SSD Amount

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Snickers1234
Snickers1234 Member Posts: 4
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

What is the average amount people get if they go on Social Security Disability ?

Reason I am asking is due to my cancer has came back and I just don't know if after my second go around if I am going to be able to perform my job.

I had treatment 15 yrs ago, the 7wks of radiation, 3 chemo treatments and then they removed the lymph nodes in the left side of my neck. I was 49 at the time, married with 2 little girls, did everything I could to get back to work even with the constant feeling of just not a lot of energy and pain in my left neck / shoulder. My employer at the time waited 3 months after I was back full time and on my 5 year aniversury said they changed my job discription and I no longer qualify.

Did everything I could to keep a roof over our head for about a year till I landed my current job. I couldn't ask for a better job, I perform service work out in the field, company truck and more money then I was making bfore.

But the last couple of years my body has been changing, I went from eating to a feeding tube all the time. My speech has gotten so bad everyone has a hard time understanding me and I need to work with vendors daily over the phone. Then during a checkup I get the call no one wants, the CT scan shows something left side of tongue. Good news is after a PET scan it's just the one location.

Surgery to remove went well, they had to scrape the side of my jaw bone and remove a small part of my tongue. But then the tests on the piece they tool out showed they didn't go deep enough so I am scheduled for this Tuesday May 24th 2016 for second surgery.

I am now 54, still married to a wonder woman that has helped me every day, my 2 daughters are both graduating from college in Dec.

I am tired, soar with pain all the time, I have a constand perscription for Oxycodone, they have changed my G tube to a G / J tube due to reflux. My feeding time with the J tube takes 5 hrs and I need to do that 3 times a day. With the new feeding schedule being more maintenace I am lucky to get 2 -3 hours of sleep in one shot.

I am just affraid when I go back to work i am not going to be able to keep up the same pace as before, I work with a team of 15 and everyone needs to do thier part. If I can't keep up I am so afraid I could be let go.

So do I try for Social Security Disability and do would i qualify? what is the amount a person gets?

Thank you for the help everyone and good luck to everyone on this site, I know we all need it.

 

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  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #2
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    Welcome to the forum, Snickers....

    I think that SSD varies from state to state....I'm in Montana, and it's probably a "cheap state"....my renter gets SSD and he gets $770 a month.  He also gets $200 in food stamps, medicaid...which also provides the medicines he needs. 

    Sorry about the cancer returning....did they just do surgery....or did you have to go through the whole thing again?

    p

  • Tonita
    Tonita Member Posts: 197 Member
    #3
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    You can see for yourself what

    You can see for yourself what you would collect by going to social security online and registering.  You can see your earnings record, what your retirement benefit would be and what you would get if you were to become disabled.

    It isn't easy to qualify.

  • Snickers1234
    Snickers1234 Member Posts: 4
    #4
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    Okay I will check my social

    Okay I will check my social security and see - good info, thank you! I am sure qualifing for the money a person has been paying in all these years and now when you need it will be difficult - shouldn't be that way but our goverment would rather give it to someone that has never paid in or very little at the drop of a hat - go figure.

    Phrannie51 - just surgery this time around, I am glad for that. I am sure they will be watching me closley for the next few years again to catching anything that may come back. 

    Take care.

     

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    edited May 2016 #5
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    SS disability

     

    Welcome to CSN H&N, sorry to hear all the problems you have and believe me I been through the same problems. I had NPC and it came back 3 times before I finally put all my problems into Gods hand because I could no longer handle it. I also live on a PEG tube and this week make living on it 4 years, man how time flies. I am also on SS disability but I think the amount you get depends on how much you make and paid into the system. I worked for a wonderful company for 25 years before I had to finely retired due to the side effects of long term radiation. But I am still alive and still able to travel and do things by myself, so hand in there and please keep posting.

     

    Tim   

     

  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    #6
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    Go on line.

    You can go to  www.ssa.gov and find out what you will get. You have to have in enough years to get the full amount. Now as for your other job, you were protected by Disabled Persons Act. This no longer matters as you do have a better job, but the old job might have had to retrain you or change what they can within reason to comminate you. I could have my work get me something to ride as I can't make the long walk, but I do or did make it. My doctor took me off work and on SSI. 

    You will have to fight for disability, and it is better if you pay someone. You get turned down very easy if everything is not just perfect. I was lucky and my company insurance paid for mine. I used ALSUP. They will take a percent of the first check and that often has back pay. The max they can take is $6000 and I have other conditions like breathing. I never had to go to any doctors other than my own that I was seeing. The dollar amount is just about what you would get at full retirement. It is based on what you were paid and have paid in over the years going back to your first job.

    I was on State disability first. If you don't qualify for State Short term [6 months] and then Longterm [24 months] and this one is State by State. You most likely won't qualify for SSDI. You need your doctor to feel that you should be out on disability now. He needs to put you on state disability now.

    Now here is the part on SSDI. If you are having chemo and or Radiation right now [which I did not, only surgery] it often is an automatic qualifier so call your local SS office and go talk to them. You can read online what conditions make it automatic.

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