i want to thank you for posting and letting us know how you are doing post-op. so happy for you that the surgery helped so dramatically in your case; it gives so many of us hope to hear that. but it is slow-going in not only immediate recovery from that major TOS surgery but the loooong rehab process. i don't care WHAT the big, bad insurance company says!

and you are doing so many great things for yourself post-op. i love it! keep up the good work. i know you will keep reaping the benefits, jamy. you've suffered with TOS for a long time, and it may be tough - and take a long time - to get you back on the road to good health. but you are so strong. and you so deserve all the wonderful progress you are making. you will get there! of that i have no doubt.

i think it's fabulous we are able to benefit from tamara's legal expertise, and that she has felt well enough recently to share with us and be so generous with her experience and thoughts in this complex area of the law. i would read her posts very, very carefully if i were you.

if i remember correctly, jamy, you are a canuck? so some of the W/C stuff may not fit precisely, but the LTD stuff generally works the same way, the broad strokes at least if i'm not mistaken...well an insurance policy is an insurance policy is an insurance policy, isn't it. so she's absolutely correct, the first step is to make sure you have a complete and accurate copy of that policy and any so-called addendums to it.

don't hurt yourself reading it either! get a cheap music stand, a magnifying glass (for they love that fine print, don't they...hoping we won't read it, i suspect), good reading light - and have at it, my good woman!

sounds like you have plenty of medical professionals who will back you up on your side of the claim. and that is always an excellent thing. i have the pleasure of knowing tam a little, and speaking for myself i would be happy to help you too if i can if you get stuck.

it's not always necessary to go out and hire a freakin' attorney to fight these stupid things. they just like to frighten us laypeople and make us think that it is (no offense to tam or anyone else; hell, she'd probably agree with me on that one).

so fear not, jamy, keep fighting the good fight in your rehab - just be mindful like tamara has stated in her other post of any "ticking clock" in terms of a time period within which you must respond, in writing (always best, and by certified mail or the canadian equivalent!) to your LTD insurance co.'s (in my opinion) ridiculous claim that you should have been back to work by now...

you do NOT want to risk losing those LTD bennys. you are entitled to them. you worked for them, you paid for them, they're yours by rights. fight to keep them, jamy! don't let them push you around.

probably don't have to say any of this to you, b/c since you're a TOS'er you probably have a "certain" type of personality that seems to go with this disorder!

but i can't seem to shut myself up sometimes when i see stuff like this, i just get mad.

i'm harmless, really.

unless you're an incompetent doctor. or work for the insurance corps. or something.

hahaha

alison