Today I had a meeting with a lawyer who specializes in disability cases. I was very nervous about going, especially as I was going by myself, hubbie stayed home to watch the munchkin, and I didn’t think until rather too late that there were a few people I could have asked to watch the munchkin, other than Kore who was packing to head out for Thanksgiving visits.

Anyway, the office I found after driving past and coming in through the back, despite my GPS sending me all around creation to get there. I was greeted by, as it turned out my future lawyer’s assistant. There are two lawyers who work out of the office and each of them has their own assistant. She gave me paperwork to fill out and warned me there was an appointment before me still filling out theirs. However, given I finished first the lawyer took me before them and we went through things.

Given the nerves I kept rambling about things and he had to keep stopping me so that he could take notes, and apologized for cutting me off a few times when I was going off topic but he was figuring that the previous appointment would finish up and was trying to streamline. Part way into my medical history he pegged who I was from the phone he’d been trying to remember and was able to fill back in several of the things I’d missed or not been sure about on the form with my information and what he remembered.

He then appraised me of the situation as it is with the legal system and the government. He said until he got medical information he wasn’t sure if the fact I’m working part time will help or hinder me. He said depending on the judge if the claim gets to hearing level some of them are more receptive if you’re at least trying to work and doing all that you can and others aren’t. That with the legal help the people who receive benefits after an appeal goes from 6% to around 16%, which still isn’t that great, but that only 40% of people that they work with are denied at hearing. So, that’s something.

His retention fee is only $50 so I paid that and then he gets 25% of back pay upon winning the case. So, we’ll see what happens. While I was there I filled out the appeal paperwork that they had, and signed the other forms that they’ll fill out and then send to the government. I’ll get copies of everything, then we have to wait and see.

He did warn me that if it has to go to hearing, Florida tends to have at least a year wait for hearing, but given financial hardship they can appeal that and get us bumped up if it goes that far; which I anticipate it will because I was denied last time. Things have changed a bit since then in that I have been working, and I have a chiropractor, but he said the SSI department tends to not really care about what a chiropractor has to say considering them not “real doctors” which…well, that’s silly to me, but there you go.

On the one hand my lack of sleep and the wandering child alter that have been going on every other day this past week actually work to my advantage on that one. Doesn’t make me feel any better about it, but there you go.