This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

YES!!!! Glad you didn't have to wait too long for an "answer", Lew.
My father in law did a ton of freelance CAD work before he retired. Looks like your many talents are in demand.
AC

Good stuff, Lew.
When you've got it, you've got it!

Here's a job networking/job board site. This one's geared towards stay at home moms. I don't know anything about it but it was written up in the local newspaper a while back.

http://www.beyondmotherhood.com

Beyondmotherhood.com is a launch pad for women who want more than the title "mom". The site is a niche job board specializing in helping mothers leverage their education and experience, while providing them with flexible opportunities. It connects employers with the "untapped" workforce, stay at home mothers.

NHE

Thanks all for all your support. I also have a job fair I'm going to on the 12th geared towards people with disabilities. We have Wright State University in Dayton. It was built up around being totally accessible. They have a full set of tunnels and everything to get to all the halls. At any rate, it's right next to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and they are truly leaders in that area. So maybe I'll get a nice government job. The CAD sstuff I've been doing has really just been stuff they wanted me to finish while not having me employed I guess! I don't really know much past AutoCAD, so 3D modelling was always left to my guys. I spent so much time managing an engineering dept. that my skills got kind of bypassed because I got out of specific design responsibility years ago, so the whole 3D CAD went right past me.

My big thing now is to use my disability to pursue jobs where they have targetted someone they know up front is disabled. Not having that accomodation is just not going to work anymore. I spend a good extra hour each day bathrooming and recouping from walking, so it has to be something they are going to be OK with. Apparently there's a huge population of disabled employees at the AFB. It's like the 3rd or 4th biggest in the country, so let's hope they have something going on there. Otherwise I'm just going to go SSDI. Having a "normal" job like I'm used to is just not in the cards anymore I'm afraid. But I'd rather work, so now that we have our budget down to where my wife can keep up, I can take a pretty healthy pay cut and just start over if I have to. Hanging around the house is making me stiffen up! Even though I can't walk around a bunch, I need to do the max. I can since I'm just losing more and more flexibility from being sedentary. I'll keep everyone posted as to how that job fair goes. I'll try and photobucket a copy of the announcement; it looks pretty cool.

Sounds good !! I'm glad you have an accessible employer poss and backup plan if not. It is a great relief to be up front and have everyone OK with you as you are in my experience. I don't know about you but trying to hide how you are I find really difficult and stressful. good luck!

When I think of being disabled I think of some thing that happens that leaves you back to normal other than the part of you that has been disabled i.e.; legs, arms. I wonder if employers frown on someone with ms and their disability because it will only get worse i.e. you might have real good use of your arms in say February and begin a sitting job done with your arms but then in June your arms aren’t so good. Will your salary at the time you apply for disability affect the amount you make on disability?

Those are good questions. I plan on asking them all. I am certain about one though. Your disability money is figured solely on the chunk you put into Social Security, not your last salary. Now granted I only have been in the workforce since I was 15 (27 years), but I spent a good deal of that time earning a decent salary. So the last report I got a few weeks ago from the SSA office says that I will get somewhere around $2,400/month once granted. That's chump change compared to the money I was used to making, but I have to come to terms that I don't have that kind of earning potential in the state I'm in, so I need to get past that. It will definitely pay a good chunk of our monthly outgo because I spent so much time getting us out of as much debt as possible. So I can make the mortgage, credit card and my daughter's tuition with that and have about $500 left over every month for auto repairs and stuff like that. Then my wife's income will be used to pay the variable expenses and to put some mason jars 3' deep in the back yard!

The only problem with that scenario is that it takes a while to get approved and they do something (I have to find this out) to your unemployment once you start the disability filing process. I'm not so sure they don't just cut it off. At any rate though, I think after first denial that I'll win at first appeal with my lawyer; at least that's what he's telling me. But they do make it all up once you get approved. It could just be rocky getting to that point. But my first route is still going to be employment. I'm very interested to see what goes on at a job fair for people with disabilities. Never done a regular job fair, so I hope it's not too crowded. All the able bodied job fairs around here lately have had lines wrapped around the building, but I bet this one is different.

around $2,400/month once granted.

wow my wife and i could both live on that, that has got to take a little worry out of this.

It does Robbie that's for sure, but I still want a job I can deal with, but you're right, having this to fall back on is stress relief for sure. You and I have talked before about the non-monetary things about being employed, so I definitely want to find something unless my legs keep getting tight and I can't. I just hope Social Security isn't insolvent by the time I get it! Also, I'm not sure about how they tax it, so I don't know if that's a net amount. I'm quite sure you don't have to pay social security taxes, but I don't know about the rest of how they tax social security payouts. I hope not too much...

You and I have talked before about the non-monetary things about being employed,

so important lew, having to stop working is one of the worst things about this.

.

I am. Though it's tenuous because I won't tout any medicine since i think lots of people who praise a specific treatment could just be remitting. It's just too hard to say for sure and I was just so let down by my eagerness for Tovaxin to work that I won't really trust it unless I go like a year with out a major attack. I could almost feel the progression during the Tov. trial. Even though my legs are feeling like spasticity is flaring up a bit, the rest of my body doesn't feel under attack, and this could simply be a little flare, or simply a symptom of me sitting on my butt. I'm about to do something about that with the PT I will be starting soon, so yeah, I'm still satisfied. It just seems to have stopped the onslaught, and for that I am definitely grateful. I also just got the MSFYI email letter and there's an article in there about Tysabri becoming more protective as time goes on. Something about it being even more effective on relapses during the second year of treatment vs. the first. The study was done by Biogen, so I read it with a questioning eye for sure, but it was good to read nonetheless. If you don't get that email, it's not bad info at all. There's also an article in there about how they've figured out how to flush you of Tysabri through plasma exchange in case PML is suspected. I'll forward it to you if you don't get it. You can sign up for it at the bottom of the email and I'll get it to you if you PM me your email address.

.

I won't really trust it unless I go like a year with out a major attack.

hey lew would you consider a year staying like you are now a success for tysabri,i have had no noticeable attacks other than the ON in 16 years just loosing things that I have to look back on to compare.

I won't tout any medicine since i think lots of people who praise a specific treatment could just be remitting.

If there is anything all of us should truly understand it's this

I would consider staying the same a success after the last couple. However, like I said before, I am having heightened spasticity in my legs, but I'm not sure there's anything new going on. So if everything I already have just keeps getting worse, I won't consider that it's probably doing anything. I'll probably just be realizing that I'm probably SP.