feelbad

i would really highly reccomend at this stage,to hire a disability lawyer.thats what i did after I had been denied the first time around.just being able to actually get the badly needed disability for me,it was worth the money,and like what CK stated above,they can only take 25% of any back pay that you may be owed and nothing more.

but as far as them being able to obtain any medical info easier than you can,well that definitely was not the case in my process.the one document that was missing from my file that proved the surgical injury to my nerves was not in my neuros op notes so I personally had to track down the neurophysiatrist who monitored my motor and sensory during my surgery myself.there was no way that disability or my lawyer could have gone thru the nightmare that I had to undertake just finding out this docs name and tracking down the monitoring clinic that he came out of.it was alot of phone work and plain old detective work that finally got me to that docs door so i could request his op notes from my surgery.my lawyer never would have been able to stay on top of this crap like i did.

just make sure to accumulate any new info on your condition from any place that has ever treated you and is currently treating you when you start in this second go round.

In my opinion,whether or not this is really true or not,i do think that getting that lawyer will kind of show ssd that you are indeed serious here and are willing to give up part of your back pay just to be able to be approved for benefits.thats kind of the way I looked at it at the time.the lawyer will be helpful at this stage of the game by making sure you have all bases covered and also,with my lawyer,they sent me some papers to fill out that really were much more detailed than some I got from ssd.these really helped my case as well,i think anyways.

i was also asked to,for the first time during this stage see one of the ssd phyc docs as I was also and still am suffering from some pretty severe depression.i obtained a copy of the ssd docs report thru my own doc and he found me to have severe recurrent depression.i KNOW without a doubt that this really helped my case alot.

just make sure to do all the needed paperwork and stuff within that 60 day alloted time frame.

My whole process took only 9 months where i know some others have been waiting for actual years just for that approval.I really was shocked that my approval came that quickly.it was a total blessing when it came tho as we were in major medical debt and also on the verge of possibly losing our home.I do think the lawyer was a big help and would seriously consult one at this point.thats just my opinion but in my case,it really did help,alot.i wish you lots of luck here.please let us know how things go.marcia

__________________
3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.