Today, I finally got an answer regarding my Social Security disability case. I got denied. They made me wait 75 days from when I had the hearing with the disability judge to tell me “no”.
In short, the disability judge denied my claim because I hadn’t been hospitalized for my severe allergies. I got penalized because I’ve been super careful about everything I eat, touch, breath in, or otherwise encounter. I got penalized for trying my best to stay alive.
I had my third, and final, disability hearing on November 21, 2016.
Today is January 30, 2017.
I have now been waiting 71 days to hear ANYTHING at all about the outcome of that hearing.
Yesterday, my husband and I went into our backyard to pick up a bunch of lemons that our tree dropped. It’s been raining quite a bit, and this particular lemon tree is unnaturally abundant.
Ideally, we should have been picking up the lemons more often. But, its been raining a lot, and we didn’t, so several of them got moldy. Even so, there were a surprising amount of good lemons out there. We kept some for ourselves, gave some to the neighbors, and put the rest on a “free table”.
I’m allergic to mold. I remember telling my acupuncturist that I wanted to rip all the green out of the yard before the spring pollen season started. She warned me not to do that, or, if I must, to do it with a mask on (like, a painter’s mask, or the masks the doctor’s office gives you if you come in with a sinus infection.)
Continue Reading “This is Why I Can’t Have a “Real Job” Anymore”
Dear online followers,
I’m not in a good place right now.
I got sick on Christmas due to overload of allergens, and haven’t managed to recover from that yet. The upcoming spring pollen season is probably going to start in the next couple of weeks, and it will affect me very negatively. (It has for the past two years.)
Right now, the news is all about Congress voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The way I’m able to afford health insurance right now is because I get a subsidy from the Affordable Care Act to help pay for my monthly health insurance premiums. This allows me to afford to see my rheumatologist (about every three months or so).
I had my disability hearing and am waiting to find out the results. The hearing is the third part of the process – after you get denied, and appeal, and get denied again, and appeal that.
The worst part about the disability hearing is the uncertainty. I got a letter, out of the blue, that told me when and where my hearing would be. This, after so many months in a row of hearing nothing at all from the government. Has it been an entire year, or more than that? I thought they had forgotten about me.
Would the disability judge believe me – or would she assume I’m faking my symptoms? I figure she’s already made her decision on my case and the hearing is just a formality.
I was at my rheumatology appointment, letting my doctor know that things are starting to get a bit worse. Or, more correctly, I let him know that symptoms that had gotten worse before my previous appointment had stayed the same (and had not improved).
My rheumatoid arthritis is in my hands and feet. I work from home. This means I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to walk to work, or safely drive, with aching feet. My hands, however, are a different story.
I’m a writer. I’ve been doing freelance writing for about six years now. When my hands ache and hurt, and my finger joints swell up, it makes it impossible for me to write. I’m no longer able to keep up with the work I’ve gotten (and hope to keep).
So, today, the pollen count finally calmed down and my allergies were not as horrifically bad as they have been for weeks. So, I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. I had one during the weeks I was sick, but too sick to realize that the PSL was actually making me sicker.
Barely drank half the PSL and got all the symptoms I get that indicate that I’ve been glutened. After doing a bunch of research online – it turns out that the sauce in the PSL from Starbucks contains gluten.
It all started with a news article that was retweeted into my Twitter feed. The article was very short, and reported that many people were going gluten-free even though they had absolutely no medical reason to do so.
The person who was retweeted into my Twitter feed is someone I do not know. She commented: “I’ll say it again, Unless you have a diagnosed condition, gluten free is not a “healthier” option”. According to the person’s Twitter bio, she is a PhD Researcher (Molecular Nutrition). I’m inclined to believe that she knows what she’s tweeting about.
This got me to wondering about something. Why would a healthy person willingly choose to restrict their diet unnecessarily?
Continue Reading “When Optimality Isn’t Optimal and Gluten-Free is Optional”
I took this “selfie” in the midst of a horrible fall pollen season. The pollen count has been too high for my allergic body to cope with for weeks now, and I’ve reached the point where I’m in tons of pain that nothing can take away.
It hasn’t killed me yet. I’m still here.
A loud, very nearby, engine was bugging me.
I looked out the window to see where that vehicle was.
It turned out to be literally in front of my mobile home, in the parking space right outside my window.
