To re: Disability Retirement from Govt Work!!

[Guest guest]

, I haven't read this whole post because I've got to get in the

shower and get my son off to daycare. But, I will read it in its'

entirety when I get back. The thing that struck me though was that

you were a fed employee (I am too working for the US Navy) Can you

please tell me more about going out on a disability retirement?

I'm only 46 yrs old....don't you have to be of retirement age

before they can think along those lines? Please let me know ok?

That would be wonderful if I qualify for that if it's based on years

of service - in mu case, 17.5 yrs! I'll check back later and try to

better respond to the rest of your post!!

thanks

> ,

> when you mentioned 'leave sharing' it made me wonder if you work

for the federal government. I'm not trying to be nosy, but I worked

for the govt - department of the army - prior to my medical

retirement in March 2003. I know from experience that it takes

almost 4 months to push the paperwork through to OPM for a

disability retirement. I've actually done it twice. I first

applied in Dec 2000 after a year of panc attacks. However, I had a

major turn around in my health the end of Feb 2001. I had just

decided I would stop the paperwork on the disability retirement and

probably never know if it would have been approved. The very next

day after I made my decision to stop the paperwork (around mid March

2003) I got a letter in the mail saying it had been approved. I did

some quick soul searching and decided that turning it down was right

for me at that time. I don't regret turning it down. I was able to

work until July 2002, when the panc attacks returned with a

vengance - while I was on a business trip no less! By Dec 2003 and

about 15 hospital admissions later, my hubby and I both agreed I was

not going to be able to return to work. I applied again for the

disability retirement. It had to go through everything all over

again, but at least I now knew the process and the paperwork

required! Ironically, it took almost exactly the same amount of

time as the first time. By the way, the main reason it took so long

was all the offices the paperwork has to go through prior to getting

to the approving office at OPM - the Office of Personnel

Management. They approved my disability retirement both times in

less than 3 days after they received it. In Mar 2003, I was

notified my disability retirement was approved. I retired on March

21, 2003. I was very fortunate as while I was off work, my brother-

in-law donated 208 hours (max you can donate in a year is 104 hours

without a waiver - he was able to donate 104 hours twice because it

spanned parts of two calendar years), my boss donated 80 hours (she

had only been my boss for two months before I got sick and even

though my reputation at work and around the world was very good, I

was amazed that someone who really only knew me as the person who

got sick while TDY and was rarely at work afterwards would give up

80 hours of hard earned vacation time), other people donated

probably another 40 or 50 hours and I don't know who donated what

for the most part. As you can tell, I was incredibly blessed!

>

> I know your mother is just worried about your family's finances,

but I know her comment had to hurt so much! I was very fortunate

because my mom was telling me I just had to leave my job long before

I made the decision to do so. When I told my husband I thought it

was what I was going to have to do, he did not bat an eye. He

simply said the money didn't matter and we'd make it somehow. I was

the primary bread winner, earning over 50% more than him. We had

two daughters in college, one of whom was engaged with a wedding set

for May 29, 2004. My retirement meant a 40% cut in my pay the first

year and then a 60% cut after the first year. So, as of March 2004,

I was only getting 40% of my previous salary. I was approved for

SSD rather quickly. I applied in March 2003, as soon as my

disability retirement was effective. I was turned down in June

2003, ironically I got the letter while I was in the hospital for

two back to back admissions amounting to about 11 days. That's when

my diagnosis was changed from recurrent acute panc to idiopathic

chronic panc with recurring acute attacks. I appealed the denial

because there grounds were ridiculous - basically they said I could

work because I was highly educated. Yes, I have a master's degree

but that doesn't do you much good when you are puking your guts out

and in horrendous pain. Not to mention the effects the pain med and

the steriods (for my liver disease) have on your brain and cognitive

abilities! They didn't even bother to use info from my current docs

in their decision! Anyway, I appealed and as soon as the appeal got

to the judge, he approved my SSD immediately without a hearing. So,

I started getting it in Oct 2003, which was the soonest I could get

because you have to be out of work (or earning less than 800 a month

from work) for a period of five months before you can begin

receiving SSD. Note that I said 'receiving SSD'. You can apply as

soon as you are no longer working or as soon as the money you are

earning from work is less than $800 per month.

>

> I am glad to have the SSD approved, but I don't get to keep the

whole amount. The way the Federal govt employees disability

retirement works is that for the first year you get

> 60% of your previous salary minus 100% of any SSD that you get

> after the first year you get

> 40% of your previous salary minus 60% of any SSD that you get.

> So, it works out that by the time they take taxes, health

insurance, life insurance, etc. out of my Federal govt retirement,

there's not a lot left. But it could be worse and I do get to keep

my health insurance for life (as long as I pay for it anyway)!

>

>

> We did okay the first year and we tried our best to do okay even

with the additional cut after the first year. As you all know, even

with my excellent health insurance, our medical expenses have sky

rocketed. It's not just the copays, it's the transportation, the

days my husband has to miss work after an all nighter at the ER.

Thankfully, my mom and stepdad help a lot with that so his missed

work days have been kept to a minimum. My doctors wanted me to go

to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, so I did that this summer. I insisted

on going alone because I didn't want the extra expense of another

person going and Minnesota is way too far from Alabama to drive in

my opinion. Even though I was as frugal as could be, the trip to

Mayo was still over $1000. It was after that trip that my husband

and I had to have a serious finances talk. I handle all the

finances and I had told him that we were in bad shape, but I never

told him how bad. I kept thinking that somehow I'd be able to get

things in order. However, when we really looked at things, we

realized how impossible that was. I am embarrassed to say how much

we owe on credit cards. When I got sick, we did not owe one penny

on credit cards. I'm thankful we had them because that is what we

lived on during the times I got little or no paycheck. That's what

paid for many of the trips to doctors out of town and also many of

the copays for medical expenses. However, we finally admitted to

ourselves that we were too deep to ever dig out. We've managed to

not be late on a single payment because I've been able to pay some

bills with the credit cards, buy food with the credit cards, etc.

As always happens when you are living beyond your means, it must

come to an end at some point. We are at that end and unfortunately

the only solution for us is to file bankruptcy. That's a position I

never thought we would be in, but here we are! We have found a

wonderful, caring attorney who has done his best to help me realize

that the federal bankruptcy laws are out there for a reason and that

every person in this country has the right to use those laws to get

a 'fresh financial start'. He keeps telling me I'm not a terrible

person and that I certainly have plenty on my plate and the stress

of the bills is probably only adding to my health issues. All that

is true, but I still feel incredibly guilty and embarrassed. My

husband works hard every day and he makes a good salary, but it's

just not enough. He has excepted the bankruptcy but he's sure not

happy about it. I told him that I really figured he would divorce

me -he laughed and told me that I couldn't get rid of him that easy

and besides he couldn't afford to divorce me! He's really a great

guy and Lord knows, this is not what he signed up for when we got

married 14 years ago!

>

>

> By the way, keep in mind that in addition to chronic pancreatitis,

I have systemic lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome (an autoimmune

clotting disorder), type II diabetes, and autoimmune liver disease.

Lupus is on SS's list of potentially disabling diseases so having

lupus may have made it easier for me to get both my federal govt

disability retirement approved as well as the SSD. That really kind

of sucks cause I can tell you that it is the chronic panc that keeps

me from being able to work, requires me to be on daily pain meds,

sends me to the ER and lands me many admissions to the hospital.

Yes, the other issues complicate everything and make things harder,

but the cp is by far the one that is hardest to deal with at this

time. Oh, just to make life more fun, I found out around January

2004 that I also have a genetic IgG deficiency that makes me much

more susceptible to infections! I just get more interesting by the

day. My GI/hepatologist told me that I am his most unusual and

complicated patient! Not what you want to hear from a doctor that

specializes in pancreas and liver problems! Oh well, I just laugh

about it because crying only makes my contacts cloudy and my nose

run!

>

> I'm not telling you all this to get sympathy. I'm just sharing it

to let you know that I understand where you are coming from.

Please, please just try to take this one day at a time. My pcp is a

wonderful, caring doctor, but he had no clue how devastating

pancreatitis could be. I feel pretty sure that Dr. Lehman will

write a letter for work for you that will give you a much longer

period of time to recover, if recovering enough to return to work

full-time is even possible. Take care and know that you are in my

prayers. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.

You can write me offline if you would like at karenw@p...

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> alabama

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