Back in November, 2007, during a routine annual medical exam, the doctor found that my white blood count was too high - in fact, it was in the area usually reserved for patients with leukemia. She ordered a visit to the hematologist who confirmed it: I had leukemia. Actually, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). This is a leukemia of the blood and the bone marrow - the spongy stuff in the bones that makes the blood cells.
The hematologist asked what work I had done in the past that might have led to exposure to various causal agents, such as asbestos or Agent Orange. And the light went on: I was in Vietnam in January, 1964, while aboard the 7th Fleet flagship, the USS Providence, CLG-6. At the time I was playing lead trumpet in the Com7thFleet Band. It apparently didn't take much exposure - we were there three days, on the ground, playing concerts, marches and Admiral's receptions. But that was enough; both the trombonist Dave Courson and I contracted cancer from this little jaunt.
Dave, I soon found out, had struggled long and hard with the VA to get his medical claim approved; but he had gotten it. So I immediately contacted my local America Legion District Service Officer (DSO) and filed a claim with the VA for disability.
They initially rejected my claim: Navy records weren't detailed enough to specify that the band had been ashore; only that we were aboard the Providence. And being in the waters off Vietnam was not enough for the federal government to authorize the VA to accept my claim. In fact, they still only approve claims from veterans who had "boots ashore" or were in the "brown water navy" - meaning that you had served on the ground in Vietnam or were on the patrol boats in the inland waterways. But "blue water sailors" - those who served in the coastal waters off Vietnam, where the wind blew the Agent Orange spray onto your ship and polluted the water that you drank - these sailors are still denied their benefits, even though the VA's own investigations show that such exposure is a definite causal agent for contracting several forms of cancer.
Turning to the other members of the band, including Dave, I asked for their remembrances of that three day stint in Saigon. Sending their affirmative email responses along with numerous other documents I had from my Navy days (see - it DOES pay to be a pack rat and keep every scrap of paper from your past !!), including a copy of my handwritten itinerary, I appealed the VA decision.
And now, after nearly three years, I have been granted 100% disability. My status as a Disabled Vietnam Veteran is confirmed.
The prognosis of the hematologist is fairly positive: so long as the CLL remains 'asymptomatic' - that is, it's not racing off the charts, yet! - I might just outlive the disease. But if it gets a bug up its ass and decides to make a run for it, I'm in trouble. CLL is not curable; I'll have CLL the rest of my life. Just how much it will impinge on my continued enjoyment of life is unknown. But as long as I can read a good book, play a tune on my trumpet, peck away at the keyboard, and enjoy the companionship of family and friends, I'll be glad to be alive!
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