Re: Back to : from - re - FERS disability retirement

[Guest guest]

: All I can say to you is THANK YOU from the very bottom of my

heart for this detailed email regarding the FERS dis. retirement. I

don't know what the GI (ex) doc of mine is going to put...but he DID

say that even though he thinks its " chronic abdominal pain of

unknown etiology " ...that he would TRY to word it in such a way I'm

assuming to be helpful to me. He must have been thinking plain old

SSDI because his next assinine (sorry if anyone is offended with

this word but it's the only word that really can describe him and

his attitude towards my pain) comment to me was " I don't think your

chances are going to be very good with just a dx of chronic

abdominal pain but I will do my best... " Whatever, from what you've

told me here and once again, I thank you for being so detailed as to

ease my stressed out self(!)...I think with the combination of my

PCP's filling out a form that I myself put together (well not

totally, someone once posted a form that SSDI had used for

fibromyalgia patients - I don't they use quite the same one anymore

since that particular one is not in my package from them) using

a " form " because he was quite hesitant and in the end even wrote on

the first page of the " form " that " they can request the records, I

WILL NOT DO A NARRATIVE " , the one from the jerk GI but most

importantly the one from Dr. Lehman....that at least it doesn't seem

to be like " taking a pee in the ocean " anymore to me. I just hope

they don't get too hung up on their own " requirements " for the

request to be on their letterhead stationary...and then several " you

MUST complete blah, blah, blah...and if you don't you may delay your

patient's chances blah, blah, blah....sometimes they can be quite

stringent in their own requirements....I guess that's what I'm

worried about. However, you ARE perfectly correct in saying that

Dept of the Navy (which is who I work/worked for) and Dept of the

Army doesn't really matter because it all ends up in OPM's hands

anyway. You are talking about March of '03 as well and that gives

me more hope because we're only in 04 going into 05 and I can't

imagine that the fed govt's paperwork to OPM would change all that

drastically in that short of time....not like I know the gov't to

be...LOL!! At any rate, let me reiterate...thank you for giving me

hope in what I'm always perceiving to be a drim future. I know SSDI

will be tougher to get...if you'd prefer can you explain to me how

it works...you get the FERS Dis. Retirement...and then how does it

work with the SSDI...I mean, does OPM now handle the " negotiations "

with them...and since they are a gov't agency as well, once you are

approved for the FERS Dis. Retirement...is it sort of " automatic "

that the SS office just goes ahead and approves their end of it

because you have already been approved by OPM??? Well, please let

me know and if you'd prefer you can email me privately...I'm so

sorry to bore others with the intricacies of fed. gov't service/dis.

retirement " rules. " Also, do you think that the fact that I was a

gov't employee for almost 18 yrs will help me? You know, length of

service and such? Or do they care? How long after being approved

by OPM did you get approved by SSDI? AND, how long after all of

that did you see your first paycheck or direct deposit (another

requirement now.) Oh, and one more thing...since I've been LWOP

(leave w/o pay) since about June and obviously haven't been paying

my health ins. premiums..will they take it all out in one big lump

sum or will they just take out say " double " premiums (one for the

one you are " indebted to the gov't " for (as I see on all

my " paystubs " ))? For my gall bladder surgery I had to go " in the

hole " (another lovely gov't saying) for 6 weeks of advanced sick

leave as I had used all my available leave....how will they collect

that do you know? Well, I'm getting some pretty bad pain tonite so

this is all for now..I'll check back tomorrow...but again, at least

my mind is somewhat at ease now...and I thank you for that!!

> ,

> I am so sorry the local GI is being such a butt! Take a deep

breath and calm down. I know it's really scary applying for the

FERS disability retirement and there are a lot of what-if's. I also

know that the paperwork says you have to have a statement from your

doctors. However, I'm going to tell you what was included in my

FERS disability retirement application. Keep in mind, my disability

retirement was approved, not one, but two times, in a matter of days

once it reached OPM. I first applied in Dec 00 and received the

approval in Mar 01. My health had improved drastically about 2

weeks before the approval so I turned it down. I applied again in

Dec 02 and received the approval in Mar 03. I accepted it that time

and retired on March 21, 03. The reason it took 4 months both times

is because the package has to go through one million different

offices before it is sent to OPM. I think they actually have to fed

ex to Heaven to get God's approval! Sorry - I'm being ridiculous

now, but when you are too sick to work and getting little or no

paycheck, we all know that 4 months seems like an eternity. Also,

keep in mind, that even though you worked for the Navy (I think) and

I worked for the Army, OPM is the approving office for all federal

government employees. In other words, the people who approved my

disability two different times are the same people who will review

and approve or disapprove yours.

>

> Just a note to those of you who are not fortunate enough to have a

disability plan through your employer and have to rely totally on

SSD or SSI - you have my complete and utter sympathy. When dealing

with SS, waiting only 4 months for an answer is pretty close to a

miracle. There are many who must battle for 2-4 years to get an

approval!

>

> The requirements for a disability retirement for government

employees is much less stringent than for SSD or SSI. First, unlike

SSD, you don't have to be unable to perform any job, you just have

to be unable to perform the job you currently have. Your bosses do

have to state that they have made any accommodations that could be

made on your behalf and still allow the mission to be completed.

This mostly has to do with the laws for people who are physically

disabled, such as wheelchair bound, etc. With cp, we all know that

there are really no accommodations any employer can make that would

allow you to work full time. I guess they could put a puke bucket

and a bed in your cubicle and maybe soundproofing so your co-workers

don't have to hear you throwing up or moaning in pain! My job

required a tremendous amount of travel. For the last year I worked,

I was traveling 50% of the time. I did a lot of marketing/training

briefs in front of often huge audiences. Let me tell you, anyone

who thinks that traveling all over the country and even the world,

and then standing on your feet (in the spotlight) for up to 12 hours

a day is not strenuous both mentally and physically, has never been

there! Even when I wasn't traveling, my job was incredibly

demanding and required 200% focus and concentration. We were

developing a new massive data base and reporting system for all of

the army's track and wheeled vehicles (trucks, tanks, etc.) so we

had our every day job with the old system plus the requirement to

guide the programmers in the right direction for developing the new

system. I wasn't required to do the programming as I'm not a

programmer. However, as the lead system's analyst, it was my job to

understand the programming and help the programmer understand they

type of data received, the type of output (reports and such)

required by our customers which ranged from the Secretary of Defense

down to the lowly, hard working, young private who has his Sergeant

breathing down his butt telling him to get an answer YESTERDAY!

>

> When I first got sick again, I thought that things would get

better in a few weeks. My bosses and co-workers were wonderful to

me. I was given permission to work from home when I was able.

However, as I got sicker and sicker, I soon realized that it wasn't

even fair for me to try to keep working. My bosses, co-workers, and

most importantly the 'soldiers in the field' who relied on me could

not depend on me. Even when I was able to make it to the office, my

concentration and cognitive skills were no longer what they used to

be. The problems with the new system that I used to be able to

resolve for the programmers in a matter of minutes became almost

impossible for me to solve because my brain just didn't want to work

the way it used to. I think this was a combination of being very

sick, pain meds, and then the steriods I was put on when I was

diagnosed with liver disease (although I'd already began the

disability retirement process when I was diagnosed with liver

disease in Jan 03).

>

> Boy, I've gotten off track again. When I applied both times for

the FERS dis ret, I did NOT have a diagnosis of cp. I also did NOT

have a statement in writing from my GI doctor. I asked him for it

both times but got tired of waiting on him and sent the package in

without it. I honestly don't think I had an actual letter from any

of my doctors. Oh, wait, I take that back. With the second app, I

did have a short letter from my wonderful surgeon who did my gastric

bypass in Dec 01. He stated that I'd had numerous attacks of acute

panc and the attacks, pain, nausea, and vomiting continued despite

the best efforts of numerous doctors and that, in his opinion, I was

unable to work on any job. Other than that, I simply included labs,

x-ray report, surgical reports, procedure reports, etc. Probably

the single most important thing for you to include is the ERCP

report from Dr. Lehman.

>

> Oh, I forgot, I did have a letter from my rheumatologist and my

orthopedic surgeon with the first app. The ortho gave a big long

list of all the three ortho surgeries he'd done on me as well as my

other ortho problems he'd seen me for then wrote

>

> 'Upon evaluation of her job duties and functions, I see that there

is a minimal amount of physical labor involved and do not see any

reason why she can not perform these duties from an orthopaedic

stand-point only.

>

> However, she does have other elements that may contribute to her

decreased ability to perform the mandatory job requirements. It may

be helpful to acquire further information as to her abilities from

the physicians who are treating these specific diagnoses.

>

> The symptomology that she experiences from her medical diagnoses

in combination with her orthopaedic difficulties may indeed present

her with a decreased ability to perform job related functions. I do

wish the best for Ms. Weston. I will continue to treat her as

necessary. Please do not hesitate to contact the office for further

information if it would be helpful.'

>

> I can't find the letter from my rheumy but I think he said

something along the lines of

> Ms. Weston has systemic lupus and has recently had repeated

attacks of acute pancreatitis as well as several orthopedic problems

requiring surgery. Having systemic lupus makes the ability

to 'bounce back' from any assaults on the body more difficult, thus

the combination of Ms. Weston's health problems might make it

difficult for her to work on a job full-time.

>

> I also included a letter with my dis ret app both times explaining

how much I loved my job and why I felt I could no longer do my job.

With the fed govt, they look at what is in the best interest of both

the employee and the employer, which is probably different from the

way SS looks at it. In my case, especially when I applied the

second time, it was obvious that it was no longer in the best

interest of my employer for me to continue 'trying' to work. I was

occupying a slot and coming nowhere near pulling my load. My co-

workers and bosses had to take up my slack and that was not fair,

nor was it right. The govt was much better off to approve my

disability retirement, get me out of my 'slot', so my employer could

put someone in that slot who was able to be there and perform the

mission.

>

> I would advise you to get everything you can together. If you

don't have actual letters from all doctors, don't sweat it. Include

the labs, etc. One of the things I did was to chart my labs on an

excel spreadsheet with the abnormal values in either red (high) or

blue (low). I don't know if this helped, but it was helpful to me

and my doctors who were not too pompous to appreciate it. My

current rheumatologist loves it and would ask for it every time I

saw her. I quit doing it after I was diagnosed with cp because it

just really wasn't necessary.

>

> Also, with the FERS dis app, they typically don't take the time,

expense, and effort to contact your doctors. They base the decision

on what you've included. If they don't feel there is enough info,

they will send you to one of their doctors. I never had to see one

of their doctors. The package went to their doctor and both times

he simply wrote that he had nothing to add to the info that I'd

provided.

>

> So, get all the paperwork together and get it to the first office

it has to go through. After that, all you do is wait. You will

receive a letter when the package gets to OPM. You can expect it to

take about 4 months just to get to OPM. In my case, both times, the

approval letter was dated less than a week after the letter saying

the package had arrived at OPM. It is possible that in my case,

having lupus helped speed the approval. However, I will tell anyone

that if all I had to deal with was lupus, I'd still be working full

time plus. I'm not trying to minimize lupus. It can be a horrible

disease and at times deadly. However, in my case, in comparison to

cp, the lupus is like a hangnail! Of course, I do have about 1/2 of

my doctors saying lupus caused the cp, so if that's true, then I

guess it really is the lupus that caused me to be unable to work.

Either way, I was diagnosed with lupus in Oct 96 and it was not

until I began having attacks of acute pancreatitis that I even

considered having to give up my career.

>

> I do think it is important to explain why cp or SOD or acute panc

attacks keep you from working because most people don't understand.

They may think it's like having a really bad case of the flu - you

are sick but then you get better and all is well. We all know that

it's often not like that with pancreatitis. Explain the need for

pain meds. Explain what they do to your concentration level and

cognitive ability. Explain how you can be okay one minute and

doubled over in pain the next. I had a few attacks at work while I

was trying to work after the attacks returned in Jul 02. One was

bad enough I had to have a friend take me to the ER. I tried to

just quietly leave but by the time I could get out of the building I

had my boss and 8 co-workers hovered around me asking what they

could do. Talk about disrupting the entire team! Explain how your

missing work has impacted the mission as well as your co-workers,

bosses, and customers (if that applies in your job - in my job I had

customers all over the country and the world who depended on me to

provide very extensive and detailed reports that were very time

sensitive). I think you get the idea. I really don't know if my

letters helped but it made me feel better and less guilty when I

actually put in writing why I felt I had to give up my career.

>

>

>

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