I am back at it – at least on a limited scale. On April 29th I went running and after a mile I thought I was going to pass out – it was like running at 8000’. I then tried biking with the same effect. I felt perfectly fine except I had no energy and I started being unable to sleep for more than a few hours a night. On May 1st I flew a mission and about halfway through I started feeling really bad with a fever and my whole body aching. I didn’t realize how bad I was until I got out of the seat at the end of the flight and had a hard time walking. At first I figured it was the flu but the only symptom I had was constant fevers. They would come and go day and night and medication had no effect on them. After a week of IVs and feeling sorry for myself, the Doc diagnosed it as Q fever and started me on antibiotics which stopped the fevers right away. Q fever is an interesting illness – I won’t go into details but you might want to look it up (the pictures I posted earlier of the dust have a direct bearing on this). It has been a week since then and I am doing much better. My appetite is back and I am trying to eat every meal to get my strength back. I am up to about five hours a day of being on my feet before I have to lie down. I will probably be another week before I can fly. It should have been a good time to catch up on my reading but mostly I have sat in my chair staring at the TV. I don’t know what sick people did before TV. As far as the unit goes things appear to be running as normal. 081 got shipped off to the crusher and they tried to take 174 (they need more parts for the F model) but we convinced them we could fix it so that is still moving along. There is other news – the promotion list came out May 1st and I am on the list for CW4. I won’t actually pin on the rank until March of next year but it’s nice to know I made it. Also, it looks like my next assignment is going to be in
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8 comments:
Congratulations on your CW4 status!! And the opportunity to go to Egypt sounds wonderful as well (as long as Wendi can go with you). We might have to start planning now to come visit! I think we will be out of money by the time we get back, but I would not want to miss the opportunity to visit you while you are there. Good to hear you are getting over the Q fever - we have been praying for you. We are on a week vacation traveling in southern bolivia (there should be photos on our blog by next week when we get back to Cochabamba). Crazy country - very much like the canyonlands in Utah...we had an "interesting" hike today that we will have to tell you about later. We are very near the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid died...if you have seen the movie you can imagine what it looks like. Take care - Andrew
Hey little critter! (Your illness and my relief allows me the indulgence of this informal address (: VERY glad to hear you are better. CW4 status excellent. Are we allowed to call you CW4 Lyons or does that have to wait until the ceremony? Thank you so much for the update. Egypt sounds beyond wonderful. May we put our name on the list of visitors? (: We love you.
Hey David way to go! I am so excited about Egypt. Is this posting after the Iraq one or can you go now? Is Egypt because of your promotion? I've always wanted to go to Egypt, put me on the list too O.K. So glad you are up and able to communicate we have missed you and prayed for you often. One last question.. will the egyptian chinooks be any different than the ones you fly now? Sara (under the alias of Dad)
A little Coxiella burnetii can really ruin a guys day I understand (my wonderful New World Dictionary had q fever in it!) Cheers ART
Andrew,
Thanks for the update - sounds like some great hiking country. We would love to have you guys visit us again. When you get back we will have to talk because it looks like we will be leaving Alaska mid-October.
Mom,
If your name comes out on the promotion list then technically you can add a (P) behind your rank as in CW3(P) but I think that is a little presumptuous so I am CW3 until I pin on the rank and see the pay raise :) We of course would love to have you visit us.
Sara,
Egypt is definitely after Iraq - nothing gets you out of a combat deployment :) I will go back to Alaska, get everything packed up, do some camping and then head to Egypt. Our plan is to see you guys before we go so put us on the calender for the October-November time frame. Egypt is not because of my promotion. Like so much in the Army it is right place / right time or wrong place / wrong time if you don't want to do it. The position will be open when I get back and they needed a test pilot with experience on the older engines they have. I have been doing this long enough that I am one of the older guys with experience :). The Egyptian Chinooks are basically the same as ours. They haven't been fitted with a lot of the newer modifications (i.e. newer engines) that we have but they are the same D model series that we fly. And thanks a lot for the prayers.
Dad,
Sorry you didn't make your hike but I bet the house looks great :) And yes, that bug has certainly ruined a few of my days.
Egypt - hummm! a piece of a Pyramid or maybe the Sphinx?? Cheers!!
Happy Birthday bro!! Sorry I am a little late, but I did think of you and pray for you on the right day. Take care...Andrew
PS- Just posted some new photos of our trip...wish you and Wendi were with us.
Andrew,
Thanks for the prayers:) Those are some amazing pictures! I would love to be at 13,000' about now :) Maybe one of these days we can all make it back down there together. Stay safe.
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