hello out there,I'm katrina and I'm a peritoneal dialysis patient for almost 2yrs
I started out with hemo, this lasted for about a month and I've been on pd since. Are there any pd patients out there? I'd love to talk to anyone-pd or hemo. I have to teenage sons and I'm having trouble living again. I need to work, but I'm in and out of the hospital abt every six months, I'm afraid that I could not keep a job. I'm disabled from 15yrs with AT&T, and my benefits are good and include my children, but even with this and my SS benefits it's not enough. If I found a job, I do not believe that I could make as enough,without my current benefits. Is it possible to keep my SS benefits and AT&T benefits as well as work.

Thanks for listening

katrina

Hi Katrina, Are you on federal disability? If so you can still have income from other sources. Amount changed recently. Call local social securtiy office for information. Also check with state you live in; some have special programs for esrd patients and families. Good Luck!

Hi Linda and Katrina,
I have been trying to get info on how much we can earn and still keep our disability for almost 3 years! Our social worker is clueless and every person I talk to at social security gives me a different answer. The last person I spoke with said "if you work you are screwed. you will loose your disability". Any idea where to write to get a written answer?

Hi, Visit or phone your local social security office, or go on government site. You can have some income even if on federal disability. I believe that you only loose it if you go over a certain amount, or have a sucessfull transplant that has lasted a certain length of time. I'm not on disability, but wanted to look into the possibility just in case. I wasn't able to return to work because I can no longer do heavy lifting. If I find out anything else will post.

My problem isn't with Social Security, it's with the Housing Authority! I have to notify them every time I get an increase in SSD, so my rent goes up every year. Last year I got a seven-dollar raise, and my rent went up by five dollars a month. That might not seem like a lot to most people, but when you only make $7200 a year, believe me, you feel it!

If I went back to work, my rent would go up, to the point at which it would be financially stupid to work. I'd be spending extra money for clothing and gas, and with the rent increase, it wouldn't make sense. I told my social worker about this, because she was very gung-ho about getting me into a part-time job. She didn't know about the rent increases until I told her.

The industry can talk about 'rehabilitation' all they want, but they have to look at the numerous disincentives for dialysis patients returning to work. Having to pay more money in rent because I'm working is ridiculous. It almost seems as if the Housing Authority wants to keep its tenants in a state of dependency on government help-- they reward any attempts at self-sufficiency with rent increases.