It's Showtime....

[rondrond]

Palais Garnier, Paris, France



What a daylight savings time morning this has been. Mom is having dental work today @230pm and I'm her chauffer. (I just hate it when they put her under....just a ronnie-thing...I'll have to deal with it)

I have been ruminating over this SSA letter all weekend and called Binder to find out exactly what was what. It appears that I am placing too much importance on the SSI vs SSDI thing as she stated that they could be one..i.e. I could be paid for SSI and SSDI. I've already been approved for the disability, this letter was leting me know that I could also get SSI, if I met their requirements.  (Now, why couldn't they have just come out and said that in the first place?)

I even got a call from disability getting the banks routing number. I can't believe it. I am official. ..and it only took three years.

The nursing home does not furnish a phone in the room..which I think is kind of rude... so Katie has been using up all her minutes. I have to find these prepaid cards that were in plain sight last week, and now have gone missing. ...and...here comes Daniel with the two cards.....good job Daniel.

Knock knock



What's this? Not yet...I haven't gotten any money yet. I said I wouldn't get another dog until I knew that I could take care of her. Well....now I have to make sure they don't set off a coughing attack. Maybe I cold get a fish...*not*

I haven't been feeling well these past couple of days and today I've started a dry cough again. taking allegra and a pain pill to get me through mom's visit to the dentist. It shouldn't be long, they already ground the tooth down and only have to put on the crown.
 
For some reason I decided to cut my toenails last night and the right big toe started to bleed and bleed, and bleed....great...I could just envision an emergency room visit for trimming a toe nail....it finally stopped.

My numbers have gone south this past year and will probably have to change meds...it hasn't been discussed yet..I think DrD is hoping for a turnaround. I stopped taking the Neurontin as my toes were just as numb with or without it. I saw it as useless.

DrD has brought up Lyrica, but I am extremely leery of it as Katie has just been put on Lyrica three weeks before the cellulitis....got to blame it on something.

My cholesterol and triglycerides are out of control as DRC took me of of Gemfribozal and put me on Tricor and Pravastatin....and they aren't working. I am stuck in the middle of two Dr if I have to choose it will be DRG(general practioner) vs DRC (HIV specialist)  

I guess I need to make a list of all the places I have been getting services at and let them know I have Disability.

changes and more changes....

[Jeff G]

Congratulations on being approved for your benefits !! . I know it has been a long hard battle for you .

[denb45]

Congratulations on being approved for your benefits !! . I know it has been a long hard battle for you .

Ronnie, you should be getting an AWARD LETTER, that will tell you how much and when it will pay into your bank account, I'm sure this letter is forth coming 

[BT65]

Congrats on getting the disability.

I'm always cutting either my toes or foot, via cutting my toenails, or trying to shave off callouses.  Extremities bleed fairly freely, and I always have to put gauze and tape on my cuts, as a regular band-aid can't handle it.

As far as Lyrica, my doctor traded my Neurontin for Lyrica, and I believe the Lyrica has done a little better job.  And I don't get foggy with it, but some people do.  I mean, my feet are basically still somewhat numb, and there's still some sharp pains once in awhile, but some of the pain is gone, and that's worth it to me.  You may want to try it.

Well, the celebration should be coming up soon, aye?

[bear60]

Hey Ron
Three years must have seemed like 10.  I am so glad that you got the disability.

Joel

[wolfter]

That wait is such a bitch.  I was diagnosed with AIDS in 1991 and was immediately awarded SSD.  I chose to go back to work in 1993 with the assurance that it would be easy if I ever needed assistance again.  By 2005, my illness had taken its toll and I applied in September 2005.  Even with all my AIDS defining illnesses I was denied.  I rec'd my denial notice while in the hospital for 22 days due to Cryptococcal Meningitis.  I almost missed the appeal deadline.  Fast forward, I now have a hearing scheduled for December 10th.  5 years after filing the original claim.  My attorney says it's basically a slam dunk, but I wonder why they even tie up the system then?

I've discussed with my doctor that I would like to return to work and he says it would be foolish to do so and that I should wait it out.  I'm not wealthy, but was fortunate to be able to eek it out but I feel bad for those who have to lose everything while waiting.  I contacted our state senator and was issued a liaison who  contacts the social security administration on a regular basis. 

[rondrond]

portal to a new life....






Thank goodness my head has topped swimming. Can't stop coughing though. ...

Apparently I was not paying attention..which is not a big surprise anymore as I wasn't feeling well at all ...mom did not get a crown, she's getting a dental implant and they were on step 2 of 3 ...yesterday was the installing of a post with cement...Since she was not able to eat, we went to Smoothie King and got three smoothies.

CD4 638  from 716
VL 146 up from 76..used to be undetectable...
Cholest 201
Trig  183
sugar  114 >>>I add this as they keep asking if I'm diabetic and I keep saying..." well, y'all have only told me I'm borderline"

I have been on a slow burn all day today. ..could be a fever....I decided enough was enough and cornered Daniel  and forced him to tell me why he wasn't working or even looking for work. He confessed that he is just waiting to get his inheritance, that he has no intention of going back to work.

Well, at least that was out and over with. I managed to not say a lot, but I did throw out that all the promises of paying back all us peoples who have been supporting him was not going to leave much money once it passes probate and is dispensed. He seems to think that 100k will last him his lifetime..and with Katie wrapped around his little finger..it just might.

I just can't imagine why he is so hellbent on wasting his life.....yet...who am I to talk?

My inner dragons fire burst forth over the phone to the Tracfone rep I was trying to get some service from. Mom bought Katie a camera tracfone for her birthday in April and one month later she had it in the wheelchair pocket while maneuvering through the hallway door and crushed it against the door frame.

Mom bought her another one and then she got ill and now is ready to add some airtime to it as she is a phone addict and I can't blame her...I would do anything to take me away from the realities of a nursing home.

I found two cards in a bag on her closet door and tried to go online to put time on her phone....easy peasey..lemon squeezy...NOT

She had registered the crushed phone online and it is showing in the account as 'disabled'  ...bless it's heart...a disabled phone owned by a disabled woman and now her disabled brother is trying to add the new phone to the account and it won't let me. ..one cannot have an inactive phone and an active phone on the same account... I guess it raises some kind of national security issues...

So I call and ask...what so I have to do?    they need the serial number...which I have...and the phone number...I don't have. She states that I can pull it up on the phone and I  am already getting hot so I snap that it was crushed and doesn't work...it is dead...deaddeaddead....well, she can't do anything without the number?

So I bring up these two cards as one needs a pin number, which I do not have and cannot find and she states no prob.. just need the serial nummber,,, I have it... and the phone number... which I have this one.. and the date the phone was bought...I don't have the receipt so I have no idea....so she can't help me....

I-could-not-believe-it...then she asks if there is anything she can help me with??     ...I lost it...apparently...no there isn't as we've already gone over what help I needed and you already told me you can't help me...so why would you ask...

.I had to hang up....


So mom is going to look for the receipt, and since she bought both phones she might even have the first ones phone number and this is must ridiculous....or...I am not being social.....


I will think about the Lyrica,  Betty...it just didn't seem to do anything for Katie's pain...but then. she has a lot more pain than I do...Shane the SSA rep that called did stated that I would be receiving a reward letter, Dennis, in about two weeks and that it would give me more details. With my inability to keep a cohesive timeline, Joel, it seemed like a lifetime. I'm surprised I didn't just pull my hair out and scream amd all the denial letters, wolfter.  And then I get the slam dunk..there is no rational reason and I wouldn't believe anything they told me anyway. Jeff//I just now got your avvie with lmao.... and there it is on the ground ....

[leatherman]

yeah, the wait on SSd is a pain in the ass (not to mention all that "fun" poverty you get to enjoy LOL) and all of it's very confusing - even up until the end when you finally get approved. But WooHoo! it's finally going to be coming through and I'm sure, like it did for me, it'll help a lot, not only having some income, and stable income at that. and it also takes a lot of hassles out of seeing different doctors and getting treated.

gosh! It is good to have you back posting and having your entertaining posts to read. 
even if you do post some groaners at times (those poor Hills  )

[rondrond]

Hey Mikey!

There is nothing like a stable income to anchor you...at least you know whats coming: a heavy burden off my shoulders.


good morning Daniel...



For about a year now our 29 year old Daniel has lived the life of a 16 year old. Momma Katie has coddled him to the point of him actually believing that he is not going to work, ever again.

Now, she is in a nursing home and Queen Uncle has taken over all Katie's affairs and going over her accounts, have messed my pants a few times...

so, starting today:

*no more Discover card
*no more Vesta mobile phone
*no more service for the XBOX 360

good morning Daniel...




you want to love the life of a homeless person...you got it.

Katie is not too pleased as she worries for her baby. I just crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

I am not a parent....just an Uncle who has brought up these three boys, and I might not have the best parenting skills...but, I had to do something. Daniel has responded before to a good swift kick in the butt to jump start his life, but I have never had the promise of a forthcoming inheritance to deal with.

I have coumadin clinic this morning...my first time at the Viola Pitt center instead of the Main Hospital downtown. I am expecting to not have to spend half the day just for a prick to the finger.


I have been so sick and out of it for the past months, that the yard has gone to ruin, so I spent a good 3 hours doing the hedges and preparing the flower beds for their winter nap. Oak leaves have just started to turn here and there were scattered patches of brown leaves and then I noticed these branches that really needed trimming before they grew over the driveway at just the right level to either grab your hair or slap you in the face...surprise.

I got all but two. I couldn't reach them. I don't have a ladder, so I climbed up on the rock wall around the tree and reached up and did manage to grab hold of the dead branch thinking that my weight would snap it off. ...no, that wasn't meant to be.
Instead, I pulled and pulled, pissed that it wasn't breaking off but fighting back, and then I was flying through the air and landed on my feet in the yard, but my back wasn't too happy and has let me know about it.

I'm real excited about my new purchase of these black irises and I hope they bloom next year, though newly planted irises don't usually bloom for me for at least a year to two years.

But, the front yard looks fabulous. I couldn't trim the lanatana as they were in bloom with their coloring a deeper orange than usual and they were covered by these butterflies that were a deep reddish orange...I had never seen them before and of course, every time I see them, I don't have my camera.