You probably don't realize just how lucky you are. It sounds as though you were awarded benefits on first hearing by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), which is pretty much nothing more than the luck of the draw, as to which judge hears your case. My ALJ told my lawyer that he "didn't believe in CFS", and she should have filed my case as a somatoform disorder, completely ignoring every word of a 2" thick medical file.
It took me 7 years and a trip to Federal Court to get my first check. When you've exhausted all Soc Sec appeals, and have to go to Federal Court, the attorney fee limitation set by Soc Sec doesn't apply, and the Federal Judge sets the attorney's fee. It ended up costing me $35K of my past due benefits...if Soc Sec screws up, you pay for it, not them. The system works quite well for the lawyers, and for the government employees of Soc Sec who just pass paper around. For the disabled and desperate, not so much.
It sounds like your wait is almost over. Try to be thankful for that.
I am still waiting to receive the benefit amount award letter, and no deposits have appeared in my bank account yet. I will lose my health insurance coverage this week. This is all so frustrating because if SSDI was on the ball, I would be enrolled in MediCare by now.
