Tag Archives: # ALS

Spiraling Down

29 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Family, Vietnam

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Hey Hey LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

My brother-in-law is dying from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Slowly, inexorably, he is losing muscular function. He is in a hospice in Florida, near Mount Dora. His illness is the result of chemical exposure in Vietnam, during his combat service in 1969, most likely Agent Orange. The VA recognizes the disease as service-related, but won’t definitively attribute it to Agent Orange exposure. There isn’t much difference and he’s dying no matter what caused the disease.

I haven’t felt very motivated lately, bronchitis and allergies. Just discouraged. I don’t feel like exercising or watching what I eat.

We are leaving for Florida in the morning. J wants to see her brother one more time. The drive will be excruciating, both going down and coming back.

Damn Lyndon Johnson, Ho Chi Minh, John McCone, Gen. Giap. The whole fuckin’ bunch.

Catching Up.

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Family, Wildlife

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

I am in The Villages, Florida. It is a mega-retirement complex with lots of golf courses, golf carts, and retired types who golf. I do not golf. Among the other activities is drinking. I do not drink. The Villages have a reputation for high incidences of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. I don’t engage in promiscuous sex. So what’s a fella to do?

1) Visit my brother-in-law and note the progress of his Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It’s a bitch of a disease but he and his wife are dealing with it with grace and courage. Truly inspiring.

2). Sit in the air conditioning, just like at home.

3). Go walking. There are interesting birds. This is a great blue heron, I tbink. He did not divulge any information about his identity.

When we sit in the lenai at my brother-in-law’s, we can make out the form of an alligator, just below the surface of the water in the pond. There are other birds, egrets, loons, and ducks.

All in all, very peaceful. But I want to go back to Virginia and Hurricane Florence (Henderson? A Brady Bunch homage?)

The War That Never Ends

29 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Vietnam

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Vietnam.

It was a war filled with folly, brutality, courage, sacrifice, dubious goals, and moral ambiguity. Pretty much like all wars.

This war for my family still rages. My brother-in-law served in Vietnam near fifty years ago. He came home alive, in one piece. He resumed his civilian life, started and raised a family. He has two children and six grandchildren.

Of course, he remembers his brothers-in-arms who didn’t make it back to have the life he has had. The jungle he thought he left behind had one more treacherous pitfall he could not evade. We all have heard about the dioxin-contaminated defoliant Agent Orange taking its toll on both jungle canopy and humans unlucky enough to be caught in its cloud. My brother-in-law is one more victim. At age 72, he is suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The VA doesn’t even contest that his case and others like his are service-related. Maybe from Agent Orange, maybe something else.

My brother-in-law’s war isn’t over. Yet. Every phone call from him is about what he can no longer do. He can no longer tend his gardens or play golf, except for putting. Right now he walks with canes. The wheelchair awaits. His voice is halting, as he struggles to simply speak. His respirations are about one-third of what they should be. The disease is slowly paralyzing the muscles.

He is another casualty of “friendly fire”.