Seeking advice

[Jim Brone]

I've said it many a time before while looking for advice and ideas here on this site and I'll say it again. It has been the most helpful web site I've ever used for various reasons other than fishing. And I thank the people that run the site and all the people that offer their advices and help.

Now I could use some advice again. I'll describe the problem and I'll try to keep it brief and to the point. I developed an injury to my lower spine early last summer. It has not paralized me or kept be bed ridden. But it has forced me to live in pain, take leave of absence from my job. It is not a work related case so I don't have that going for me. I haven't been able to return back to work since they don't offer any light duty to accomodate me. The pain is such that I cannot sit for more than a minute unless I am on vicodin. I can't kneel and bend and lift and move around freely and quickly as I did at my job. I've gone through everything the doc has to offer including steroid injections, physical therapy, loads of anti-inflammatories, inner muscle strengthening and all of that seemingly useless stuff.

It's Christmas time. I have no source of income other than my wife's 500 per week. I have a mortgage, two car payments, my boat payment of which I'm trying to sell, a fourteen year old son who will be going into high school soon with tuition, a 4 year old daughter and all the other household bills. I have a painting business I'm trying to get started once I get rehabbed after the surgery that I'm going to force my doctor to do. I just need some good advice right now because I'm at a loss for what I should do with my time right now. I need to get some kind of money coming in to hold us up until I can get over this obstacle, which I most certainly will do. I have prayed to our lord for wisdom and strength. I know God helps those that help themselves, and I'm waitng for a sign of what he wants me to do. Maybe the sign will come in your responses. Your advice and ideas are valuable to me since they have certainly helped me in the past. And I'll be glad to help any of you with what I can.

Thanks and Merry Christmas to all of you.

 

[Eric Aasen]

What about disability insurance? If you can't work you should be getting about 65% of your current pay through disability. That may just be a California thing though so don't quote me on it. But we pay money out of every paycheck for insurance and then when disabled that kicks in. Also seems like most companies are now being forced to accomadate people with injuries due to the Americans with Disabilities act. I'm pretty sure you can't lose your job because you are hurt. We have people being put into new jobs all the time because they can't do the current job. Again this may only be in CA.



Sorry for your pain. Merry Christmas anyway and hopefully it will get sorted out.



NoCAL

 

[Jim Brone]

The company has poor disability insurance. Or short term disability benefits. My STD benefits terminated after 13 weeks and I don't qualify for long term benefits. This is a turning point in my life. It's a struggle trying to make the best of it. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm actually well before I can proceed though. Thanks a lot.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Jim,



As an additional note, have you looked into Social Security Disability? I have no idea what is involved, but if you cannot work at all... That might be an area to look at...



As I said, good luck and stay in touch.





We are including you in our payers and thoughts...

 

[Jim Brone]

Thanks again

 

[Marty Klein]

First thing that I suggest you do is contact your mortgage company and see if they can make some kind of accomodation while you are temporarily without work. You might want to contact your car payment and boat payment folks as well. Perhaps they may allow you to restructure payments within your current means. Maybe they will allow you to pay the interest or maybe the interest and part of the principal. Of course a mortgage is mostly interest early on, so I don't know how they might be able to help--but you could ask. Same thing with any credit cards you may have.



Second recommendation would be for you and your wife to brain storm or spit ball some possible employment opportunites that you might be able to do within your current health restrictions. Pride goes out the window as the intent is just to get some kind of cash flow going. Is there anything that you think you could do at your current company that you could offer up as an idea? You may have to take less money, but again, it's work and income.



Third recommendation is to re-think the high school with tuition plan-at least for now. Ask yourself if the public school is really that bad for a short term. Find out if the high school has any grants for the tuition.



That's all that immediately comes to mind. Good luck to you.

 

[mike mcmenamin]

JIM:

FIRST THINGS FIRST. FIND A LAWYER AND GET YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY. YOU MUST USE A LAWYER, OR THEY WILL BOUNCE IT BACK IN YOUR FACE. THE LAWYER HAS A SET FEE THAT THE GOVERNMENT SETS. NO SETTLEMENT NO FEE. SECOND, WHEN YOU SAY YOU HAD STEROID INJECTIONS, DID THE DOCTOR DO A FACET JOINT BLOCK??. THREE. HAVE YOU COLLECTED YOUR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE?? IT IS GOOD FOR 13 WEEKS WITH A 13 WEEK EXTENSION. FOURTH. HOW DID YOU INJURE YOURSELF? CAN YOU SUE FOR WAGES, PRODUCT MALFUNCTION, SLIP AND FALL, WAS IT ON YOUR PROPERTY?? I WOULD BE TALKING TO A LAWYER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.





MIKE

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

If all else fails, there are some "work from home" jobs after you wade through the scams. MAke sure you exhaust all of your legal options, I second the sit down with a good attorney. Also get the attorney involved in the restructuring of all of your outstanding debt.



TOXIC

 

[Kevin Izzi]

Hey Jim,



One thing that you can look into that the credit companies won't tell you about.... You often pay for insurance that will pay mortgage, credit cards and auto loans if you are out of work. Most companies have it attached to their policy and loans and you are paying for it. But again they will not tell you about it so dig out all the loan documents and credit card agreements and read the fine print and the just might have disability payment coverage attached to them.



The Dragon

 

[Steve Hutson]

In some cases, mortgage companies, vehicle loan companies, credit card companies etc will let you do intrest only payments for a while. It wouldn't hurt to ask if all else fails. Also, like Marty said, you might need to re-think the tuition deal for your son's high school until things straighten up a little.



Steve

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Jim,



I have been involved with some of the problems you are talking about.. Mike gives you some seriously good advice! His first sentence in regard to Social Security is a must for you t find out about right away. There are other avenues except attorney's but they would be the fastest by far.

Second, your regular Doctor is NOT going to help you very much and will also stop giving you the pain pills you need. Look around for a GOOD pain specialist Doctor and talk to them. That's been great for me. They haven't in any way cured me, but they have done things that let me live a little better. That is who will give you Trigger Point Injections, Facet Injections or even Epidurals. They will take all or at least most of the pain away.

If your regular Doctor was/is giving you narcotics he will soon stop so again, I'd look for a pain specialist as soon as you can. Most regular Doctors don't want to keep giving out narcotic's. The pain Doctor will prescribe them for you and then monitor your physical well being.

Again, Mike is right. Unemployment insurance should be giving you 13 & 13 weeks on insurance pay. BUT, you have to sign in with them.

Also think of everything Mike said about when and where and who may have done it and write it all down.

Marty had some great ideas but I'm a little unsure about them. Some years ago (quite a few actually) Nancy and I got into a fairly serious problem with the amount of debt we owed people. We saw an add in Maryland for a free service that would help us out of this trouble and they would talk to the people we owed money to and get the payments lowered or even, in some cases dropped... Well, not to scare you but almost immediately after we were "helped" we started receiving notices to appear in this court or that court because the people we owed money to didn't want to settle on 50 cents on the dollar or none at all. And the company that was helping us was a government agency too. We ended up with five judgements against us. When these companies filed their cases in court against us, the agency that tried to help us, my hired attorney and a good friend attorney both told me to declare bankruptcy. They didn't want to work anything out so to heck with them. I was too hard headed to do it because I owed them the money and wanted to pay them but I should have filed bankruptcy because they made my life miserable for at least two years

including a little time in jail.



Get your Ducks in a row Jim so you have everything order. It's a lot of BS to do but you have to.. I wish you nothing but good luck. Things will look up soon..



Uncle Billy

 

[Bill McElroy]

Talk to Greg G. on the site here about his Mona-Vie opportunity!!

 

[Marty Klein]

I recommended talking directly with your creditors. I've no experience with [therefore no confidence in] credit assistance companies. You may want to check with the state to see if they have such an agency.



SS-Disability link provided for your use.
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/

 

[Marty Klein]

Couldn't find a credit assistance link for Illinois, but your local DHS helps with SS-Disability.
http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=29979

 

[Mike Tosello]

Jim



Sorry to hear about your current health issue. And I wish nothing but the best in whatever you decide to do. If you are forced to sell your boat and ever wanna get out and do a little fishin, you are always welcome aboard my boat. I spend alot of days and evenings on the Cal river and Lake Michigan during the season.



Hope you recover fast...



Mike

 

[Jim Brone]

I really appreciate all the help guys. It's good to have all the inputs to help me decide the correct course of action. I just got back from the ortho surgeon. We are scheduling the surgery tomorrow. With an optimistic note, I plan to be running full steam ahead with my painting business by mid January. I'm going back to what I enjoy. Forget factories. The paycheck is consistant, but it's a thankless environment.

Thanks again everyone. I got a good feeling from reading all your responses.

 

[Marty Klein]

Good on ya and good luck to you.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Good Luck JIm..I'm sending best wishes and good vibes your way!



Uncle Billy

 

[Jim Brone]

Thanks again