Appointment Tomorrow to Apply

[lisade]

Hi All,
I called and made an appointment tomorrow afternoon to apply for my social security disability. Does anyone have any suggestions for me before I go. I decided to try the first round without the assistance of a lawyer.

I have filled out that long paper I got off the Social Security website to take with me. Both of my doctors have said they will support me and my gp is now writing me a letter he said this morning that he would be dumbfounded if they denied me due to the fact that I am so sick right now. I told him the denial rate was pretty high at this time and I would not be surprised if I was denied the first time.

I have records from years back do I need to take those you think?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks for all ya'll have done to guide me so far.

[londonteatime]

Lisa,
They will need a copy of your birth certificate, your Social Security card, and, I believe, your Driver's License or other picture ID. Just in case, I took along my last two paycheck stubs and, sure enough, the lady wanted to make copies of them. I had gotten a lump sum of "daily rate" pay when I left the school district and had to explain what it was.

I also took all of my prescriptions with me. That made it easier for her to write down the names, dosages, and what they were for. She also noted the side effect warnings for each one -- especially drowsiness and caution with driving.

I had taken along all of the medical records from my rheumy. She said she could attach 12 sheets to the application and told me to pick the ones I thought would be most helpful for the examiner as he/she would use that info to start working on my claim. I chose some progress notes, labs, MRI and X-ray reports. Luckily, all of my baseline X-rays from my first rheumy visit were summarized on one sheet of paper so I could easily show the progression.

Having your meds with you is good for another reason -- my appointment took 3 1/2 hours and I was in a LOT of pain! I had to take my scheduled meds, too! It's a super-long application -- I had completed several sections online before I went and it STILL took that long! I was drained.

I wish you all of the best tomorrow! I especially hope you have a sympathetic, helpful intake worker!

Julie

[raggedyann1]

Lisade,

Don't worry if you don't have a copy of your birth certificate handy. That kind of record they will let you send/bring in at anytime. In fact I forgot to get mine sent in after I got it and that is how I found out I had been approved - my case worker called me to get my birth certificate so he could schedule paying me.

I would definitely take in everything you have. That will impact your case worker also. My soc sec office has 2 kinds of windows one that you stand at and one type where you can sit. You will be there awhile so if they have both kinds be sure to ask to move to where you can sit.

Anything that you are missing they will just ask you to send in and the sooner you do so the better.

Don't say anything about maybe going back to work in 6 months. If in 6 months you are feeling really well and your doctors agree you can go back to work then you can cancel your application if it is not approved yet. With all that you have going on I wouldn't be surprised if you don't get approved quickly.

Take care,
Karen

[lisade]

Well, I had the appointment and it went pretty good. It took about 1 and 1/2 hours because I took the forms with me that I had worked on. The lady was very nice and helped me get everything filled out and I also took a letter from my supervisor about the amount of work I missed and how hard I had tried to work. My doctor is also writing one for me to send in.

The social security lady said it looked to her like I had everything I needed and she felt that I stood a very good chance of winning. She also said she didn't think I needed an attorney to wait and see. She did remind me that she is not the one that makes the determination. She said they have been getting approvals in 1 to 6 months.

Now it's a wait and see game.

Thanks for all the advice that each of you have given me.

[londonteatime]

Good deal, Lisade!!!!!! It sounds like you had a good feeling about the appointment! I felt the same way when I left mine -- fingers crossed!!!! Having a person at the local office who is supportive is so helpful. The lady who did my application called me right after I found out my decision and I already got my password in today's mail for my online SSD account!

Thanks for the update -- I was thinking about you and kept checking to see how it went!

Julie