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Persistence is Power
By Barbara Schaffer
If you are reading this, you either have, or know someone
who has, CRPS; and you may be feeling powerless—powerless over a body
that seems to have taken control; powerless over medical care; powerless
when facing your insurance company; powerless when addressing people at
work. Powerless is a feeling you know.
Many of your fellow “RSDers” have found ways to
address these issues.
Personally, I had to battle the workers’ compensation
system for 10 years before
they were forced to accept responsibility for my care. When
I won that court case, I
felt as if I had the power to direct my life again; but this
was a very difficult battle,
and a book like Persistence is Power would have helped.
Authors Jeanne Lazo and Carol J. Amato have done an excellent
job providing an
outline to help you deal with many issues, now that you are
disabled and facing the
battles of life.
This book, Persistence is Power is a “real world
guide for the newly disabled
employee” because the authors cover many of the battles
you are facing.
They discuss how to address a doctor who doesn’t understand
or believe
what you’re reporting. They give you information, techniques,
and forms for
you to keep track of what is happening in your Social Security
and workers’ compensation cases.
The forms in this book are excellent and definitely take a
lot of the work out
of keeping track of the different issues (Actually, devising
a form that really
works was the hardest thing that I had to do for my cases).
Getting a copy of this book will help you as you face these
battles—but only you
can provide the persistence that is needed. I know this book
says it is for the newly
disabled, but anyone who has CRPS knows that many of our
battles start years
after the disability starts, because it takes that long for
us to know what’s happening, and that we really cannot
handle the jobs that we’ve tried so hard to keep.
This book was up to date in 2004. Laws change, Social Security
regulations
change, and it is your job to keep up with these changes.
The forms in the book will
work; but some of the information may be outdated, and you
will have to rely on your persistence to keep up with these
changes.
CRPS is probably the most difficult battle you have ever
had to face. The
feeling of powerlessness is so common that it should be one
of the major
symptoms of the syndrome. You can get some of that power back
by being
organized and persistent as you face the medical community,
the employment
world, and the insurance company. Get a copy of this book,
and good luck on all
of your battles.
Jeanne Laso, co-author of Persistence is Power, has
donated a number of copies of
her book to RSDSA. We are making them available free of charge
to our members.
Schaffer, B. Book Review: Persistence is Power. RSDSA
Review. 2007;5(1):19. |
