Hi All,
It's been a while since I posted. Dealing with doctors, lawyers, voc rehab and social security take a lot out of a _normal_ person, and outright whomps me!
I've just gotten the disability denial. Much as I expected it, I'd still hoped, just a little, that it would go through. I'd been waiting for almost a year, and am getting worse as time goes by. I've been on FMLA at work, which is the only reason I still have a job at all. When the fibro started getting bad enough to force me to start seeing doctors (I didn't knwo what it was then), I had to cut back from full time to 5 and a half hours a day. I just couldn't do a full day anymore, and was using up all my sick/vacation time so quickly it made my head spin... so I _had_ to find out what was going on with me... much as I've always avoided doctors as much as possible. I've been to more appointments in the last year than my whole entire life combined.
Since then, though, I've gotten much worse. Between the fibro, sciatica and scoliosis, some days I can't make it to work at all. Some days I may only pull off 2 hours and be fighting back tears from the pain by the time I leave. I think the longest I've managed to pull off in months has been 4 hours. Trouble is, I'm on a schedule, of course, so while I may be okay for a few hours in the morning, my shift doesn't start until early afternoon. By this time, I've been awake for 8-10 hours already, am in severe pain, and extremely fatigued. I've tried napping before I have to work, but I've just never been a napper, and with everything I'm dealing with right now, I just end up running all the things I should be doing that I can't through my mind, and can't shut it off to nap.
That being said, I'm trying to figure out something else I can do. I'm barely hanging on by a thread at my current job, and haven't been able to pay my electric bill this month, and can't apply for LEAP until November or some such, and my lawyer tells me it will be 90 days before the disability appeal process gets going and I can apply for SSI. 90 days is a loooong time when you're barely living on a shoestring. An old, tattered and frayed shoestring...
I've been helping people fix computer and home network and internet issues for years. When I did it freelance, I charged ~$70 an hour (depending on folks' attitude and circumstance). I wasn't all beat up then though, of course. I know everyone here has either been through the wringer or, like me, is in the process of going through it, and I want to be able to continue helping others and at the same time, try to keep my head above water and not start getting utilities shut off! I also well know folks in similar situations can't afford the exorbitant fees the big companies (and even small repair places) charge to help get their computer woes dealt with, and yet we so rely on our computers to communicate! Some of us aren't able to go out, visit friends, family, go shopping and so forth, and without our computers are shut off from the world.
I've been trying to brainstorm *cough, sputter*... more of a little zot most days lol. I, myself am housebound. My focus is too iffy to drive, and I sometimes have sudden drops in blood pressure, and haven't driven since that happened while I was driving one day. So I have to figure out some way to stay afloat from home.
I'm thinking -and that can be dangerous haha- maybe we can help each other! What I'm proposing is, for those at this site who suffer like I do, if you need help with your computer, send me a PM letting me know what you need, and we can work together to get it fixed. If you can afford to donate something for my help, it'd be appreciated. If you can't, then sometime help someone else when you can with what you can do. I'm mostly a Windows person, but not too shabby with Macs and such. I'm just learning my way around Linux, so skip that, sorry lol.
Maybe there are things others here can do to help one another when our bodies/brains allow us. Despite our disabilities, we must be pretty amazing folks to have made it this far, eh! :)
I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules suggesting this. If so, please delete and PM me to let me know.
Love and gentle hugs to all!
-Natria