Entry posted by SandyCaregiver
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I promised better news today, so I'll keep my word. Hate to just blog when my head is spinning around like in the movie The Exorcist.
1. When I went to get the insurance papers looked over by the senior service lady who helps with paperwork, I was telling her how we were going to tell his doctor that he needed one of those lift chairs, so he could stand at will. That would make him stronger to where maybe he could start crippling around the house. The way it is, he has to wait for me to come over and say, 'it's time to get up for awhile now'. So she whips out this 'chair lift' that you put into a chair and when you kinda start trying to stand or lean forward, it lifts you up. She gave it to us! I brought it home to see what he'd think of it when he tried it. He stood up, and stood awhile, then sat down. I worked on my computer a few feet away. He stood up & sat, a few more times, and I heard him announce, "This is a BLESSING!" Thru the night he would do it more, and I might be in the kitchen and I'd hear him lift and he'd say, "it's a dandy!" So, this is a really big thing for him, to be able to stand on his own (pain is what keeps him from doing it on his own.)
2. Next, I was reading on some 'get out of debt' board, and it came up that this person was disabled and their college loan was one of their bills they couldn't pay. Someone else mentioned that if you were TOTALLY & PERMANENTLY disabled, you could get a discharge(forgiven) of the college loan! I asked if it would work for us, as it is a parent plus loan, and they said yes. I called our loan people and they gave me links to paper work, which I faxed in and withing 60 days, we hope to hear the rest of the loan is forgiven. Granted, we have paid a fortune on it since 1998, and there is little left to pay, but the monthly installment remains the same, so it would be gone. We also filed a 12 month forbearance that stops the payment from needing to be paid, while they decide if you are really disabled or not.
When I first took the paper to the doctors, he filled in the obvious things, but I talked to the loan people and told them I noticed he left off some things, like that he lost 50% of his vision and that he had no bladder nor bowel control and couldn't change his own depends. I said would it be ok with the things about his aphasia and right arm & leg, or should I go back to the dr with the papers. She said to go back, because the stronger my case, the better chance it'd be forgiven. So that is done and faxed, and the 12 month forbearance was something that could be done online.
3. When we got our first month's LTD from his work, I completely lost it, because it left us not making our payments. I kept crunching numbers and thinking, this doesn't seem right, because before, when they paid us 60% of his wages by accident (should have been 70% for STD), we had enough money and they were taking out taxes. Now they are not taking out taxes and we still don't have enough money. I knew something wasn't right. So, as I figured and studied and looked at the strange things on the check stub, I realized that the the STD & the LTD disability had overlapped by about a week. On the stub, they had removed about $1500.00 in extra pay from the overlap! So guess what? We are not going to go hungry nor be thrown into the street afterall! Oh my GAWD, the relief I felt when I realized this!
4. Today we picked up my husband's AFO and our wonderful insurance paid 100% ($1037 amount, $465.88 allowed by insurance company, I owe $0) Now, at this point, I'm not sure it will help him, as he doesn't have much of a foot drop problem, but some side curling under, and toes. We will have to see. We had to get up at 7am to get there and were late. Then we went to Walmart to look at bigger shoes and see if we could get it into any of them. My fingers are pretty much all feeling like they have been hit by a hammer, they are so sore from pulling on shoes, but we came home with a pair to scrutinize.
5. Son & fiancee are coming to work at the other house 
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