24: Unsung Hero

"Matt, I've been researching Social Security disability. I think we have to try to enroll Frank." I said the next day.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. Yeah, you're right. I was thinking that too. It's just so hard for me to see him like this. This isn't Frank. I was always so proud of him. He was the most popular kid in school. He wasn't just friends with the cool kids, he was the cool kid. Everyone wanted to be his friend. We were on the same football team, but you wouldn't even know we were brothers, he was the star, he got all the awards, I got 'Unsung Hero'. He always landed the best jobs, and everyone he worked with loved him. Everyone always said to me, 'Oh, you're Frank Layton's brother? He's a great guy!' I was never Matt Layton, I was always Frank's Brother, but I was okay with that, because he was admired so much." Matt said.
"I know this is hard on you Matt, but I can't just sit here and react to each new thing that occurs. We're all he's got and we can't just deny what we're seeing. We've got to do something, and that starts with getting him health insurance so he can see a doctor." I said

Matt began reading about it and said it seems pretty simple. "I don't know why people hire lawyers to file for disability. You just fill it out online on the social security website."
"Let's not rush into it, let me see if there's anything else we should be doing. If people are hiring lawyers, they're doing it for a reason." I reasoned.
"Well, fine if that's what you want to do, but it says to just fill it out online and I think that's what we should do." Matt restated.
I spent an evening reading online articles and taking notes. I found a great article written by a lawyer that has helped people get Social Security benefits for years and he says not to fill out the online application. If you give no proof of disability, it's an easy rejection and it will take 18 months to appeal. He said to print out the application, provide lots of documentation of the illness and get anyone you can think of to write letters to support the reason the person cannot work, then apply in person. Matt  agreed to go along with me on this one and asked Pat, his mom, our family doctor, a friend, in addition to Matt's letter and my letter detailing our experiences with him. Then Frank and Terry went to apply in person.

The first thing Frank had to do was get examined by a psychologist for SS. Matt drove Frank to the psychologist's office one evening after work. Dr. Barnes' office was in a nearby affluent suburban neighborhood. Matt rang the bell and Dr. Barnes' answered himself. He was mid-forties, average height, with dark, wavy hair and dark framed glasses. He looked like a psychologist, or a 1960's intellectual. "You must be Frank, I've been expecting you, hello, Dr. Barnes'.  Hello, and I spoke to you on the phone I believe? Matt?" He had a very soothing, mellow voice. They filed inside the office/house. Dr. Barnes' started, "First, I think I want to speak to Matt. Frank, could you just wait out here?" "Yeah, ahhhcchhmm, right." Frank cleared his throat. This was a tic he had been developing, along with the cognitive decline, he constantly cleared his throat. I think it was giving him extra time to think about what he was going to say next.

Dr. Barnes wanted to know about Frank's background. If he had any cognitive developmental problems as a child, if he was an alcoholic, what his work and family history was, if he played sports. This is to develop a baseline for his behavior so he could get a more accurate picture of what changes have developed and what the cause could be. Matt explained that Frank once had a successful career and family, and he had been doing a little drinking since he and his wife split up, but we don't think it was to such an extent to cause brain damage and he had stopped drinking all alcohol now. Matt explained that we feel this could be the result of playing football. Frank had played from eight years old up through college, but we just didn't know what was going on.

Dr. Barnes brought Frank into his office next and gave him The Wechsler Test of Intelligence. It is the most commonly used test to evaluate IQ for children and adults and is commonly used as a screener for dementia. About thirty minutes later, Dr. Barnes opened his office door and ushered Frank out. "Thank you Frank, now I'd like to speak with your brother. We'll be just a moment, make yourself comfortable." Dr. Barnes closed the door and said, "Have a seat Matt. Did you say your brother had been employed?"   "Yes, actually he had a good job with AT&T selling computer equipment. He was one of their top salesman, for the last three years he's been with Sprint, but he just got fired from there." Matt explained.  "Well Matt, I've never seen anything like this. Frank has an IQ of 32. This is not something we see in someone who has been employed and has a family, it's more like someone who was born with mental retardation. Let me show you something. I gave him a word association test where I say a word and he has to say a word just like it. Association is a basic function of memory. One word is associated with another word by using our memories. How well Frank can come up with an association tells me what condition his memory is in. For example I said the word 'glove', I would expect to hear back maybe 'hand'. Frank said 'baseball'. I said 'pencil' he said 'floor'. Then I asked him to name as many animals as he could, he named 'cat' and 'dog' and couldn't think of any other."
"Wow, that's crazy. I didn't realize how bad he was." Matt was astonished.
"Let me show you one more thing; this was really interesting Matt. I asked Frank to write his name. He wrote it completely backward in mirror writing. Has he ever been able to do that?" Dr. Barnes asked.
"No, I've never seen him do that. It's almost frightening." Matt said.
"I'll write up my report and send it in. Thank you for bringing him in, this is a very interesting case." Dr. Barnes opened the door again.
Frank stood up when they went out and said to Matt, "Did I do good?"
"Yeah Frank, you did really good."