[hutchibk]

I don't know about private disability, but you won't be considered for social security disability as a breast cancer patient unless/until you are diagnosed with distant metastatic progression. On SS disability, there is no such thing as short-term or temporary disability...

In the last year or two, the internal federal rules for medical disability approvals for cancer patients have become increasingly more stringent and will become even moreso in future years. One of my dear friends works as a medical disability case investigator. She is horrified at how the feds have shifted approval rules in favor of psychological approvals (seems that anything can be chalked up to "bi-polar") and to the increasing detriment of chronic dire diagnosis medical patients.

This is my editorial opinion of what I have learned from talking to my friend, but it seems that chronic medical patients are too much a drain on the system and use too much of the system (sound familiar?) and are too expensive to keep alive, so the theory is to withhold as much assistance from them as possible so they will "go away" sooner.