I have also gotten letters of denial that say that even though I am in a great deal of pain and discomfort I am able to continue to work if I have some medicine for pain. Isn't it against the law to take prescription pain medicine and work around machines and operate a motor vehicle? If I were to take the pain medicine and drive due to the fact that SS Disability said I could do so and I had a wreck and killed myself or someone else, could my family sue SS Disability for causing my death by telling me it was okay to work and drive on drugs that say not to drive or operate heavy equipment or operate machines??? So here we go again with what the next level of jumping through their hoops again. I am so ready to give up because I don't even care anymore. It is killing me to write this but according to them I am fine.

My feet are both on fire everyday and hurt so bad that I don't know what to do. On my left foot the third toe crosses over the 4th toe and you can't even see it on my foot. And it hurts on the bottoms of both feet. It feels like the bones are being pushed through the tops of my feet. It took me about 2 hours on Sunday to find a pair of shoes that I could wear when I try to dress up and had to settle with a pair of sandals even in this cold weather due to the knots on both sides of my feet. I also had to buy new tennis shoes because the ones I wear are worn out but are formed to my bad feet. So even buying shoes is a major task. my husband went with me for the first time in a long time and will probably never go again.

So life goes on. Giving up is beginning to sound really good.

More to Read

Let's see. I left off where I can't get any help from anyone. Well, to confirm this, I recieved a letter from Senator Isakson's rep stating he was sorry and that they had denied me again, as stated in yesterday's blog, and apologized that he could not be of further assistance. To make it worse, I got a letter from Saxby Chambliss's constituant rep as well with the same "canned response" as I recieved from Isakson's rep. Go figure!!! I did contact Isakson's rep yesterday to advise him that when I contacted the 800 number for SS Disability that they told me that the paperwork had not even been processed and ready to send and that he would request it be sent. Mind you that I requested this info on Jan 6 and they told me that they would request it then. So I have had two requests for this denial letter so that I can start the next appeal process. So Low and Behold, I get the denial letter in the mail yesterday. It was dated December 29, 2008 but the date was marked through and January 9, 2009 was written under it. It is very plain and visible!!! They didn't even try to hide the fact that they have had it sitting there since Dec of 08. But they didn't send any appeal forms for me to fill out. All this means is that now I have to wait for the forms to come and delay my 60 days even longer to make that less time for me.

Well, let's tell about the denial letter. It states that they ddenied me again because I was doing gainful employment. (20 hours at 7.00>>real gainful) Also said that I was able to do the work in which I was doing before my disability began. Trying to roll hair, do nails, cut hair, etc., run a cash register, type on a computer, wait tables, and all of those jobs with a hand that is so deformed that I have to hold the pinky finger and ring finger down with the other fingers on my left hand to type on a computer, or a grip that would let me drop your food or drink in your lap, or cut your hair or do nails until my fingers would not even bend or grip the hair or hands. Rooling a perm makes me hurt for 3 to 4 days. But that is okay as long as I can work, "even though it might cause me pain and discomfort", it is okay. This is a quote form the letter. I did not make it up. Every denial I have recieved has said the same thing. "Even though you may be in pain and discomfort, we have determined that you are capable of doing the jobs in whcih you have previously been accustomed to doing." I swear it says that in every one of them. zi would give anything to see these morons try to do what I do in as much pain as I live in. They would not last 5 minutes.

I don't know what can be done, but something has to be done to change things in this type of situation. I guess because they don't have to jump through the hoops and roll over and play dead like we do they don't care. I guess when they want disability they already know what to do so that they will never have to do what we do. They just go to their buddies and say, " Hey here is my paperwork sign off on it so I can go out of work tomorrow and receive my check on Friday so that I don't miss any pay or lose my house or lose my car or my famliy. I have to have my money before I go out of work, I can't wait. I don't want to be like the people we deny. So make sure mine is done before the day is out."

No one in the Government seems to give a care because they don't have to do through it either. They had rather us live on the street and then they will give us what we want and arrest us for vagrancy.

Same BS Just Different Day

Okay. So on January 6 of this year I called to see if there was a decision made on my case from the ALJ. I was advised at that time that they had denied my claim for yet the 4th time. The person I talked to had decided at that time to request that I get a copy of my denial so that I would be able to send my 5th appeal in for the Adminastrative Appeals Board. (Yet another 6 months to a year.) Said that she would send the request to the processing center and I should have the request within the next 7 to 10 days. As of yet, nothing. So I called again today and was told that there was a note from the Processing Center that the letter had not even been printed and sent out yet. Mind you that when I talked to the girl on January 6th, she told me I had to file an appeal by Feb 29 (which was incorrect because this is not leap year). So if I have to have an appeal done by the 28th of Feb, they are not giving me the 60 days I am entiltled to by law. Plus when I went to court on November 21, 2008, I was told I would recieve money for transpoortation if I had to drive more than 75 miles. I drove 243 miles one way. Now the department that is supposed to be in charge of sending me my transportation rembursement is not even returning my calls. I call and have to leave a message for a lady that is never in her office. I have called early in the day, morning, afternoon and week and she is not ever in her "office". And has yet to return any of my calls. So I guess I am just going to have to continue to be another statistic in the system like everyone else until I can find some one willing to figth on my behalf. And apparently the Senators and Congressmen can give a big hairy rats behind either. They don't respond either.

I guess that the next thing I need to do is to send my next blog to you guys from the beginning of my journey to what is happening now. So here goes.

I started this porcess in August of 2006. I lost my job and was unable to find another one. So due to my RA I decided to seek help from the Disability Administration. ( What a JOKE!!!!!) Anyways, I filed the paperwork. In the mean time I am on the verge of losing my home and my car and having no place to live. So I did what ant normal person would do and that is go to work and try to make a little money to keep things going. Well, that was it. They denied me the firs time because I was working and did not seem to care that I had to make a living to servive. Even after I was seen by their Doctor. He told me that I had the worst case of RA he had ever seen and that he would do every thing he could do to help me get it but he could only do so much. Okay so I was denied again because I was working and trying to survive. In the meantime, I have now had my house foreclosed on and lost my car. I filed bankruptcy to save my home and then have not been able to even make those payments. So I am waiting for them to take everything else I own. So I filed the next appeal. Was denied again and was told I could file another appeal. Which I did and this brings me to the most current denial with the ALJ. After I filed the appeal they told me it would be November of 2009 before I could get a hearing. That was in 2007 so I had almost 2 years to wait for a hearing. Well luck me, they sent me info that I would be able to have a hearing on November 21 of 2008. Only a year instead of 2. Well, I had a a lawyer that was going to go with me but then backed out at the last minute because I was working 15 to 20 hours a week. So I went alone and was told at that time that I was probably be denied again because I was working. But he would hear my case anyway. So sure enough I was denied and have not even recieved any of the paperwork for that yet. There is more to this but can't write anymore today. Am hurting too bad to continue. Will try to add to it tomorrow if feeling better. Was at the doctor and he gave me a shot in my shoulder because of the swelling and pain. But NOTHING wrong with me!!!!!!!

Disability

Wow! I never knew how hard it would be to get the money you paid into the government all your life when you need it. I have RA and Fibromyalgia and have been trying to get disability for almost 3 years now. I am have several difficulties with the appeals system and our great Senators and Congressmen. In telling other people my story, I have found that their are plenty of people with the same issues and have no idea what to do about it. So I have decided to start a blog and see if I can get some more answers or other people encountering the same issues. I would be very interested in your response to this blog. I can share horror stories of the way I have been treated during the process of getting "help from the system". Starting with the fact that no one anywhere seems to care. I have contacted local TV Stations and CNN. I also contacted Nancy Grace from CNN and no responses from anyone. Is everyone afraid of the government or is it just me????? Let me hear from you guys and we will ban together and do something if at all possible.