For the past couple of months I seem to be getting more and more fatigued (I know my cycling abilities have sure been lacking), and my spleen has been becoming more bothersome, especially during my long commute to work. It may just be this time of year (which I have never liked), along with the below normal temperatures and above average rain fall making me feel this way, but whatever the case, things are starting to get to me.
Seeing how I was feeling during my last appointment, my oncologist put me on permanent disability. Initially I thought that is what I wanted. No more making that long commute 2 days a week, and no more having to deal with working for a publicly traded company, with all the little idiosyncrasies I never had to deal with before. But the more I thought about it, the more hesitant I became.
There are benefits to working, if for no other reason than it breaks up the monotony of the everyday routine. Then there is the health insurance question. I've grown comfortable dealing with Kaiser and my current oncologist, and going on disability would end that. At least it would end my company paying for it. I could afford to continue paying for the same coverage on my own (through COBRA), but that seems like such a waste, when I don't have to, since I am eligible for VA care.
So before I did anything I decided to talk to my boss, and see if we could make some other arrangement. There was one possibility with our sister company in Paramount, which would have been perfect, but that position was filled the day I talked to my boss about it. The GM at our sister company indicated there may be some other opportunity for my particular skill set, and that is still going on, but that isn't quite as easy as it would have been in the past, when we weren't part of a huge multi-billion dollar publicly traded corporation.
Plus I just discovered Arcturus has disability insurance as well, so collecting that along with CA SDI, and Social Security disability, I could make out like a bandit (making more money not working), for some length of time. Plus I have 6 weeks of vacation accrued which I can collect as well.
So now I'm stuck in that place I didn't want to be. Even more than this time of year, I hate having to make decisions.
So in the mean time, I've turned in my paperwork for disability to my doctors office to send to the state of California, and I'm taking the next two weeks off for vacation, mainly to help Edie, since there is some concern with side effects from one of the drugs she is taking (Denosumab), and also to mull things over some more.
Stay tuned!
[Note]Sorry for the duplicate posting[/note]
Seeing how I was feeling during my last appointment, my oncologist put me on permanent disability. Initially I thought that is what I wanted. No more making that long commute 2 days a week, and no more having to deal with working for a publicly traded company, with all the little idiosyncrasies I never had to deal with before. But the more I thought about it, the more hesitant I became.
There are benefits to working, if for no other reason than it breaks up the monotony of the everyday routine. Then there is the health insurance question. I've grown comfortable dealing with Kaiser and my current oncologist, and going on disability would end that. At least it would end my company paying for it. I could afford to continue paying for the same coverage on my own (through COBRA), but that seems like such a waste, when I don't have to, since I am eligible for VA care.
So before I did anything I decided to talk to my boss, and see if we could make some other arrangement. There was one possibility with our sister company in Paramount, which would have been perfect, but that position was filled the day I talked to my boss about it. The GM at our sister company indicated there may be some other opportunity for my particular skill set, and that is still going on, but that isn't quite as easy as it would have been in the past, when we weren't part of a huge multi-billion dollar publicly traded corporation.
Plus I just discovered Arcturus has disability insurance as well, so collecting that along with CA SDI, and Social Security disability, I could make out like a bandit (making more money not working), for some length of time. Plus I have 6 weeks of vacation accrued which I can collect as well.
So now I'm stuck in that place I didn't want to be. Even more than this time of year, I hate having to make decisions.
So in the mean time, I've turned in my paperwork for disability to my doctors office to send to the state of California, and I'm taking the next two weeks off for vacation, mainly to help Edie, since there is some concern with side effects from one of the drugs she is taking (Denosumab), and also to mull things over some more.
Stay tuned!
[Note]Sorry for the duplicate posting[/note]
Comments
Take this from my experience with MCL, long-term disability proved to be my best option a year ago although it is confirmed that I am in remission, but the immune system following a stem-cell transplant from an unrelated donor just is not up to par.
Yes, I took early retirement and long-term disability to navigate my way (hopefully in better health) toward age 65 in 2.5 years when I can collect the pensions earned from 38 years in my professional life. Yes, the health insurance issue is taxing since Cobra premiums for couples our age are about three times the cost of insurance when I was employed. But we can't live without the assurance to continue treatment with the doctors and hospitals we have seen for the last five years.
If we live long enough, we will all retire someday!