A Veteran’s Fall to Remember

I have used this blog as a form of therapy to compliment the wonderful care received throughout my battle with leukemia.  This forum has been my opportunity to share with you and engage in some helpful and distracting mental exercises.  I have been reluctant to describe the progression of my disease in the hope, that one day, it would be reversed and placed in remission.  Unfortunately, my disease is uncommon, brutal, and almost never cured.   

Throughout this Fall, I have been fortuned with sufficient comfort and energy to remain active and engage with friends and family in fairly routine ways.  This included many dinners with Linda and friends, long walks around my home, and hunting trips to North Dakota and Red Lake (Fall Hunting Video with Friends).  It has also included the business of placing things in order for my family.  So many have over-extended themselves to help Linda and me in this difficult time. We could not be luckier.

The grim details of my disease I recently articulated to the Veteran’s Administration.  The association between leukemias and the defoliant Agent Orange is well documented and therefore a seemingly just reason for disability benefits.  In pursuit of these benefits I wrote the following about my disease:  

“I have a diagnosis of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), transformed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with complications of extramedullary disease.  My treatment included three rounds of chemotherapy that have all failed due to the presence of many soft tissue cancers called granulocytic sarcoma.  These have occurred in my sinus, testes and most significantly, my skin.  My current treatment consists of oral chemotherapy and various radiation techniques to palliate these symptoms of pain, weakness and visual disturbances.

When in Vietnam during 1970-71, my station or area of operation was a firebase in Phuc Long province.  We also went on many occasions to foreground landing zones and villages for volunteer medical/dental missions.  My main position was as the dentist for a medical company in the 1^st Cavalry Division localized near the town of Song Be. This area was one of the most heavily defoliated areas in the country.  Additionally, we were sprayed biweekly with insecticides for mosquito control.  Even so, we were ordered to take anti-malaria prophylaxis with Chloroquine/Primiquine tablets once a week along with Dapsone daily until my physician friends found literature linking Dapsone use to agranulocytosis.  We did continue the Chloroquine/Primiquine tablets all along, in spite of the inevitable diarrhea they caused. 

The list of veterans’ diseases associated with Agent Orange includes things like various leukemias, Hodgkin’s disease, diabetes, prostate cancer and many others.  These are included by way of epidemiology and mathematical statistics to show increased rates, however so tenuous, in Vietnam veterans with Agent Orange exposure.”

I volunteered into the Army in 1969 to do my very best and serve my country.  When assigned to a medical company on a totally defoliated firebase, I went without hesitation and was given many compliments by my superiors, including the Bronze Star for service.  I hope that the VA will approve my claim, which I believe is warranted given the now-known hazards exposed to the U.S. military assigned to the Republic of Vietnam.

This Veteran’s weekend, family and friends surround me.  I thank everyone, and am humbled by those who have traveled great distances to visit with Linda and me.  Kimber is on her way and I will have all my kids with me tonight.  I hope to share with you more in the coming week.  Sincerely and with love, Gary.