Weddings

Yesterday I attended a wedding of a former employee. Pictured above is me with him (right) and another former employee who was the best man. They are both just a little older than my son and came to work for me when my son had left for college. I guess I kind of looked at them as my "surrogate sons" when they worked for me and they have sinced stayed friends of mine. They are great guys and I am so glad that our paths crossed in life and I can consider them "family". They have moved away so I don't see them very often, but I do see their parents and we stay in touch when we can.

Friends are important in life....don't forget that!

Social Security

I know many of you are aware of the trouble I have had getting my social security disability. I don't understand why some get it right away and others have to wait so long. I've been denied many times and "my case" is suppose to go before a judge in Atlanta to determine whether or not I will get it. My disability insurance company told me I had to apply when I started receiving my disability checks. After gettting rejected several times they hired an attorney to help us through the process.

When the attorney initially contacted me, he sent me letters telling me that a judge should hear my case within 90 days of application but because the Atlanta Social Security hearing offices were so backlogged it could be as long as a year before they heard my case. It is now 21 months later and still nothing!

I received a letter from the attorney yesterday telling me that it will be "several more months" before they even begin working on it. My file remains unworked and unassigned at this time.

My attorney also sent this notice to me:

"There are 141 Social Security Hearing Offices in the US. As of January 2007, Downtown Atlanta is at the very bottom of the list -- Number 141! The other local hearing office, Atlanta North, is Number 131 in terms of the longest delays.

The Atlanta North hearing office now has a docket of over 11,000 cases. To deal with this staggering case load, they have seven fewer employees than several years ago when they were dealing with a 2,500 case backlog. To make matters worse, two of the nine judges are retiring soon, and there are no current plans to replace them. "

I'm o.k. for now, but what about all those people that rely solely on Social Security Disability?

Virginia Tech

Hug your kids, hug your families -- the tragedy at Virginia Tech reminds us once again how precious life is. What a senseless act. My best friend from college has a son that goes to Virginia Tech and he is an engineering major. I have tried to contact her but I haven't been able to get in touch with her yet to see if her son is o.k. Life is just too short for some.

Yesterday

was our 27th wedding anniversary. The time certainly flies. I guess none of us knows what we are getting into when we marry ...... I just wish my family didn't have to carry this burden with me.

Yesterday also brought a trip to the neurologist. He's changing up my medicine a little and it is time for another CT scan of my brain. It's been awhile so we'll see if we can find some changes. I have had increasing problems with finding the right words for things lately. That is so frustrating. I can see it in my head but I can't find it!

Routine

I had a busy week last week and got out of my "routine". I noticed that my panic attacks were worse last week. We had a garage sale with several other families and it was held at our house. We had the opportunity to do a lot of spring cleaning, but at the same time, it created upheaval around our house because things weren't where they were suppose to be. The house was a mess, our garage was full of "stuff" and things were just not "normal". It is amazing how this affects me. But it is over now and the money we raised from the garage sale is a start for our Memory Walk this year.

Also, the mother of a close friend of my son's, passed away last week and that always gets me much more emotional than I used to be. She was only 55 too and it was such a shock to everyone. She had four children and Alan's friend read a eulogy that one of her other sisters had written. It was so sad. Those things stick longer with me now -- I don't know if it is the disease or the fact that I am getting older and people are passing away that are close to my age or just before their time.

It's official

my son and his girlfriend of almost five years got officially engaged last week. They went to Hawaii for Alan's spring break and he finally popped the question. Details to follow, but now I'll have another female in the family. Have two brothers, my husband having two brothers and me having a son -- it will be nice to have a female as part of our family.....welcome Jennifer Lee.

And, even though this is being written on April Fool's Day -- it is not a joke.

The pollen in the south has been horrendous. The yellow green color that it leaves everywhere literally can take your breath away. We are suppose to have rain today and that will certainly help.

This week I had a test done at a local hospital on my left leg. The leg has been swelling and at first there was reason to believe that I had a blood clot in my leg. But after tests for that it was determined that was not the cause. Now the doctors believe that the problem lies in my lymph system. Anyway, I went to the hospital to have this test done -- I don't remember the name of it -- but it entailed having some fluid injected into my feet and then they watched the fluid stream through my body. It doesn't sound so bad, but the shots were given between my toes on each foot!!! Sounds awful.....it was awful. I have had several cortisone shots for various things over the years and it was very close to that -- which caused me excruitating pain. And, it also topped right up there with getting two spinal taps during my diagnosis for Alzheimer's. What fun I have had. Results will be in next week on my leg. It's not life threatening -- just a nuisance more than anything.