Lisobis

SSI sucks. I have been fighting them for 3 years. I have failed back surgery syndrome, arachnoiditis, carpal tunnel, tarsal tunnel, compressed ulnar nerve syndrome, peripheral neuropathy and Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome (my joints are so loose they dislocate all on their own--without injuries--and I have one joint that is now permanently sublexed, which is like halfway dislocating; I take 31 pills a day and am waiting for my electric wheelchair to arrive--and I am ni so much pain it is overwhelming--but social security says I can go to work, even though I can't do what I used to (dancer), not even menial waitressing, cocktail waitressing, and bartending jobs like I used to. I can't sit over an hour at a time, and I can't stand for more than ten minutes. What kind of job will all this make me eligible for? I have a BA in English Literature, and there's no way I am physically able to teach high school English! But, hey, even one of my physicians, who I rarely see, thinks I should go to work (as if I don't WANT TO?!?)--and his notations in my medical records are probably helping SSI make their decision.

I am a broken cog in the wheel, as it sounds like your friend is. My cousin is an epileptic, as is my neice, and their experiences with the disorder are as different as night and day. My cousin is okay to work, as the medications controil her seizures well, and she is even able to hold a driver's license. <MY neice is like a zombie, has been moved to special ed classes, and has such uncontrollable seizures while even on so much medication that she's doped to the gills that she spends twice as much tim ein the hospital for the sezures than she does at home.

I've no doubt that your friend would prefer to be out there in the work force, making a ducet or two, rather than stuck living as he does. Be patient with your friend, his is not an easy row to hoe. Just offer him the emotional support that only a friend can provide--give him your ear, rather than your advice. He'll appreciate it more than gold.

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When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. —Desiderius Erasmus