High-tech soldier of the future!

This reminded me of your situation, Sarge.



7 February 2012
Army Times
Families link burn pits to health woes, debt
Patricia Kime

Army Reserve wife Rosie Torres, 38, stood in line Jan. 19 at a Texas Health and Human Services office to apply for assistance with her mortgage, bills and groceries.

Mounting debt related to her husband’s medical bills has pushed the couple into arrears; between insurance deductibles, house payments and overages, they owe more than $55,000.

LeRoy Torres, 39, a Reserve captain and former Texas state trooper, was assigned to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, in 2008 and believes exposure to the camp’s open-air burn pits left him with debilitating respiratory problems. He can’t walk long distances, perform daily tasks or even roughhouse with his kids.

But although he can’t work full time, between his drill pay and Rosie’s part-time pay, they make too much to qualify for a grant.

“My husband actually said that with our insurance, we’d be better off if he’s not around,” Rosie Torres said. “I don’t want to hear that. That’s not what our family needs.”

The Torreses are among the many National Guard, reserve and active-duty families awaiting military medical evaluations and possible retirement or separation.

They also are part of a smaller cadre that has incurred massive medical bills resulting from illnesses they say are tied to pollutants — namely burn pits or fine particulate matter in desert dust — they inhaled while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As non-activated reservists, they often cobble together health care, relying on the Veterans Affairs Department, their work insurance and savings accounts to pay for care.

Quite often, that means going into debt.

“I never thought we’d be in this situation,” said Maria Baca, whose husband, New Mexico Air National Guard Master Sgt. Jessey Baca, still has a civilian job but has outstanding bills totaling $57,000.

About 26,000 troops are in the military disability evaluation process at any given time, according to an Army report released in January. The waiting time for a decision on the 18,000 soldiers in the process is between 373 to 400 days, the report states.

The wait for medical discharges is especially difficult for families like the Torreses and the Bacas, whose husbands were primary breadwinners and aren’t earning full-time military or civilian pay.

Baca, 52, served two tours at Balad. He’s been diagnosed with emphysema, sleep apnea, chronic cough and mesothelioma.

When he went to VA for treatment, he felt he wasn’t getting solutions, so he turned to a doctor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who has diagnosed more than 40 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with a rare condition known as constrictive bronchiolitis. The consultation with pulmonologist Dr. Robert Miller put them further in debt.

“The gap between VA and [the Defense Department] for the reserve component of the military’s wounded must be bridged,” Rosie Torres said. “Too many people are losing their homes, their life savings and their hope.”

VA says it treats veterans for their known symptoms and is working to understand the unexplained health problems of some Iraq and Afghanistan vets.

But the process takes research and time, said Dr. Terry Walters, deputy chief consultant of VA’s environmental health strategic health care group.

An Institute of Medicine report released in November said the existing data cannot prove whether long-term health effects are likely to result from exposure to emissions.

Miller’s diagnosis of constrictive bronchiolitis is controversial. It gives patients a name for their disease but no relief — it’s incurable — and requires an invasive lung biopsy to detect.

“If a veteran comes in and they have demonstrated shortness of breath and it has an impact on their functioning, they don’t need a lung biopsy to prove they have a disease. Our concern is biopsies are being done on the outside for financial reasons,” Walters said.

In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, physicians at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio challenged Miller’s findings, reported in the journal in July 2011.

“Constrictive bronchiolitis is characterized by relentlessly progressive disease, lack of response to treatment and severe disability and it is often fatal … although clinicians should remain diligent and aware of the possibility of constrictive bronchiolitis, the data do not establish a convincing link,” wrote physicians Dr. Michael Morris and Col. Lisa Zacher.

Miller, who has diagnosed 45 cases of constrictive bronchiolitis in troops, defends his work, saying he initially was reluctant to biopsy seemingly healthy service members.

But their symptoms indicated a “hidden impairment,” Miller said. Their tissue slides show “lacy black pigment” on the sample surfaces — evidence of constrictive bronchiolitis, he said.

“These are often elite athletes — soldiers who are now limited, disabled,” Miller said. “And they aren’t getting the compensation they deserve.”

Veterans say they aren’t seeing Miller or other civilian physicians to get higher disability ratings. Instead, they say, they seek peace of mind, regardless of cost.

In February, clinicians, researchers, troops, veterans and family members will meet at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York for a first-ever symposium on lung health among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Sponsored in part by the advocacy group Burn Pits 360, for which Rosie Torres is executive director, the meeting aims to call attention to this cohort’s health and welfare issues.

I'm trying to pay private doctors for tests & consultations. I keep getting so many different theories/explanations. For over 3 years, the Army treated me for discoid lupus and turns out I never had it. sigh.

...It's never lupus...

Except for Snoop Dogg's daughter.

I'm morphing and have been for several months. Last year until the late fall, I couldn't kill anything. My deer camp experiences were mainly setting cameras and managing food plots. I was bitten twice by dogs that I should have shot becaused I tried to capture them to take the dogs to the shelter. Then I began to change. I've found I can kill again and it doesn't phase me. I can skin & process hides without a thought. I guess in some ways I am returning to normal?

I wonder if it is because I've been out of a combat zone for almost 2 years and I admit the last tour was fairly easy. Or, are the raised doses of benzodiazepines removing my inhibitions? In some ways it scares me because I am finding I can kill (not just hunt) without it affecting my emotions. Scary to wonder if I am going back to where i can kill "anything" and not have it phase me.

I have a Vietnam Vet uncle who became an on again off again hunter after being pretty passionate about it in his youth. I'm not in his head but you can see he's conflicted about it. He was an MP but stayed out of law enforcement in civilian life. It seems like you have a tougher row to hoe having to face it directly every day.

Sarge, you have a reason to kill the animals that you do, and a history of doing so.
Would a "verminator" worry about killing wasps, mice, rats?
Would someone working in an abbatoir worry about killing sheep or cattle?

You admit you actually made a mistake in judgement by not killing two dogs. Misplaced compassion. You are not in any kind of regression if you admit that you would do it now.

Killing animals for food doesn't affect you one way or the other. That's fine. You are not excited by hunting (even though it is acceptible to be) but you are also not disgusted by it. It's a long reach to not be fazed by killing for food to not be affected by any killing.

The fact it concerns you shows that is a long way from being the truth.

Anyway, just sending my love and hopes for your health.
If I knit I would send you a marvellous blanket to keep you warm in your hideaway. Or crocheted, or sewed. But I'm just all about words, so I hope you can take them home in your heart.

Sundae that's so sweet.

Things are getting worse. I had my PHA with the National Guard and they have flagged me with 3 issues to go to the medical review board. Plus, I'm going to the Memphis VA again today (2 days in a row) for optometry, endo, and neuro. While I was gone some idiot sent an anonymous email to the local TV station that became the major news story. The bad thing is it is so full of bullshit and they didn't even take the time to consult with me.

So my military career, health, and job are all fucked in a matter of 48 hours. What's the use of trying........

Buddy, when we are in the Army and we do our jobs right the body goes. Ankles go, knees go, brain goes...we get wore out more then most I think. So, keep after the health stuff, it's just a consequence of the combination of growing older and doing a tough job. If the news story isn't true, then this too shall pass. The use of trying is because that's what we have to do....we ain't quitters.

Great news today! They are taking me off the valuim and xanax (gradually) and switching me to Depakote. Plus the doctor will sign off on my PTSD for retention at my Med Board. Now, I have to pass my sciatic nerve damage and brain lesions. At least I beat the PTSD part. Keeep your fingers crossed. I need these final 5 years & one more deployment for retirement.

Fingers crossed for you, Sarge.

here too. that's why I type so badly.

Good luck Big S.

Crap. The VA has let me run out of meds again......

How? Did yoou request a repeat and they didn't refil and didn't notify you? If so, can ypu arrange to pick up future repeats a week or two earlier, so if they fuck up you still have meds while they sort it out?

Ordered meds over 2 weeks ago, my meds are in transit. Until then I have to wait or go to a private provider. They do this to me every few months. arrgghh

SO frustrating! Do you have a local pharmacy where you're known, where they might spot you a few days' meds? Or a local provider who will write a short script? I hope you can work it out. Sorry to hear this.

:in transit"? Tits. can you get them to agree to ordering while you still have a month left? How many months do you get at once?

Some of the meds are a 90 day supply. The others are every 30 days. Running out of meds is just part of being an OIF/OEF Veteran. I think we have really flooded the system. The running out of psych meds is what is rough. If I don't have some by Monday, I'll head to a local provider. That kinda sucks because it is out of pocket and I'm still unemployed (except for National Guard).

Depending on what they are, your provider or pharmacist can give you a number to call at the pharm company - some of the expensive ones can be had at a deep discount in certain situations. Don't delay getting to a provider, running out of meds is rough for sure. Good luck.

^She sounds like she knows what she's talking about to me. Get aggressive about getting what you need without getting a second mortgage on your sole.

FFS, VA, get it together.

Do soldiers in the field need to go through this shit waiting for ammunition resupply? I bloody hope not. Yet getting some pills to some guy living stateside is harder than getting a few hundred kilos of ammo to Backwater Base in Fubaristan.

*snorts in disgust*

What all of them said, PLUS, tell them that "I've found I can kill again and it doesn't phase me."

They oughta get you those fucking meds.

Thank Bush.

*soul :rolleyes: fff, where were you when my spelling needed correcting?

I figured it was some sort of Brit expression I'd missed while growing up. Sole as in "underfoot?"

One of you should have done '*f aze' if we're on a spelling thing.

...and look, I've put a space in!

Inspired by you, I corrected my punctation. ;)

skin is crawling. definitely planning on a trip to the doctor tomorrow

I spent $400 on a doctor visit, lab work, and meds. Then I got my VA scripts in the mail today. Sigh..If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...

:right:

Can you store them against future run-outs? rotating stockpile?

Good idea, ZenGum.

Great news! I got an update on my VA Disability. This is the second time I've applied and it looks like I might get a ruling next year. Oh Joy, Oh Joy! Especially since they lost my previous application. % years isn't that long to wait I guess

I am still alive. Simply sick & weak. A little stressed too..

Hang in there tough guy.
Gotta get some good luck soon.

*hugs*

Sending hugs and good thoughts, Sarge. Sorry treatment is rough. I hope you can get some remedies for side effects from your doc. Rest up, take one day at a time, keep in touch. :hug:

The Hell you say....
The VA, loosing paperwork...
It could never...

Even as I type it, I can't keep a straight face.
Good luck, bro.

My projected case resolution is now 2014. I think they hope we all die off before we can collect. LOL

That sounds so familiar ... in Ontario the wheels turn slowly as well. It does cut down on the expenses/services provided column total if a proportion of your applicants expire before gaining access. :mad:

I jest. I know the VA is overwhelmed with so many cases. They say it is the multiple tours that screw us up both physically and mentally

Multiple tours would be too hard on anybody. I can't imagine how anyone could cope with that stress.

Big Sarge-----I cannot imagine what you are going thru. My heart goes out to you on so many levels. The things you've been thru, the bullshit of the overwhelmed VA (ok, they're overwhelmed----they've BEEN overwhelmed since VietfuckingNam!)

Maybe you're right. We're just big sacks of meat. Conciousnessless is preferred by people like me. You're a fighter, a soldier, a winner. you'll beat it and you'll help someone else in the process.

And the multiple tours are different now. Instead of being rotated to a stateside base, they get sent home expected to resume normal weekend warrior routine. It's a difficult transition for some, from war zone to suburbia, all the while wondering when Uncle Sam will yank their chain again. I should think it would be easier to do the 3 or 4 year hitch, then decide whether to reup or go home.

Mobilize units for the duration. Soldiers shouldn't come home until the mission is complete. As soon as you get in the groove & finally understand the locals, they rotate you back home. Then another poor schmuck has to start trying to figure shit out. Sigh.

I miss being deployed. That's the only time I feel safe & happy.

I am officially halting my treatments thru the VA. I truly believe I have been experiencing horrible side effects because my meds have been in conflict. I'm planning on staying on the prednisone and testosterone to keep counter the adenoma.

You have to consider quality of life. It looks like I was on the path to always treating tumors. Not wort it

I get the results of my abdomen scan tomorrow.
Worried.

Last night's dinner went straight through me.
TMI - I could see barely changed elements of it in the bowl before I flushed.
I need to sort my life out. As I have for the last six months.

Keep trying, Sarge.
Moving and breathing and love is what you have, make the most of it.

Good luck Sarge - sometimes less is more.
Good luck Sundae - worry turns my bowels to water.

Grab some good luck you two.

All the best, Sundae - I hope you get good news.
Sarge, I understand ... wishing you all the best as well.

Good luck Sarge!

And Sundae: Let us know how you get on chika

As an update - I went to the Doctors as per my appointment, but the test results hadn't come through.
Luckily, the GP pulled some wizardy GP magic and got me an appointment the next day (generally I have to book about 10 days in advance.)

Enlarged liver and spleen.
No surprise.
Now referred to a consulatant. Surprise.
NO MORE DRINKING.
No, no, no no no-no-no-no. No more.

No more help of course.
Just no more drinking.

How is Keith Richards still alive and fucking women young enough to be his daughter and my liver is on death row?

This might slay me, people.

Sounds to me like they've intervened before the death row bit.

It's a shit hand to be dealt m'dear.

Sorry, Sundae. Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related liver damage than men, which sucks.

You have loads of determination and discipline. You are awesome. You can do this.

True dat.

Beautiful people on here.
Thank you.

You know I've done this to myself and you're still good about it.
Thank you again.

The vast majority of life's struggles are things we've done to ourselves. The only surprising thing is how few people can own up to that.

Not mention, for everybody who 'brought it on themself' there's half a dozen or more who did the same shit and got away with it.