Guinea Pig

In 1980 I was in the US Navy, stationed on the USS Tunny SSN 682, undergoing overhaul in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. On one of my duty days the shipyard workers started coming into the engine room wearing respirators and paper suits. They then began tearing out the lagging that surround the steam pipes in the engine room. I and the other nuclear power watch standers that day were never told to wear respirators or any other protective equipment. We spent an entire 24 hr duty day in that environment. The air was white with dust from the lagging that the shipyard workers were tearing off the steam pipes. Not once did a shipyard worker say a word to us although they looked at us strangely as they passed us in their respirators on their way in and out of the engine room. We even joked around about it among ourselves. A couple days after that day the 'nukes' in my duty section were all told to report to the dispensary at Pearl Harbor. When we got there we were taken into a room where a Navy doctor informed us that we had all received a severe asbestos exposure and we were being placed on a 'life long' monitor program with evaluations to be performed every 5 years. I had two exams before I got out of the Navy in 1989. I never pursued it after that and as a civilian the Navy had no power to make me continue in their 'life long' monitoring program. They didn't know as much about asbestos exposure in 1980 as they do today.

For the last several years I have been experiencing different health problems with my stomach and mucus build up in my throat, ears and lungs. The VA kept blowing it off and telling me it was GERD or LPR (Larnyx Phargeal Reflux) then raising my reflux medicine to the point where I am now taking 5 pills a day. In the meantime my health issues continued to worsen to the point where I have to take 1200 mg of guaifenesin twice a day just to be able to sleep and function without coughing uncontrollably. I started thinking about the asbestos exposure I received in the Navy and started doing some research. I found that many of the symptoms I have been experiencing are very similar to mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases. These are diseases that very few doctors know how to diagnose because the symptoms mimic so many other diseases. The symptoms don't show up for 20 to 50 years after the exposure and even when they do most doctors don't attribute it to asbestos unless they are specialists in the field. I talked to the VA about my exposure and they have scheduled me for a CT scan on the 30th of September which is usually a starting point for diagnosing mesothelioma or asbestosis.

The survival rate for mesothelioma once symptoms begin showing up is about 12 months. There is no cure. I don't know what the results of the CT scan are going to reveal. I'm not afraid either way. I know God will take care of me either in this world or the world to come. I have tried to reach out to a couple people who stood duty with me that day on the Tunny but haven't had any luck locating them. I hope they are ok. I have tried a few ship crew websites and found a few people who were on the Tunny with me but none of the people who stood duty with me that day.

Am I angry? I'd be lying if I said no. I'm not angry that my life might not be as long as I think it should be. That is and always has been in God's hands. What I am angry about is I have been replaying the events that occurred and have come to the conclusion that we were used by the Navy. I'm not sure how else to explain the fact that within a couple days of the incident they already had a 'life long' monitoring program in place or how the Navy knew about it in the first place. When I was telling a VA nurse about it she couldn't believe that they let us spend the day in that environment. I looked at her and said  "it almost feels like an experiment doesn't it?" She just nodded her head and went back to writing in my chart.