[Jackie07]

Anita,

From my experience - having had two brain surgeries and two chemotherapies - our brain is a 'use it or lose it' situation.

'Walking' and any form of exercise increases blood supply to our brain and helps reconnect our nerve cells - 'synapse' is the word, like an electrical sparkle. So please keep on exercising - including doing puzzles, learning new languages (I took 2 English composition classes 3 years after my first brain surgery and 3 Spanish courses after my 2nd brain surgery (GKRS). It's amazing how I could actually 'feel' the improvement of my brain fuctions.)

Even with my medical history and work (job loss)history, I had been turned down by the Social Security Administration when I applied for disability by myself - twice. The letter I received stated that because I had worked - gainful employment... It's really weird that the system seems to have been designed for the benefit of the lawyers. [The lawyer had told me that they wouldn't take the case until it had been turned down.] I followed their advice and then one of their attorneys petitioned for me - it got turned down again. But my attorney told us that it was expected and the next step was to go before a judge. That was almost a year to the date when I first talked to the attotney.

It's almost like an 'act' in a show - like in the movies. Three and half months after the hearing, I received a check of the back pay - it's not very much because the attorney had taken away about the same amount already (It's been deducted from the back payment - the Judge had signed an approval of the payment method as part of his 'decision' on my disability status. A certain percentage and no more than $5000.00.

My Sister-in-law had done the application for her husband a couple of years ago by herself. He was on disability with his company at first. She's a PhD and a professor, so they did not hire a lawyer. [I think the judge probably took into consideration of her title. She does know how to write well in a professional way. But she lives 4-hours drive away and is very busy, so we tried not to bother her.]

My attorney took my case pro-bono. The senior staff looked at my medical history and felt it was a sure-in. I've lost every job I had since having my first brain surgery in 1990. After three more surgeries and two full doses of chemo, I had to admit that there's some deficits/problems that are obvious to others but not myself...

You will need some kind of evaluation to prove that you are no longer able to do what you were capable of in the past due to the treatment you had received. Perhaps even your job performance or your annual evaluation can serve as the evidence. If you have never done a neurophsychological profile, you need to get one done as soon as you can and do another one in 6 months or a year so they can see if there's an obvious decline.

My postings look 'normal', but in essence, it takes me twice, three times longer than others to write (and then I need to make corrections constantly.) Most jobs do not allow me the time to compensate my deficits, and there's no other 'gainful' work I can do in the national economy. I think that's how my case got approved. There was an impartial 'disability specialist' present in the court to observe the whole process and give her opinion on my case. She did not speak, but her opinion was very important because my first two applications had been turned down with statements like "your disability does not prevent your from performing the tasks..."

Good luck to you. I just wanted to share my experience.

By the way, Joe was the one who had told me that I definitely had a case. That had helped. Thanks, Joe.