I am scheduled for major surgery in few weeks with a 6-weeks disability along with it. What I really would love to do is to take advantage of this down time and take it easy,smell the roses, etc. The disability checks won't be adequate to cover for everything, however, especially with 3 kids in college. What're the legalities of MSing while I'm supposed to be on disability? Or where is a good place to ask???

Thanks,
Maddie

I assume you are not talking about social security disability (as that is only for permanent disability) so I assume that this is something more like Worker's Comp? In any event, you needed to sign up with someone for whatever type of disability you will be receiving and I am sure that they gave you paperwork about the payments, eligibility, return to work etc. That is going to be your best source of information short of picking up the phone and calling them.

Keep in mind that there is a reason for allowing you to collect disability for that 6 week period after major surgery. In most cases major surgery will leave you exhausted, weak and needing assistance so that you don't mess up whatever it is that they have just fixed. If your recovery is quick, you may well be up to doing some shopping, but it is certainly not in your best interests to grab a whole lot of jobs you then need to cancel because you are not feeling strong enough to do them.

So do take advantage of some down time to catch up on your reading or mending or other non-strenuous activity.

Thank you, Flash. Yes, I'm talking about worker's comp.

And of course, you're right. Although I know that I really should not make shopping plans lest I screw things up big time, I somehow needed someone to tell me that. I do have tons of books that I had been holding off on reading since I started MSing...my orchid collection is languishing...I have a couple of websites I promised I'd create for some nonprofits...and so on :-)

So pace yourself on things that require any physical exertion, get lots of rest (among other things the after effects of anesthesia alone are generally tiredness). Tend to the things that give you pleasure--get your potting material pre-surgery and your pots cloroxed and rinsed so that you can pot with minimum bending and 'chores' involved. Might even sketch out your websites pre-surgery so that you are more 'filling in the blanks' than trying to create with a likely fuzzy mind (from anesthesia and post-op meds).

You know what shops are not physically or observationally demanding and that have some scheduling flexibility. For me that would be grocery shops because all of them have electric carts if needed and it certainly would not be unheard of for someone out on disability to go to the grocery store. But you need to know whether you have the stamina and comfort to do them before accepting them and I sure would NOT take on a full shop load, no matter how good you feel. If you are required to 'report income' I would treat it as a net income scenario just as you do for taxes--i.e. fee + reimbursement - reimbursement - unreimbursed expense - mileage etc. Mileage for 2009 is 55 cents per mile, so chances are you will show $0 profit as a net income to report to them.

Sleep well! (Before, during and after surgery) Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I was previously employed in the Hearings Division of my state's Workers Comp Commission (I now work for a different state agency). I can warn you to be extremely careful if you do any shops while receiving workers compensation payments. Work comp payments are made to an injured worker because the injured worker is physically unable to work. Taking any type of paid employment is considered fradulent in the same way that if you are unemployed and you are collecting unemployment insurance payments from the state, you are receiving the unemployment payments because you do not have paid employment. Accepting paid employment while you are are collecting unemployment means you must declare the earnings to the unemployment agency, and whatever amount you earn will be subtracted from your unemployment check. While there is not a high likelihood that MS work you complete would be reported to the workers comp agency, it would probably be frowned on, because you would be declaring that you are actually physically capable of performing a job. If your employer learned of it and disputed your workers comp claim, your right to collect workers comp payments could be denied and you may be required to pay back anything you had already collected. If you want a definite answer, from the laws in your particular state, go back to the paperwork the state workers comp agency provided you and call their toll free number. Any customer service rep should be able to explain to you whether you would or would not be able to legally perform paid work while collecting workers comp payments. Good luck, hope you recover quickly. Being on work comp is no picnic.