Disability Update

Thanks to all those who sent up prayers for me. They worked! I not only start receiving disability benefits this month, but I got nearly 16K in back-pay. That was just enough to get me out of debt with a little leftover. I can't tell you how good it feels to be debt free! On top of it all, my book formatting business is doing really well and growing all the time now. At this rate, I may be off disability in just a couple of years. It sure is nice working from home. It's the kind of business I can do from anywhere in the world. All I need is a laptop and a satellite USB card. Who knows, maybe I'll save up and buy an RV and become one of those retirement RV people who roam the country. Okay, probably not. But it's nice to know I could if I wanted to! There's a lot to be said for being debt free and being able to work from your computer anywhere and anytime. It's very freeing. I highly recommend it.

Kids React to the Beatles (funny)

Going to the Disability Doctor Thursday

If you have time, say a prayer for me. Tomorrow morning at 9:30 A.M. I have to go to a doctor that Social Security uses to help determine disability benefits eligibility. My arthritis has progressed to the point where I can only stand for about 5 minutes at a time. The window cleaning business is quickly becoming a thing of the past. I’m down to working 2 hours per day, 3 days per week with it. My osteoarthritis is degenerative and has gotten MUCH worse this past year. (My X-rays show how it’s progressed, but I have to see this doctor anyway for some reason.) It’s still confined to my back at this point. My dad had to take early retirement for the same condition. His spread to his hips and knees very quickly. He needed to have them all replaced but settled for just the one hip that was hurting the worst. I’m praying that doesn’t happen to me! The more I stand on my feet and especially climb a ladder and reach up with a pole etc., the more damage it’s doing to the pads between my discs. I need to get out of this job before it’s down to bone on bone. Disability doesn’t pay much, but I’ll make about $10K with my book formatting business this year, and that’s just about the max amount I can make and draw disability at the same time. With the two together I can just make it. I’m hoping that within a few years I can go full-time with the new business, but in the meantime I need some help!

Several people have told me that hardly anyone gets approved for disability the first time they apply. In fact, a lady told me just the other day that her brother was denied the first time, and he had terminal cancer! I can only guess they figured his hadn’t progressed to the point where he couldn’t work anymore yet. If I get approved the first time through, I believe I can start drawing benefits in February, 2016. That will be just about perfect for me. Also, my medical care through the VA has been pretty bad overall. If I’m on disability, I should be able to get on Medicare Part B, and I think that will be a whole lot better. I can stay in the VA health care system and be on Medicare at the same time, so I don’t need the Part D drug coverage because the VA will pay for all drug costs.

I believe this is the best thing for me at this time. I don’t want to be one of those people who milk the system though. I hope to be on my own again in 2 to 3 years. . . well, unless my arthritis progresses to the point where I can’t even sit down without pain. Also, I need to get dieting seriously right now, and being away from my window business is the best way to do that. I lost a ton of weight back around 1990 when I was laid off from Kroger for nearly a year. I just went to the track every day and made losing weight my job! It was easy to keep focused on the goal when that was all I had to do. If I can get really skinny again, most, of not all, of the pain in my back may disappear altogether. At least for a few years. The arthritis may worsen to the point where no matter how skinny I get, it won’t help. But it may buy me several pain free years, maybe even until retirement. And it’s possible my arthritis will crawl to a stop at some point and never get much worse. That’s what I’m praying for. I hope that within the next two years I’ll have my life back. I’m only 56. I should have a lot of life left in me if I just have time to heal up!

Thanks.

Chris Smither Live at Haddon Heights Park, NJ

Wonderfully recorded outdoor concert with the best singer/songwriter of all-time. I especially like the song he wrote from his seven year old daughter's questions about life at 21:45

Good Movie on Sleep Paralysis

There's a movie on Netflix that came out last year on the subject of sleep paralysis that's very much worth watching. I don't seem to have it much anymore, but I went through a lot of this 15 years ago. What cured me? It sounds silly, but I noticed that in certain esoteric writings it was suggested that people who were trying to have an out of body experience during meditation should make sure the head of their bed was pointed north. (Something to do with the magnetic north and magnetic fields in your brain I guess.) I figured that if this would help people induce an OBE, then pointing your bed in a different direction might help stop them. My dad (who lived across town at the time) and I both had this problem of SP plus having nightmares. After checking with a compass, I found that both of us had our beds pointing north. I reoriented them to the east, and our problems pretty much went away for good. Strange, but true. The movie is called The Nightmare:

The Nightmare

The Savior of Country Music?

Mo Pitney is just 24. He wrote every song on his first album except one and if anybody could be called the "real deal," it's this guy. He's gonna be huge. Wait and see. By the way, that's his sister, Holly, singing backup with him on this first song. She has a twin brother too, and they often serve as his backup singers.

Clean Up On Aisle Five

Duct Tape and Jesus

Boy & A Girl Thing

I Met Merle Haggard Today

Uninsured Man Pays $57K for Anti-Venom Drug At Mercy Hospital

I saw this on the news last night. A man got bitten by a copperhead. He had no insurance, so Mercy Hospital charged him whatever they darn well felt like. Just more proof that America's health care system is a joke and beyond repair.

News 4 Investigates: The hidden cost of medical care

This is the kind of thing that really makes me angry. If I were president, heads would roll.