Time stretched on without my working. My wife had just started her own hair-styling business — her dream. But as bills came due and weeks went with no word from Social Security, our savings began to run out. The agency fought me at every turn: When I requested updates, it would tell me that my case was moving along, and nothing more. Every few months it sent another pack of papers to fill out: what were my current conditions, was I working, and so forth. I would dutifully fill out the packets and send them back in, and I would hear nothing. All the while, our money dwindled away.