I find the comments in this thread strange. As if some have a vested interest in my not acquiring SSI. That is your right; perhaps we have different politics/morals/values/beliefs...

Here is what I do know:

I served my country's military earning two purple hearts and spent nine months in a cage as an enemy of the state in the former Soviet Union. I could have gotten disability then but didn't cause I was too young, too tough and too proud.

Though the nightmares and PTSD lost me many a nights sleep, I never called in sick to work but showed up every day and did my job.

I've had two heart attacks at work and finished my shift both times before driving myself to the hospital and getting a stint put in.

Never took a dime of the government though I qualified many times for food stamps, unemployment, etc.

I'm sick now. I can't work. I know this to be true. Yes, I did what I said and had my wife (a physical and massage therapist) there every step of the way working my body so I could continue working this book.

Should I have? Heck no. And don't tell my doctor I did it either or he'll kick my butt and unfortunately, for the first time in my life, I know I won't win that fight. I push myself; it's part of my makeup and, it'll be the cause of my death I'm sure - cause I don't always do what the doctor tells me to. I'm stubborn.

It took a lot for me to come to grips with the fact that I can't take care of my family any longer. And if you're American's, then I'm saddened that I can't take care of you folks any longer too. But to form an opinion that I shouldn't get disability because I am able to push myself beyond good sense or doctors orders is, in my opinion, unfair.