I might be making a move to qualify for disability soon. I just had my 5th knee surgury.

[brewens]

It was just a scope job, the frst for my right knee. I had a total knee replacement on my left almost ten years ago at 45. I had first injured that playing football in high school. Probably was torn cartilege but was dagnosed as strained ligamants. They didn't cut you open in 1977 to find out for sure. It was going to be a few years before a kid like me could get a knee like that scoped.

So now I have degenerative osteoarthritis that will likely see me getting the right knee replaced eventually. Right now, it looks like I will be back to work full-time 19 days after my surgury, it's doing that well. I have yet to meet with my surgeon to hear his long term prognosis. I also have the same thing going on in my hips, shoulders and elbows it seems. He will evaluate those in order starting soon. That's already a major problem, especially with sleeping and I'm a commercial driver. I only make short trips for the blood center I work for but still, you don't want to drive like that short on sleep. I already compensate by going to be much earlier than I would really like.

One of the main problems is that my job is going to change for the worse in a year or so. I'd thought I found the perfect gig that I could do to retirement, or pretty close anyway. I'm on my 9th year now. Now I think they are making a big mistake and I know it's going to suck!

I wonder how many are in the same boat? I know we have lots of people that if they had a good secure job, would gut it out to get their full retirement. They always did before.

Companies used to do what they could to accomadate a guy that had been a good worker for years to help him make it. As a young man, we had a beer driver that was losing his eyesight. The took him off his route and put him to work full-time as warehouse supervisor. Now that shit in my messkit big time! He kept me from getting that job for two years but he was one of the all-time great guys. Then a couple years later, I was being hired to work for a local agricultural co-op. Just waiting for the call to go take my drug screening. The boss there was a buddy as was his other full-time guy. Then the co-op had to shut down a nearby opperation in a little town. One of their guys there was two years from retirement and guess what? He got my job!

In both cases, had they just let a guy get out with most of his retirement intact, I would have benefitted. Making people work longer and harder does have a downside.

I thought I had another job at a industrial supply corporation. The day of the interviews, the manager there came back from a meeting with the big boss at a local mill and all of a sudden, another interview was granted. The plant managers son, who also turned out to be slightly brain damaged from a motorcycle accident. He gets the job and they litterally had to babysit him for a year until dad found a place to hide him at the mill. Affirmative action for big shots kids there!

Nope. Having done pretty much physical labor my entire life, and having been screwed out of better jobs along the way, I won't be feeling guilty if I qualify for disability and get out early. Other than time off with major knee problems, I've been unemployed for three weeks since I was 16.

[doxyluv13]

1. Sounds like you see your situation clearly….

You should have no guilt; you will be using the system for what it was created for, not gaming it. Good luck.

[pnwmom]

2. Good luck, brewens. I've heard that it helps to hire a lawyer to get through the process,

and that most people get turned down the first time -- but succeed on subsequent attempts. So keep trying.

[MFM008]

3. having other co-morbidities

may help your case. Ive had a double knee replacement, but back and hip problems are considered. I hate to say it but the more that is wrong with you, the better your case. I was so messed up I got accepted the first application, but if bi-polar bearism was ever beneficial it was then.

[brewens]

4. A neighbor woman told me my age is a big factor. I'm 54. She said 55 makes it easier.

I haven't researched much but that will work out nicely if true. I'll be 55 about the time the job changes. That's not the only thing though. Mismanagement is dragging us down. It's now looking like a sinking ship. I should have switched to recruiting in our area about three years ago but the director of that department decided it could be handled from our HQ 100 miles away when our old recruiter left. The decision and that director have been a disaster, but top management doesn't see it.

Had I gotten the chance three years ago, I could have been untouchable by now or would have been fired for raising hell about not doing it my way. Now I think they know that and are afraid of me. That director and a couple of her incompetant stooges know I can make them look like shit!

[SheilaT]

5. The ADA requires that companies make "reasonable accommodations" for employees.

It may be that such accommodations are not possible in your situation, and if you simply cannot do any other work, you will probably qualify for SSDI.

Keep a few things in mind. First is that if you stop work now, you give up at least seven years of earnings (to age 62) that might well have pushed up your eventual Social Security amount starting at that age. In addition, you will need to be on disability for two years before you become eligible for Medicare, although you'll start getting that two years into disability payments. If you have a spouse who can cover you, great. Otherwise the ACA will be there.

And as much as it sucks, it's always been the case that who you know or who you're related to makes a difference in getting a job or a promotion.

[mythology]

6. You're at the top end of the age range

And depending on the level of osteoarthritis you have, but you might look into aci surgery. It's a pain to recover from, but seems to give generally good results.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Good luck

[madokie]

8. When I was forced to give in to disability and apply for SSDI

http://www.allsup.com/

I went to these people and three months later I got my first check. No if and or buts about it. they know what they're doing or sure seemed too to me.
I had the blessing of my VA doctor if that mattered.