He said "You have plenty of slime." And I thought "I have never been drier," but I didn't explain any further...the hell with it.

Took a long lunch today to meet with a coordinator from a home health care service. I really liked her, liked what she had to say, liked her attitude. Thankfully, Mom liked her as well, and seemed like she was in a more positive headspace after the meeting. I have long lunches scheduled again for Wednesday & Thursday for the same purpose (because I was given the names of three different agencies by the insurance company), but if I had to choose right this minute, I'd be happy with this one. Mom's scheduled to be discharged on Friday. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to pay for the first 20 days of care before the insurance kicks in (everybody cross your fingers that one of the ideas I have works out before Plan C or D - credit card - becomes the answer to that question).

It is good to hear that the meeting with the home health people went well. I'm sorry you have to go through this roller coaster. Having good help will be essential.

That's all good news, Epic. As for the monies, get yourself named your mother's power of attorney so you can draw money from her bank accounts to pay for all of it. It's a simple form to fill out, I downloaded it and did it myself when my sister was ill. Then you need to get it notarized too.

You belong here now as always, because you are (not were) Buffistas.

Somehow this reminded me of a scene under a wishing well. Goonies Forever!

Epic, much love and hugs to you and your mother. I'm glad to hear that you're getting good advice and finding the support you need. Being a caretaker of that magnitude is damn hard work.

I could use a little advice from those who know about disability. My son has been on disability since he was 18 (he's now 34). He was recently taken off, because they said he didn't work enough hours over the past 5 years to continue to qualify. If he's permanently disabled, how does that work? It's not making a lot of sense to me. And can it vary from state to state?

As for the monies, get yourself named your mother's power of attorney so you can draw money from her bank accounts to pay for all of it.

Actually, I already have Mom's power of attorney, and have access to her accounts. The problem is that she doesn't have ANY money. Her current savings would pay for about 3 days of her care. My current savings would cover maybe 1 week. She's living on just Social Security now (her 401K ran out 2 months ago, because the gods of good timing have turned their faces from me), so it's up to me to find the money, not just to move it around.

Sail, I'm afraid I won't have much useful info for you. I recall receiving SDI when my stepfather passed, when I was a kid. That is federal and through the Social Security Administration. Things got messed up when **work study** earnings fouled up my eligibility to receive disability. The logic being, if I could work the 5-10 hours a week on work study, I could hold a full time job, while going to school. I dunno. It's messed up.

What agency is now denying your son? If it's SSA, then it's feds, and should be universal across USA. If it's a state agency, then it would be a local thing. Once you know which agency, I would suggest hiring a lawyer who specializes in fighting that agency.

As far as I know, he was on SSDI and it's the SSA that's cut him off. I think I should just try to get in touch with an advocacy group of some kind in Arizona. I'm too far away to research this stuff myself and Jesse wouldn't even know where to start with it. He's accepted the ruling, but he's going to be homeless again, soon, with the lack of opportunities for him. He's short rent again by $100 and his rent is only $450 a month in a fleabag studio. He's been going to food pantries to try and keep himself going, but he can only collect so many times from any one pantry. There's a lot of things he could probably apply for, but he is functionally illiterate; he has to have someone help him fill the forms out and that's hard for him to arrange. He said he was going to apply for food stamps this week, but I'm willing to bet he never gets around to it because he can't fill out the form. It's so frustrating being so far away and not being able to help more.

because they said he didn't work enough hours over the past 5 years to continue to qualify

When Hubby was declared permanently disabled, there was no mention about him working any hours. Normally I hear of people getting thrown off because they're working *any* hours. So it's either some local variant or a slightly different program.