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EI, Social Assistance and Fragile Return to 30-Hour Weeks

Day 3 · 1:39:47 · Carole Avoine · Dean Allison

  • 💸 Two-plus years off work meant disability EI then $830 social assistance against $850 rent; children covered the gap.
  • 🛏️ Post-extraction pain lasted 36 days of writhing with no relief; sensation loss had been dismissed earlier.
  • 🗣️ She now works ~30 hours weekly but stress-triggered jaw spasms still silence her and force missed shifts.

Financial survival and partial work return remain precarious.

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Transcript

Carole Avoine · 1:39:47

Following the increase in your symptoms, you stopped working for 2 and a half years, you said? Yes. And today, do you work? Yes. So I've resumed work and it's been a year and 2 months. And how, how was that time period? Because you weren't working for 2 and a half years. So how, how did you support yourself? Well, I, I was getting EI for disability. And, and I must say that for the first 2 years of my paralysis, I did not have any pain. I did not feel pain. And I told my doctor that I had lost sensation. They didn't care about that. I did not have any pain, but ever since I got my tooth pulled, now I have pain, and the pain is quite intense. And the first, uh, and the first time that pain lasted 36 days, and I was in bed crying and writhing, and my doctor tried to find medication for me, but I found no relief.

Carole Avoine · 1:40:56

So I stopped working for 2.5 years, and then afterwards I was unable to return to work, so I had to get on social assistance.

Dean Allison · 1:41:06

Et ça sert, j'avais 830.

Carole Avoine · 1:41:08

And that gave me $830 a month, and with heating, I had to pay $850 in rent. My kids have to— had to help me. They, they really gave me the money I needed to live. And so now you can work 30 hours a week, correct? Yes. And it depends on my spasms, my fatigue, my stress levels. I had a lot of problems with my landlord a few months ago because there were some repairs needed in my apartment, and that was extremely stressful. I had to miss work. Because when I'm stressed, I'm unable to speak. My jaw is really tight because of the spasms that can be quite intense. So when I'm experiencing high levels of stress, I'm unable to speak.