Last month I wrote about my Dr.'s appt. that was set up by SS Disability. The exam and evaluation was to take place at a motel and I had some issues with this.
Please keep us posted as many of us anticipate such future adventures. But awfully glad that is past now. The docs only exam and evaluate. They don't give you any hints or talk to you about disability. They only talk about the medical condition. I answered all the questions but I didn't elaborate or give any information other than answer the direct question. You need to be honost and straight forward. I'm sure they've seen it all. I was just me. I dressed as I normally would dress, put on make up, took my cane and went to the appointment. I'm glad that parts over for you. Maybe it won't take long now to get an answer. When you went, were you in a flare or just your regular baseline? Did he say anything about your joints, like the size or swelling? What additional test were oreded? Sorry for so many questions. I know there are several of us that have just started the process and have lots of questions. Thanks for sharing your experiance! I was in a flare, the same flare that I've been in for the last 14 months. Sausage like fingers, swollen elbows, swollen legs and ankles, top of feet with limited range of motion. I waited to start the Remicade infusions till after the disability exam. I didn't know if the infusions would start working right away and I wanted to be sure that when I was examined that I was in the midst of a flare and not getting better. I had the exam and eval in the morning and my first Remicade infusion in the afternoon!!!!! Boy, I know how to have a fun day. The dr. didn't comment about the swelling or any of the physical findings. He just asked questions, didn't make comments. He seemed nervous, but then again I have a tendency to intimidate especially in situations where I need or want to have more control. Stan (my spouse) was in the room with us and took notes. I guess that could have made the dr. a little nervous. I wanted to make sure that I remembered everything about the exam and eval. Sometimes we need to have an advocate. He ordered a chest xray but since I had one in March he said he would look for those results. I happened to have copies of my last 2 months medical records with me and gave him a copy of the chest xray findings. Don't expect SS dis. to have all your records, because they don't. He also ordered a spirometry (breathing test) because of my lung envolvment. Also, I don't think that SS Dis. realizes that I'm a nurse. They only asked for work info. back 15 years and I quit nursing 20 years ago. On the education questions they didn't ask about degrees just how many years you went to school and did you graduate. Like I said earlier don't give them anything unless they ask. Sometimes too much info is as harmful as too little. I have an attorney and would never have started this process without one. Deanna, the RA process scares me a lot more than soc. sec. dis. does. I may or may not get it but I know that I'm entitled to it. I've never collected any monies from unemployment or any other program and have worked since I was 14 years old. A lot of factors go into the decision making process and you need to make sure that you have the answers to all of their questions. The process doesn't make any sense. The same as the disease doesn't make any sense. They both are out of our control and we just have to roll with the punches and take control when we can. Thanks so much for sharing your information! I hope you do get approved finally, you certainly deserve it. Lindy, Thanks for giving us the details. It kind of helps knowing what it's like. It takes a bit of the fear out of it.
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