Hi all,

I did talk to Mike, the specialist in getting Disability the first time around. He gave me GREAT advice. However, after seeing the specialist, I guess I chickened out. Because one of the things Mike advised was to have my doc sign a letter stating I am unable to function normally due to medication and pain... this doc doesn't believe that to be true.

I finally just got scared and went ahead and filed for my unemployment. I'm going to ride that out for a year. At least it is a guaranteed income for one year until the specialist can come to some conclusions!

My insurance is only good for four more months, then I lose that, so hopefully they can figure it out soon!

I'll keep you all up to date.... so far, all the tests he ordered last week have come up fine. He is the third doctor to have ordered tests, they are all from Kaiser Permanente (for you "non California folks", that is a large HMO group here)... so they all have computer access to the tests each other have done.

He has determined that there is a lot of pain, but no weakness.

That's BULL.... I'm much weaker than I used to be..... however, I'm "average" now, because I used to be an avid runner and had legs that were mostly muscle. I told him that too. I've lost a lot of strength in my legs and feet. I have trouble getting up from the floor, I have trouble walking, blah blah blah...

Thanks y'all for being there!