Month: January 2020

As part of my physiotherapy program they use the standing frame to help towards my recovery from GBS. Today this is one of the things I did in the gym today. It definitely feels good standing up and putting weight through your legs. They have lots for me to do today.

Some of the benefits of using the standing frame are healthy bone maintenance, leg muscle stretching, spasticity reduction, improved internal organ functions, improved posture, and overall range of motion improvement. I know I love using this, it just feels good. It feels good standing in an upright position. Without the standing frame, a person would be more vulnerable to deterioration of the body. The human body needs activity in order to either maintain its strength or even improve it. This is one piece of equipment I love as it’s very helpful in rebuilding your muscles and they keep your muscles from wasting away. I know if I have an opening in my schedule such as a gap between therapies I stroll down in my wheelchair and they usually put me in this for 30 minutes. I get an extra session for the day which is a bonus.

Some of the other things I did in Physiotherapy today was use the Bowflex machine. Physiotherapy and occupational therapy are working more on my arms and hands now. I do a wide variety of exercises targeting different muscles. This is an area they are concentrating more on as these are my weaker areas now, I had more muscle wasting. Now I need to rebuild those muscles especially the biceps as this will enable me to feed myself again.

Another piece of equipment I used today was the Vita Glide for my arms. They also had me up against the bars trying to stand up from the wheelchair.

These are just some of the things I do everyday as I work at rebuilding and retraining my whole body as result of Guillain Barre Syndrome.

Everyday I also walk between the parallel bars. It’s a slow process but I’m getting better.

Today I don’t only have Guillain Barre Syndrome to deal with but also the financial stress that comes with it. I’ve been dealing with issues with CPP Disability, EI and Social Assistance lately and quite frankly i’m disappointed with our government system. In the most difficult time of your life they abandon you. All that was going through my mind is what am I going to do. It’s not like I can go to work. I had to find help somewheres. If dealing with Guillain Barre Syndrome wasn’t enough I now have the financial stress that comes with it.

After a meeting last Friday with the nurse manager concerning perhaps Global News wanting to do a story with me she had mentioned to me about Ability New Brunswick a Non-Profit Organization. They offer assistance to people with disabilities that may be able to help. I thanked her and said I would look into it.

I looked them up on their Facebook page and messaged them. Well today I received a reply asking me to give them a call. I gave Ability New Brunswick a call and I explained the current issues i’ve been dealing with. I have a meeting scheduled on January 28th at 9:30am with Haley. Hopefully they can help or offer some guidance.

The issues I’ve been having is CPP Disability said they only received the medical report and not the actual application itself. My application started back in August. They told me I would have to resend both the medical report an application in again. They also told me that my file was closed and that there would be another another 170 day waiting period from the time they receive it. They would not reopen the file.

At this point I had no choice but to reach out to Social Assistance for help. I was 20 days shy of my disability insurance from kicking in at work as it was a new job I had started. I called them up and told them I would like to apply for Social Assistance. The lady asked me when was my last EI payment which I told her January 10th and it was for 7 weeks backtime. EI had had cut me off middle of November as they wanted more information concerning my condition, an update as sick leave benefits was 15 weeks your entitled to. Social Assistance told me that there would be a 7 week waiting period because I had received a lump sum payment from EI. On top of only being able to receive Social Assistance in like March she informs me that I was only entitled to $135 a month because I’m living at the Stan Cassidy Rehabilitation Centre. I was shocked…. Not only am I entitled to basically nothing I’m being penalized with a 7 week waiting period as a result of EI’s long processing times to update my file. The EI payment received was for money owed to me and for past bills owing not money to live on now. I could not believe what was happening.

This is the situation I’m in now. I’m fighting to get better from Guillain Barre Syndrome and now this. The financial stress I don’t need right now. This is just wrong. We pay into a system and in your most difficult time your left all alone or have to jump through hoops to get things done. Hopefully Global News will end up doing a story on how changes and improvements are needed in our Government system and programs available. In the meantime I hope Ability New Brunswick can help. Hoping the financial stress that comes with Guillain Barre Syndrome will work out. I’ll find out next week.

Well today I had to start a Jamie Boyle GoFundme page for Guillain Barre Syndrome and hoping people can show your support. With the latest news from CPP disability and the lack of support from our government I have no choice. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. It’s very disappointing to be going through such a difficult thing and now I have more stress on my shoulders.

I’ve recently shared with you the financial difficulties that comes GBS. It comes with any major medical issue that a person deals with in their life. This just happens to be mine. I’m very disappointed in our government system on how they let me down on my time of need.

I was 20 days shy from my disability insurance from kicking in at RBC as it was a new job. I don’t get it how CPP disability thinks it’s all right for a 170 waiting period. Then to say i’m going to have an additional 170 waiting period is not right. I mean I can’t even get social assistance right now. I explained more in my last blog post about Guillain Barre Syndrome and The Financial Stress That Comes With It.

If you can please show your support on my Jamie Boyle GoFundMe page with my battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome. Your support and donation is very much appreciated.

If your unable to make a donation please share my GoFundMe on Facebook. Sharing is caring! :)Thank you.