the bennymay story: chapter 29
Confessions
So how do things end up? Does Ron ever admit outright that his vaccines caused an adverse reaction / that my medical condition(s), symptoms, and suffering were the result of adverse reactions to vaccinations?
Yes.
We already noted (Chapter 15) that Ron admitted an adverse event following vaccination, ‘unwell after last Twinrix’:
Ron admits, in no uncertain terms, ‘Reaction to Vaccines…’
But most clearly, and legibly, Ron confesses:
(‘Intragram’ is a typo meaning Intragam—Intravenous Gammaglobulin.)
So, Ron admits I suffered an ‘18 month period of numerous viral illnesses,
adverse reactions to vaccinations
and fatigue.’
Ron also knows what my civilian GP thinks:
Does Ron care that he gave me vaccinations that caused adverse reactions? Does Ron care that he failed to report it? Does Ron apologise? Does he decide to help me more? Does Ron decide to give me a little extra pocket-money, to communicate his sorrow for destroying my career, and breaking my body? Compo and rehab would benefit me, but not Ron, so perhaps he doesn’t care about that. Though, surely he cares about money and retraining. Does Ron consider the retraining issue, or the money issue? And how much money, exactly, does Ron decide to give me for compensation, rehabilitation, training, etc.?
On 2 December 2002 Ron documents, exactly, how much money he wants to spend on training me. ‘Continued investment of public monies into Pilot training for this member is not warranted, as … no medication has been identified which will allow the member to remain healthy, deployable and to complete Pilot training.’ (DDPO PERSPT)
Perhaps Ron has a lot of explaining to do; but for now, at least, he has succeeded in erasing my diagnoses.
That is, until I secure some more medical testing.
The next image is of results from a medical test I did 31 January 2003 on my right ear (marked on the graph in ink ‘R’) and my left ear (“L”). Also in ink, you may have noticed, is a line in the bottom right corner under ‘89.9 microvolts’, the reading for the left ear. If you scan up, you can see the right ear scored ‘244 microvolts’. The normal range for this particular test (the VEMP / Vestibular evoked Myogenic potential) is that the low is not less than half of the high voltage. Since 89.9 microvolts is less than 122, it is ‘abnormal.’
Now, for those who hated that last paragraph, try this: ‘R’ and the big bump show a normal reaction in my right ear. The ‘L’ is for ‘left-side-is-lame’ since the bit of my head that helps me to stand up properly, and not to get too dizzy and fall over, is not working properly on the left side.
(The results from the neurophysio are more compelling, but much harder for me to explain succinctly. Succinctly! Me. Ha! In fact, her computer print outs are cooler too, but there’s only so much I can upload.)
So, what does Ron do with that?
Well, that is a problem. So, Ron sends me to redo the test. In the second test, at a time when I feel less dizzy, I scrape through and the left side comes just within the ‘normal’ range.
So, most people I know reason like this: (1) Ben says sometimes he is a little dizzy, and sometimes he is really dizzy; (2) the test results confirm what Ben says, (3) therefore the information appears complementary.
Ron, however, says: (1) Ben is wrong; (2) scraping through as normal in one test means Ben’s vestibular system is normal; (3) since the abnormal test result disagrees with the result we obtained we can safely ignore the abnormal result.
Somehow Ron has erased my diagnoses, used the worsening immunoglobulin results to argue my immune system is improving, and now dismisses the test results that show I am dizzy. Now to the problem of getting rid of me. Ron seems unable to medically-discharge me without a medical problem. I mean, you cannot medically discharge someone when you are busy proclaiming he is well (A1G1Z1); and that the vaccines did not actually injure him at all. Can you?
Is not that a huge contradiction?
How about the fact Ron cleared me to take Intragam, and fly, then said stop taking Intragam or you’re not deployable? Is that a contradiction?
How about the fact Ron puts Intragam on a C-130 Hercules, to go north to an island where a senior officer jet pilot is DEPLOYED, and RAAF doctors infuse it into him REGULARLY but that Ron says bennymay + Intragam = non-deployable? (The information about said senior officer jet pilot comes from (1) his specialist, (2) the RAAF doctor who was in charge of collecting the Intragam from the Herc’ and infusing it, (3) the wife of said senior officer jet pilot who, being a qualified nurse, infuses both him and me. Yes, I trust my information sources.)
What is up with the administration and medical classification system that they permit such inconsistencies (or discrimination, as some lawyers call it)? Does anybody look at what Ron is doing, and so wonder if there are, perhaps, inconsistencies in the medical and administrative handling of my medical classifications (fitness for flying) and repeated back-coursing, TMUFFs, and attendance on Pilot’s course?
The Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at RAAF Williamtown is eager to look into that precise area of concern. At 4:11 p.m. on 20 January 2003 he emails (CC: me), ‘I’m trying to track some correspondence… in regard to inconsistencies in the medical and administrative handling of his fitness for flying and attendance on Pilot’s course.’ He also asks ‘…has it proceeded onto DGDHS’s office or is it heading in another direction?’ (DH-DHS = the Director General of Defence Health Services. He will pop up again later.)
Years into this saga, Ron’s air force officers are very aware of what is going on. They say Ron is taking me ‘around the bouy‘ and ‘stonewalling’ me…
So, throughout 2003, I remain in the RAAF—employed—but in limbo.
[In memory Paul McCarthy, rower extraordinaire, action man, my (Officers’-Mess)-house-mate, my trusted doctor, surgeon, and friend.]
© Benjamin May 2009
