agw505

I totally support the auto industry, I have many cousins in Mi, they work at Ford. It's the rich dudes that worry me. Go Chevy, buy American!

Totally off the subject at hand.......................your signature. Here it would be support the oil industry, gas went up here in our small town $.20 a gallon, great while it lasted!

Amen and Amen!

Well, first I may be posting on the wrong forum. I am not an RN but an LPN. I admit that I did get into nursing for a job, had no idea what I was getting into during school. They paint a different picture for you. Now things are different in schools, (my daughter in law is in LPN class but plans to go on to RN) and some people also got in for a job. I don't know at what point I realized that this was what God wanted me to do, that I truly loved nursing, that I did everything in my power to help every person I came to know and love, but it happened. I have no regrets, I still love it after 30+ years. I wouldn't change one thing about the years I worked full time, I am working part time due to health issues, read everything I can on anything related to the medical field, watch every show that comes on (Scrubs excluded, just the real or realistic shows) and talk to nurses or doctors that I worked with and any I meet along the way. It's the people who let others know they are there for just a paycheck that irks me, and I can pick them out of a crowd! Eye contact, if a person can't make contact with you during a conversation, they aren't the one I want taking care of me. I had as many as 12 patients for total care, 12 hours a day. Not one of them ever complained because I was moving all the time. No sitting at the desk with my legs crossed, they might see me 5 minutes every hour, but alot of apologizing, never complaining, and making each one feel special was my motto. There are good and bad people in every profession, nurses, doctors, teachers, policemen, clergy, presidents and any other professions. We just have to hope and pray that something good will come from what they do to help others. :redbeathe:twocents:

You have to quit work first. Then apply at your SS office. They will let you know when/where to come in for an evaluation. I do not know about 2 years, I started mine in 5 months. It's not easy, some paper work to do, but if you have documentation from a Dr. it helps. The wait depends on how serious your disability is (I think) but do not know how it is determined. You can call SS and they will send your papers in the mail, if it's not close to you, like mine was, this works better. Good luck.

Well, I live in Tennessee. I quit work in February 2005. I applied to SS in March (the same year) and was approved and payments started in August with my first check in September. I had no lawyer. I think it depends on each person's situation. I have talked to others who had to have a lawyer's intervention. I am not sure what got my approval, but it didn't take long. I have arthritis, bulging disks in my neck and was in counseling for depression (from being a caretaker of a man who had two strokes) anxiety, am a BKA and have other problems. I was trying to work 12 hours a day and I couldn't function efficiently (which caused the end of a 30 year career.) After a 3 year absence, I decided to try part-time work to see if I could hold up. A nursing home is not easy work, but much better working 8 hours vs 12 doing total patient care on 12 patients (I had 38-42 at the nursing home) and it made such a difference not having to do baths, beds etc. But I have also quit there, it was too much for me.

Even as a nurse I never really understood MI, that is until I was diagnosed with depression after losing my job of 27 years. The shrink tried to say I was Bi-polar. I started researching everything I could and decided that I am not. I have had more adverse reactions to meds to try to 'fix' my problems until I decided that I am better off working from a different angle. My whole family (paternal and maternal) have always had some MI issues, most are just hitting on every other piston. Stress was my problem, I talked about it, worked it out and am fine now. Praying has always helped. I turn it over to God, then reach right up and grab it back! I agree with the post about teens, my two were trouble, I wish they had a diagnosis of anything to explain their actions. After I read what I wrote I feel that everyone knows their capabilities, they need to go with their own gut feelings about choosing a child. I raised two, I don't envy anyone today having to worry about what theirs will turn out like. It's after midnight, I need to get a life!

Opinions are like butts, everyone has one! I quit my job of 27 years in 2005, I had been working 12 hours a day, 3 or 4 days a week for 10 years. We were 'glorified CNA's' at the end. We did vitals, passed trays, fed patients, medications, bath and beds, doctors orders, charting, and was expected to be through by 7:15 when the other shift took over. My amputation was not an issue, pulling on (many times) obese people was. My accident in 1966 did not bother me until I turned 33, when I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. I also have three bulging disks in my neck from same accident many years ago. I am constantly in pain 24/7 and make no bones about hiding it (just the facts) but I keep trying to work some anyway. Remember I am just telling you what I was told by Social Security. I stayed home for three years after I started my SSD. I was talking to some people who were also drawing a check. They were working 'part-time' up to but not over $900. a month in my state. I called SS and asked. I am not working a trial period, my year at the NH has come and gone. I have two more checks from them yet, and am starting a new job at a HH agency this week. I tried to go the 'trial period' thing, many phone calls and dead ends made me give up that route and set out on my own to find info, and I did. I was told that I could make no more than $900. a month. Not for nine months, but forever! I am six years from my normal retirement age and hope to be able to work that long and beyond if my health holds up. How do you decide how many hours/days you can work? After I found out how much I would make per hour, I multiplied that x 9 instead of 8 (allowance for shift changes, reports, unexpected occurrences) and divided that into $900. That tells you the number of days you can work. I worked 6 days a month at the NH and was under my allowance. At the HH they offered me $2.00 an hour more so I had to adjust my hours. It works out to 4 days with the option to pick up a day or two if they need me or I choose to. I would rather be under the amount than over. I have a doctor who needs me to help him in his office sometimes, and this leaves me enough space in my allowance to help him out. My best advise to anyone is call your local SS office and ask. They are super here in Tn. and helpful every time I call them or visit. I am not able to work full time, I cannot live on $900. a month, so instead of being afraid to work or depend on hearsay I went directly to the source. I will start drawing my retirement from my former employer, I asked if it would be counted and she said no. Trust me, they are not there to trick you, but to help in any way they can. Don't be afraid to ask, don't listen to others (who may not know the facts), get on the SS website, there is a lot of info there. I will be near my normal retirement age by the time they re-access me to see if I am able to work full time. By then I will be (hopefully) almost ready to quit permanently anyway.Good luck to you and anyone else who is on SSD, I don't know anything about SSI, but then you need to ask the SS people. Another thing, there are plenty of places that need nurses, full time, part time and PRN. I am sure if you start and don't like it where you are, someone somewhere can tell you about another job. Nurses can always find a job, basically they all have problems, but work=money and one day a week won't kill me (I hope.) God Bless

Michelle, I cannot say I know how you feel, I haven't adopted a baby. I know that no matter what problems my two children and grandchildren might have had, I would not have felt I couldn't handle their situation. I was raised to believe that God will show us a way, and he hasn't abandoned me yet. We all want perfect children, mine aren't, my mother had five, none of us were either. Years of nursing, seeing all situations with children and/or parents, my tongue is sore from biting it. I have heard grown children say " I just cannot handle mom or dad " and I think of how those parents stayed and took care of them, I want to choke some of them. The same goes for parents who have to 'get away' from children for awhile. I did not work with my first, my second I had to work. They went everywhere I went. My mother had to ask me if she could keep them a day or night, I never called and told her I needed a break. Children do not ask to be born. They deserve to have love, understanding, nourishment of their bodies and minds. They do not deserve physical and/or mental abuse. If parents feel like they can't handle a sick baby/child they may not treat them kindly, therefore I would rather they not have one at all, their own or adopted. There are people God knows that will take any baby, no matter what they are or may turn out like. Unfortunately we can't just pick them out of a phone book under "great parents or caregivers." I feel why you are upset about a posting to your comments. A year or so ago I posted a comment on an amputee forum, the person who replied was not that same one, she posted to me that she hated people who were racist, which many others did not see the comment (which I said I made to my husband) as a racial slur. I am a 'bullheaded Taurus' and gave it all to her on a reply. She was a highly educated woman, I am a high school dropout who got my GED then went to nursing school. My feelings were hurt, but I got over it after I replied back to her. The great thing about forums is you never have to see the person you may have a conflict with. Say what you feel and never answer their comments. It usually makes THEM mad if you don't answer. I hope you can find peace with this problem. As it has been said "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff." We need many more people like you in this world. God Bless you!

Chevy, I became a RBK amputee in 1966. I went to nursing school in 1976, passed boards in 1977 and went to work that year. The school and hospital were aware of my amputation, but after moving back to my hometown, I went to work at a local small hospital. There was only the question " Do you have any reason you are unable to do the job you are applying for? " ( Or something to that effect ) and I answered "No" because I could do anything anyone else could. Under list your surgeries you have had, I put rt below knee amputation. There were people I worked with that didn't know it after a year or more, until something came up and I had to miss a day because of a problem with my leg. I worked there for 27 years, 12 hour shifts the last 10 years. I stayed off 3 years, went to work last year in a nursing home, the same thing occurred. Don't ask, don't tell is my motto. They found out eventually, but again, I was doing the same job the others were, no problems. I quit there this month ( management problems ) and have been hired by a home health agency, and start this week. Each time I apply for a job I put no for is there any reason you are unable to perform your duties, and list my surgery in the appropriate place. It's up to the person reading your application to find out you are an amputee. The problem with that is they skim over, don't read or comprehend very well. :imbarThe up side to this is by the time they find out, you have already proved yourself. There is no down side because there is now a law which says they cannot discriminate against you because of any disability you may have. Not bragging but I was able to do the same job better that some that had two good legs! On another note: All the physicals I have had consist of TPR and BP, sometimes blood work, I never had to remove anything for any work physical I have had. These are just my thoughts, you can go with your own feelings. Good luck and God bless you in finding a great job. I think that people like us who start out with something like amputations have already proved our worth, my training was in a 600 bed hospital, trust me when I say I covered every inch of that place, more than once!