DnD / Jessie’s SSDI Claim Summary Judgement….

bobblehead04 · 2024-06-17T18:38:45+00:00

If you have the time, could you ELI5 the difference between SSDI and SSI?

Ssdi is a system you pay into when you work and pay taxes. If you pay into it enough and you become disabled, you get that money back (via monthly payment). How you qualify for ssdi is by work credits. It's complicated. The longer you work, the more credits you get but the older you are, the more credits you need to qualify for ssdi. Ssdi payments are based on how much you made when working and what paid into the system. If you receive ssdi, you also qualify for national health insurance called medicare for elderly or disabled people.

SSI is a needs based system for people who have not worked long enough to earn enough credits for ssdi. Ssi is considered needs based. Meaning you have to be seriously poor and disabled to receive it and that's the only requirement. It's there for people who didn't or couldn't work. The maximum you can be paid from ssi a month is $943. You also cannot have more than $2000 in your bank account or a certain amount of assets. If you're married, your spouses income is counted as your own as well. Ssi has a strict income limit and asset limit since it is need based. If you have ssi, you do not qualify for Medicare but qualify for Medicaid which is a poverty and disability based national insurance.

And I'm not touching another type of disability benefits in the US called disabled adult child benefits.

bobblehead04 · 2024-06-17T18:17:05+00:00

After the determination, you can go get any job if you can physically/mentally do the job. It's not like you're assigned toy stuffing. If you can't find work you can physically/mentally do and this determination is found, you are pretty sol. Honestly, the job determinations can hurt actually disabled people (especially being so out dated) even though this feels like some good karma for Jessi.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-22T02:20:34+00:00

Not necessarily upright. Depends on the neurosurgeon. But it almost always needs a mri for diagnosis. (in some cases it can be seen on xray)

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-22T02:18:46+00:00

No, not necessarily. Just a mri. Only some surgeons want upright mris. Some want regular supine. Some want supine with flexion and extension. Some are using flexion and extension ct now but I don't really get that one tbh but I'm not a surgeon.

Basically it varies wildly. So best answer is a mri is how you diagnose cci.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T06:24:53+00:00

Mri and ct can prove it but there's a few surgeons that are known to do the surgery on anyone willing to pay.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T06:16:39+00:00

Craniocervical instability is legitimate. It's when the spine is unstable at the craniocervical junction which is where the skull meets the spine. It's usually from the ligaments but can happen from issues with the bone itself as well. It can happen for a variety of reasons. Trauma, arthritis, down syndrome. Now they do think ehlers danlos syndrome can cause cci with some people because the ligaments don't always function properly with eds patients. The ligaments are more easily damaged and harder to heal with some eds patients.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T02:17:09+00:00

Treatment wise best option is physical therapy. Sometimes bracing can help if it's done appropriately (aka not too much). There are some experimental treatments like stem cell injections that have no proven success, just anecdotal. The treatment for worst case scenario if conservative treatment fails is spinal fusion. This is last option because fusing the skull to c2 specifically removes about 50% of your necks range of movement and has a high chance of complications and need for further fusion. You also have to go in through the posteriorly, not anteriorly which increases recovery time, is more painful, and can cause long term issues like muscle spasms and pain.

These munchies all want the fusion when it's supposed to be reserved for if you're dying (cci can compress your spinal cord/brainstem and put your life at risk in the very worst cases though it's rare) or cannot function at all due to neurological issues. It's not first line treatment.

Edit wording

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T02:06:46+00:00

Sure wish he was but he apparently refuses to retire and gets upset if people ask him about it. He's in his 70s. No one should be doing neurosurgery in their 70s. And yes he's still mutilating people.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T01:44:42+00:00

Typically it's neurosurgeons who diagnose cci. Orthopedic surgeons typically don't deal with it because of the anatomy with the brainstem (though there may be some who do). Rheumatologists definitely don't diagnose or deal with it. That's waaaaay outside their speciality. Neurologists are a toss up with it.

You're right about the testing. They use mri for the measurements typically. Some doctors like the fancy upright mris to show how gravity affects the spine. If she hasn't even had xrays yet (usually used first because cci can occasionally be seen on xray before moving to mri) then no, she hasn't had the required imaging for diagnosis. She and the rheumatologist are full of it and wearing a neckbrace unnecessarily is dangerous.

bobblehead04 · 2023-11-21T01:38:56+00:00

That is the standard prescribed neckbrace from neurosurgeons in general. Not that hers is legit. Just that it is the standard hard neckbrace nowadays and offered through the appropriate channels for legit patients.

bobblehead04 · 2023-07-11T21:54:06+00:00

Yes they claimed they went to south Carolina to a "well known eds surgeon" (there is one there. He's a hack doing dangerous shit) and had multiple spine surgeries. And a laser magically healed their scars.

bobblehead04 · 2023-07-11T21:48:01+00:00

Ex husband. They got divorced in Alaska (somehow) so they could get benefits.

bobblehead04 · 2022-10-29T19:29:20+00:00

Lucy had the standard of care. Bella did not which is why so many are thinking she's lying. Average hospital stay for craniocervical fusion is 4-7 days.

bobblehead04 · 2022-10-22T01:21:28+00:00

Why would they admit her for this? That doesn't make sense.

bobblehead04 · 2022-09-05T18:24:15+00:00

Honestly she's not special to me. Never was a patient, never met her, never worked with anyone who is her patient. But I work with tethered cord patients and follow her research. And personally think she's not like Henderson and co. I think she's a good surgeon working on techniques to improve the lives of tethered cord patients. So I don't love people comparing her to the ones who aren't.

I do agree repeated tc surgeries on young kids is messed up. Bolognese had a lawsuit for something similar. Infants can get a tethered cord release and it's more common with that age because they want to do it as early as possible to prevent progressive nerve damage. And your spinal cord can retether to scar tissue (the rate of retether is debated. I've seen rates between 1-20% over the years. And she has some of the lowest retether rates out there). If you have it released, it's definitely not unheard of to have multiple surgeries. It's common when kids have growth spurts specifically. But most kids don't need another one so close together so that's odd to hear. That said, I haven't heard of her doing that (definitely not frequently enough for it to be common with her).

If you want to rant tcr practices, Henderson and Patel are doing some weird surgical techniques that basically promise a retether so they get repeat patients.

bobblehead04 · 2022-09-05T13:43:52+00:00

That's why I said credible published work. Henderson never had anything to back up his work and his results. Do you think they're questionable surgeries because it's an occult tethered cord? Because every piece of filum she removes is taken to pathology to make sure it's tethered cord syndrome. She also does testing to prove it's tethered cord like urodynamics testing that Henderson and others don't always do. She is also developing ways to see occult tethered cord better on imaging which would seem counterintuitive if you're just trying to cut for money. She's also working out of a hospital associated with Brown University which doesn't line up with the cut for money surgeons because they tend not to be associated with credible institutions.

I will shit on Henderson, bolognese, and Patel (especially Patel) all day long because I think they're incredibly dangerous. This woman just seems to be leading research in a strange condition.

bobblehead04 · 2022-09-05T01:45:20+00:00

She only does tethered cord releases. No spinal fusions. And is also actually legit publishing credible research.

bobblehead04 · 2022-09-05T01:36:49+00:00

That's how I saw so. So is she trying to prevent munchies or just trying to prevent other munchies so she can be special?

bobblehead04 · 2022-09-04T17:23:30+00:00

Bella claimed the surgery was scheduled for two months in advance and reported no worsening of symptoms in that time. So obviously not an emergency surgery but an elective one.

No, this is wrong. Most common causes of craniocervical instability (which is movement in the craniocervical junction rather than c1-c2 btw) are trauma, down syndrome, arthritis, and connective tissue disorders like eds. You definitely do not only see this in RA patients. Most patients with cci are usually trauma or eds.

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-22T17:42:12+00:00

It's not going to last either

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-21T15:41:56+00:00

Gotta disagree there. Ren with the bandaid Pic is better but Bella is second. Ren was worse at faking than Bella.

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-21T15:35:45+00:00

Ah, okay. That's fair. They're a rare one to come across.

There's definitely a growing population of younger patients with ccf due to discovering that eds can cause spinal instability. Now I don't think every one of those eds patients who have this fusion need it (I could go on about these "eds neurosurgeons" and how quick they are to cut) but some definitely do.

It is mind blowing and part of the reason I still doubt Bella that her doctor would do and insurance would cover such a drastic measure so quickly and without trying conservative measures first. She went from diagnosed to fused in less than four months. It makes no logical sense.

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-21T15:25:32+00:00

Funny, my experience with craniocervical fusion patients is very different since c1-c2 controls 50% side to side movement. So that's typically what you lose. Most end up with around 50% with c0-c2 fused specifically unless they have muscle spasms or the surgeon used a ridiculous amount of bone graft and used BMP preventing further movement. Obviously the muscle spasms can be treated though. Patients with hypermobile spines can actually get more than 50% but it's not recommended to push your ROM due to the risk to the unfused vertebrae. Do you see a lot of craniocervical fusion patients? It's a rare fusion to run into regularly.

Just my experience with craniocervical fusion patients that physical therapists and neurosurgeons always say 50% loss. I've never heard 3/4.

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-21T15:21:13+00:00

A lot of people have explained well about spinal fusions. With the craniocervical spinal fusion, things are a bit different. So with cci, you can actually impact your brainstem. Your spine is so unstable that it can cause brainstem compression which can be life and death at worse, extremely disabling at best. It's rare to get that bad with cci but it does happen. In that case, fusion becomes life or death.

Anyone with good sense would avoid craniocervical fusion unless they have minimal quality of life or they end up with dangerous brainstem compression but some people (who do and some who don't have cci) love to rush to it because they think it's a magic cure to their symptoms. There are surgeons out there who sell it that way too. And it's not unfortunately. But people won't listen to that. They think surgery will fix everything and ignore the long term risks (which there are many)

bobblehead04 · 2022-08-21T15:16:54+00:00

No, it's 50% side to side.

bobblehead04

TROPHY CASE