Hi folks,
First thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.
Second, I guess I will fill you in on what's going on and the real reason why I am not in Afghanistan anymore, nor will I be able to return there.
I did indeed spend 20 years in the US Army. I was NOT Special Forces when I was in Vietnam. I did my first 3 year tour as a paratrooper. I was at first an infantryman in the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle, which was just outside of the town of Phu Bai, Republic of South Vietnam. When the 101st left Vietnam in November of 1971, I still had time on my tour and I was reassigned to the Division Recon Company, 1st Cavalry Division, located at Bien Hoa. I fought in the Easter Offensive of 1972 as well as the Battle of An Loc the same year.
During my tour there, I received several "blast" injuries. Those can be caused by a bomb, or by an incoming mortar round that sends you flying. The main thing is you can't hear crap for awhile, get blood coming out of your ears, and have a concussion injury. I was NOT a hero guys. I went there, did my job, got my Combat Infantryman's Badge, left there and went to Special Forces in 1973 where I spent the next 17 years. During that time, I served all over the world, and I also spent 3 years in El Salvador. I spent 3 years in the Philippines also, as well as 4 years in Korea and two years on Okinawa. I had very little stateside time.
In September of 1990, I was in a military freefall competition. When I pulled, my chute opened fine, but, I could not reach the toggle lines, which control the parachute. They were tangled up in the risers and suspension lines. After 500 jumps, this was the first incident I ever had. The only thing I could do was to try and pull myself up to the toggle lines and untangle them - but this is all while you are descending too. Well, this caused my parachute to partially collapse and I fell about 100 feet with basically a bunch of tangled up crap over my head. I was knocked unconscious, flown by medivac helicopter to Rhode Island Trauma Center where I was diagnosed with a Brain Contusion. After that injury, I started to have "space out" episodes. I didn't know about them and everyone else thought it was funny. I would just go ODS (Out deah somewhea).
I retired in 1991, went to med school, somehow made it through, and I did in fact become a neuro-psychiatrist and neuro sugeon. When I joined the list, I was working here in the Philippines, doing humanitarian work. As some of you know, well I know that BAMF and a couple of others know, when I was home in the states for Christmas in 2006, I was blasting down the road on my Harley and a little old lady turned left in front of me.
Well, that cleaned my clock folks and I was in a coma for 29 days. I had massive head injuries and a broken neck as well as nerve damage to my left side. Somehow I survived it. I also survived cancer during this same basic time frame.
However, some bad things came out of that. One, well, I can't play guitar like I used to. I used to be a major shredder, but I don't have any sensation in the fingers of my left hand, so those days are over. I'm trying now to be a good rythym guitarist. I also lost my ability to do surgeries of any kind, and it also left me with full blown epilepsy.
The medications controlled my epilepsy quite well for a few years. I experienced no difficulties on my first 3 rotations to Afghanistan. However this last trip, we had to take a physical. They discovered that I had adult onset diabetes. That right there, made me lose my job, because I became insulin dependent. Once I became Insulin dependent, the seizures came back.
For several months now, the seizures have gotten worse and worse. Sometimes I have as many as 20 in a day. I have aphasia (difficulty speaking) and have broken my right and left hips falling from seizures. My arms catch hell too in these falls as well as my head. I usually look like I just stepped out of the ring with Manny Pacquiao.
Last week, I was diagnosed with Organic Brain Syndrome. The symptoms are the same as Alzheimer's, just that the cause is from brain trauma. There is no cure folks. The prognosis is death. My short term memory is extremely bad, and my judgment is too - like I make some really bad deals on here. What will happen is my short term memory will go, completely, then my long term memory, then my brain will just forget how to breathe.
Right now, I'm stage II. My prognosis is about 3 years.
Yes, I was rushed to the hospital the other night for status epilepticus - which is one seizure after another - with no breaks between them. It's a true medical emergency, which can cause death. I was given valium IV, kept for observation for awhile and then demanded to go home.
So that's it. I'm at peace with all this folks. Please be also. We don't die a single moment before the time of our passing. Meanwhile, I'm trying to become a rythym guitar player.
There are skeptics out there because of the ordeal that happened with my son. Well, be skeptic if you wish. I have some friends on here who are very important to me. Life is too short for me to worry about those who wish to have a negative attitude about all this. That doesn't contribute to miracles.
So thanks for listening.
Be well and God Bless,
Doc
***Typed by Jovy
