Things are starting to scare me. [View all]

Everything is going wrong at the same time. Most of you know I have cancer. Also, I had to take health care power of attorney and durable power of attorney for my mother. She is 94 and has dementia. She is living on her own under poor conditions. She refuses to move. She has a couple of friends who help her. They are church ladies who interfere with my care of my mother. I had to call the sheriff on them. I am trying to manage her care from four hours away. Now, I have to go to her house and get her checkbook. She is not allowed to write checks any more. I have to pay her bills and leave her some money for her expenses. I am in the process of looking for a guardian ad litem for her.

We will work on getting her into a nursing home.

Now, Social Security is threatening to take all my benefits. If they do that, my Medicare benefits will not be paid. I will lose Medicare, too. They told me that I am entitled to less money because I worked as a substitute teacher for a few years. I receive a lump sum payment for the amount that I paid into the teacher retirement system. No matter what proof I send them, they think I am getting a teacher's pension. They think that the teacher retirement system was paid money by the school districts for my retirement. They want proof that I do not get a teacher's pension within ten days or they are going to suspend my SS benefits. School districts in Illinois do not pay an employer's portion into the teacher retirement fund for people who are only subs!

The TRS retirement system sent me a lump sum payment. They took taxes from it. By the time they took taxes, it was under $5,000.00. Now SS is telling me that they will, at the very least, reduce the amount I get every month because of this lump sum payment. Everything is a mess in my life.