I was christened Stuart or Stu. about 6 years ago I was rechristened Bedbug because I spent 24 hours of every day in bed. I used to dream about being able to forget about work and just stay in bed. My dream came true. Just goes to show you should be careful what you wish for.
I served almost 9 years in the RAN as a Fang Bosun. (Dentistry) I served mostof my time on HMAS Sydney which was also referred to as The Vung Tau Ferry. Because during the Vietnam conflict (It wasn't a war so they said) we ferried battalions of Army personnel to Vung Tau and bought back those who had done their time. I prefer to think of them as the ones who didn't try to worm their way out of it.
Whilst at anchor we parked right in the outflow of a large river. It was traditionally the time to take on salt water and distill it for pottable water. Unknown to us The US marines used the river in patrol boats which absolutely bristled with guns of every type. But they had a problem, Snipers tied themselves in trees on the riverbanks and killed many Americans. So as is usual with the US they decided to go big time and ruin the hiding places these snipers used and they dumped 10s of thousands of gallons of Agent Orange, agent Blue and a few other coloured agents on the riverbanks. In no time the banks were devoid of all greenery and snipers found they were too visable and ceased shooting Americans.
This was all done during the monsoon months and the rain quickly washed all these agents into the river and on the outgoing tide came straight at Our home away from home. We took on this concoction of salt and coloured agents and instead of distilling it the salt was removed but the agents actually got enhanced. This poison satin our fresh water tanks whilst we drank it, washed in it and ate food cooked in it.
Some 20 years later the Navy and Army discovered the now paid off personnel were coming down with many weird and not too wonderful diseases. Cancer was the main one. We are aware of only 2 Dental personnel who are still alive. I'm one of them. But I didn't escape. I won myself an unusual problem which involved my bodies immune system deciding to attack itself. At first I was diagnosed as having piles. It was then changed to colitis and then to Crohnes disease. After years of massive doses of steroids 3 times a day it was decided to remove my complete colon and any other diseased tissue. After a 6 1/2 hour operation in which I almost heard a bucket hit the wall I woke up after 4 days to find I was rigged with a neat and tidy little bag which has become a part of me. 12 months later I underwent exmination to see if they had caught the problem. They hadn't and so what remained at the lower end was removed. This led to a bad infection and an open wound for 10 months. During this time the infection reached my spinal area and the rest is history. I have 5 vertebrae completely stuffed and impossible to repair. So I spent another 8 years in bed with my only time out was in an ambulance to travel a 350k round trip for various tests and scans. I was told that was it, I would spend the rest of my life in bed.
To save my sanity I taught myself how to repair digital cameras and gave them away to school kids. That stopped when they started demanding a minimum of 6 mpixel cameras. I then purchased a hundred or so helicopters and gave them away to worthy kids but found I was expected to be on 24 hour call and supply spare parts, batteries and new helicopters if they smashed theirs. I still have about 40 brand new in the box helicopters from 3 footers to mini types. I want to sell them on Ebay but I can't get to them to take photos and my wife has just had a full knee replacement so they sit downstairs. I then designed a massive workbench which rolled across my bed and had a slight variable tilt which I could use as a workbench. Unfortnately I ended up building the workbench into the wall by storing all the pro type helicopters I was building and about a year ago I also started building Pro speed boats. Starting with stripped hulls from Ebay and later buying brand new ones in and building them from scratch. The only thing I couldn't do was the fibre glassing as the fumes would have finished me off.
Now I'm into woodwork for the boats and seriously thinking about doing some woodwork to earn some money to buy boat parts. By the way, if anyone has any old hulls, boat parts or anything they no longer use please put a price on it and let me know. I will pay freight and any costs plus pay for the parts if I have the money and If I don't I get my pension every 2nd thursday. If you have a boat which needs rebuilding I would be more than happy to get her running for you but I will have to charge for any parts used.
So that's my story, not the prettiest story told but there are many worse off than me. Oh! I almost forgot. I'm going to tell the specialist and my own Doctor to shove their diagnosis. I will be walking around by next Christmas. Maybe not in the straightest line but I'll get there. I've already started and although it takes me a full week to recover from a few hours of intense pain I will get there because I hate this bed and I want to try my boats out.
Kind regards and best wishes to all Bedbug (Stu)http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/a...h_IMG_8884.jpg
My worbench with audio gear for Internet radio. Plus my only male nurse, from Zimbabwe.
http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/a...6092010020.jpgOne of my Pro helis an Align Trex 450