New. Help, please

angelfire0608 · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2003 8:39 am Post subject: New. Help, please

Hi. My name is Angela and I live in Evansville, IN. I have had SLE now going on 6 years. I have a new development. It seams that on top of pleurisy, I now have pericarditis. I have also broken my right foot just by walking.

I was in remission for 2 years prior to this new flare. I am starting again with the plaquenil and steroid therapy. Do you know that I have had two surgeries in the past two years and didn't have not one flare up. My flare up started at the end of April because I slipped and fell. Can you believe that? I am tired. Tired of being sick. Tired of having trouble standing, sitting, walking, breathing. I was fired from my job for being put on a restriction by my doctor. I don't get it. In the past two months, I have been told by my employer that they don't have to give me a job, my insurance is now gone which means that the medication and doctors that i need i now must pay for out of pocket and my husband only makes $6 an hour with no insurance.

OK I am done venting. Does anyone know if there is anything I can do against my employer for terminating me due to my illness???

Thnx

Saysusie · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:45 am Post subject:

Angelfire: First, I would contact a "workmen's compensation" attorney and see about filing a claim against your employer. Second, I would contact A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act) to see about filing a federal claim because LUPUS is covered by the ADA. In other words, your job should give you accommodations and it is against Federal regulations to fire you due to your illness. If your job is such that accommodations cannot be made, then they must pay to retrain you! The ADA has a toll free number for over the phone information (800-514-0301) and/or information on their web-site: www.ada.gov

My daughter, for whom this site is dedicated, also suffered with pericardits, pulmonary hypertension, and a litany of other lupus related illnessess. Please, do not let your emotional state cause further aggravation of your LUPUS, especially now that you are active again. I understand that you feel as if you are snowballing into one crisis after another and I wish that I knew what to say in order to give you some peace of mind. Just know that we are here for you any time that you need to vent or to just ask questions or you need information.
"YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!"
Peace and Blessings
Saysusie

aveca · Sea Monkey Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 12

Thanks for the ADA info Suzi. I am in the same boat . But I left the job due to going throu 5 years of wrong diagnosis and was getting progressivly worse even though my job was fairly accomdating. I was outside a lot at functions like county fairs and the sun exasperated everything. I was tired of the run around with blood tests . finnaly finding an excellent rhuematologist. the big problem for me is , most funding for the program that I worked for taking care of mentally handicapped has been cut , so my job no longer exists? What does one do about that ? The state was cut from 40 million to just 3 poit 5 mill. lots of jobs lost.
_________________
Would love to hear from others like me

Saysusie · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:53 pm Post subject:

You are more than welcome. I am not sure what can be done if your job no longer exists...but you were fired unfairly before your job was eliminated. You may still have a case!!
Best of Luck and let me know how it goes!!

Saysusie

aveca · Sea Monkey Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 12

I left the job of my own free will. After 5 years of trying to find out what was going wrong, the new doctor was great he got right to what was wrong quickly , but I just felt like it was dragging along and keep coming back for more tests, after 5 years of it. I guess I got a little tired and discouraged. I finnally got tired and left the job. The thing that makes me the maddest , and the reason I was so discouraged, is that another girl who worked at the same place I did sprained her shoulder and got full disability. Here I am big nasty rash, cant barley stand up on my big swollen feet , cant bend my fingers, took a client to the ER for a visit , and I was the one who wound up being wheeled in a wheel chair out to the car because I couldnt bare any weight on left knee, and looking like something the cat dragged in , and I got the full run around, I gave enough blood to fill the blood banks during all those tests during the first 5 years of torture. Sorry to sound a little bitter, but I felt like that just wasnt fair
_________________
Would love to hear from others like me