I have been very lax in my use of my blog, mainly because I have been having a really tough time with my Fibro, and also because I have been quite busy! Not in the sense of rushing around, but in trying to deal with everyday life without completely losing my already fast disappearing marbles! My memory is shot, I am constantly tired, doing the simplest of tasks is becoming an insurmountable hurdle that I am fed up with trying to get over!
But I will say that I have the most incredible friends and family who are very supportive, help me as much as they possibly can, and are always there for me. So I count my blessings and carry on regardless!
I had the pleasure last week of having to go to be examined by a doctor to see if I am still 'disabled' enough to warrant having my benefits. I never knew that disabilities like mine ever went away, and was not impressed with the fact that I had to sit in a waiting room (with a drug addict and a very abusive drunk) for over an hour, for a doctor who has never met me before, to examine me. He asked me to do particular tasks, to see what my mobility was like (which on that particular day was almost non existent) and he asked me questions about how I managed at home. The form I filled in is deliberately obtuse, doesn't ask about how you manage to cook a meal (I don't manage a meal on my own), do household tasks (I have a cleaner and a lady who does my ironing), but thankfully this doctor did. He also asked me if I drive, and I told him yes but I now have to have an automatic as I cannot change gear. I have no idea what he wrote in the report he typed as we sat there, but he did tell me that it was not his decision as to what will happen, but the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions), which is ridiculous because they never see me or speak to me! I now have to await that decision and have no idea how long it will take. What these people don't understand is that Fibromyalgia is exacerbated by stress, and to say that I am stressed is putting it mildly! I worked all my life from 16 until a few years ago, I was retired medically unfit by a doctor, and now I am being made to feel like a scrounger because I am not fit to work. I cannot survive without money, and at the moment with my Incapacity Benefit, Industrial Injuries Benefit and Disability Living Allowance, I get approximately £550 per month. When I was retired medically unfit from my nursing job 20 years ago I was earning £800 a month for part time hours of 3 days a week! So to say that if I had a choice of returning to nursing or claiming benefits, which do you think I would take?
Anyway, I am now making a promise to not be so tardy with my blogs, and I will do my utmost to keep them up to date at least once a week. And I will, of course, let you all know the outcome of my benefits debacle!
Its not fair that you are being made to feel this way. Its obvious to anyone who knows about your conditions how much pain you are in, it really makes me mad. Keep going though. I am looking forward to more of your posts
ReplyDeleteI know Sara, it frustrates me too! But because of those who abuse the system, those of us who really are having difficulties have to suffer this kind of invasion of privacy and we are treated like scum! I wouldn't mind, but when you add up what I get in a year, about £7,000 a year, it doesn't even cover the tax bill Rich has just received from our wonderful Inland Revenue! And that is just one of the many! If I could work I would, but as someone who has paid in for almost 40 years, I don't see why I shouldn't be treated with a little bit more respect!
Delete