Oh Joy! I'm so sorry to hear about all this. MY GOD you ARE a walking miracle!
The system is totally fucked up. I've never personally done any SSI work, but have worked in offices with other paralegals who do. The number one rule I've learned is, you have to get a lawyer. Seems they always turn down the first application, and often the second, EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE QUALIFY! But if you get a lawyer, which it sounds like you have, they can negotiate the system a little better. It's a form driven system, and you have to file all the right forms, with all the "right" information and records, and then, after a hearing, and bunch more senseless BULLSHIT, you get your benefits. The only thing that makes all this crap in any way fair is that you get benefits dating back from the date you first applied, as you said. It's all so STUPID! I've never understood how people can mentally and physically hang on through this idiotic, heartless process.
Hang in there miracle man! We're pulling for you.
