Thump....

[Chicken Dinner]

What do you know about Chiang Mai, Thailand?

[Thumper]

Been there many times. Know lots about it. Anything specific?

[Chicken Dinner]

My niece is going to be spending the fall semester (junior in college) there doing some sort of public health internship. My sister and family are going to spend Christmas there and in our old stomping grounds of Luang Prabang and Vientienne. They've invited my older boy who will be 14 to go with them. It looks like a pretty neat place, but I'm doing my due diligence.

[Thumper]

Sorry, been on the phone.

Chiang Mai's a great place and the weather will be pleasant in December. It can even get pretty chilly at night ... especially if in the higher elevations. Odd, the last time I was in Chiang Mai, I spent about a week there, then headed up to Myanmar (Burma) for a short stay, back to Chiang Mai by car (through Chiang Rai), then flew to Luang Prabang for a day or two, flew to Vientienne, then crossed the border, picked up a bus in Nong Khai and took it to Udorn.

I have two buds (my SEAL buddy and an ex-intel buddy) over there right now and I'm jealous as heck! I can't wait for this back to heal (if it EVER does) and figure some way to afford to travel again.

Not much bad to say about Chiang Mai to be honest. You're a veteran of the region, so you should enjoy the trip. (it's not for everybody)

[Thumper]

Ooops, I just realized, you're not going. Tell them to keep a close eye on the boy ... chances are he may fall in love and not want to come home. ;)

[Chicken Dinner]

I won't get to go, so I'm jealous as hell myself. The Boy's got the travel bug bad. So, it's the opportunity of a life time for him. It's been a long time since I've been there and Mama worries about some of the crap she reads on the State Dept. website. (Your buddies aren't there on "business", are they?) It's great to hear some of those old Thai place names. We took the night train from Nong Khai to Bangkok for fun one time and used to fly space available from Vientienne to Udorn (via Air America) a few times a year to hit the PX. Wednesday nights were Mongolian BBQ night at Air America and was my absolute favorite place to go.

[Thumper]

Yep, it HURTS man! I'd rather not eat and save the money for travel ... but the past few years, it's been strictly domestic travel for me. :(

Actually, the two buds aren't even together. The SEAL will be there for 3 months ... laying down the ground work to move there permanently (he's in Udorn now). The other (ex-intel guy) is there to take care of some personal issues with some property he owns there ... around Ubon. We went to spy school together, went to Thailand together and came home about the same time (when the CIA took over our missions). He lives in N. California, but we've stayed in touch almost daily for the past 40 years.

Man! It hurts to even talk about this. :(

[BarryBobPosthole]

How'd things go yesterday Jim?
BKB

[Thumper]

Pretty favorable actually. It's REAL early in a long, long process though. I'm taking it one step at a time. My plastic surgeon is totally on-board and will be a huge help as far as the mountain of paperwork I have to get done. He also gave me some great tips on how to proceed. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and just try to plow through all the red tape and government bullshit. Between the State guy and my surgeon ... I have one heck of a "team" working for me.

One sucky bit of info I received though, the muscle that was cut out of my back is basically turning into scar tissue and not really healing due to lack of blood supply. They also tell me I need to get into rehab to get off the pain pills and I told them to bite me ... I've cut back and can quit taking them completely whenever I want. I was compared to the alcoholic that says he has no problem because he quit drinking two quarts of Vodka a day and "only" drinks a 1 fifth/day now. :(

Actually, it would be no problem for me to quit (seriously) but they don't want me to quit cold-turkey because it could give me a heart attack or some crap like that. I've never been addicted to anything in my life ('cept maybe sex ;) ) and honestly don't think I have a problem now. It's a complicated mess but I was told most of the pain I feel now is from the fact the pain meds actually lower my pain threshold and what I used to consider minor pain, now feels like major pain without the meds. I don't know what to think really as I have absolutely zero doubt in my mind I could stop taking them today if I wanted. They laughed and asked how many smokers or drinkers have I known who said the same thing but never did? Kinda pissed me off really ... and I'd show them ... but they have me a bit worried about the side effects of going "cold-turkey". Not sure what to think right now. They spent a lot of time convincing me it's not my fault and to be on Morphine and Percocet and Vicodin for 3 1/2 years ... it's to be expected. Part of me is saying, "F-you, I'll show you a-holes" ... but the other side of me is a bit concerned about what they say could happen if I just "quit". I have a bit of soul-searching to do I guess as I'm hard-headed and would rather show them they're wrong.

Another thing I'm a bit worried about is that I have to start seeing a shrink again. I was seeing one regularly for a while (VA's orders) as they're always worried about depression in cases like mine. I simply quit going and told them it was a waste of time. Being depressed doesn't mean I'm going to walk into a school with a AR and start shooting kids. I guess that's more of my stuborn side showing. BUT .. depression IS an issue (minor to me but major to them). The problem is, once these shrinks start talking and documenting depression issues ... there goes my CCW, etc. I'm between a rock and a hard place. The State guy is like an attorney ... he wants to make EVERY issue a major issue to push the case in my favor ... but there are repercusions to everything. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation and I'm torn as to which avenue I want to take.

I was also in for the Agent Orange issue yesterday and I have to go back on 5/1 for some extensive testing. Blood tests, CT Scan, etc. etc. I went through some major Agent Orange exposure back in the day but have always had problems proving where I was ... when ... and why? Somewhere along the line, it's been verified and they've acknowledged I was subjected to heavy exposure over long periods of time. As far as I know, I have no AO related problems though. THEY seem more worried about it than I am.

To top it off ... they wanted to do another surgery on May 31st, but Lynn and I have a little vacation planned for 5/23 - 6/2 ... so they've rescheduled it for 6/7. So I have a pre-op appt. before we leave and surgery 5 days after we return. Awww, crap ... that's enough for now ... there seems to be no end. :(

BUT ... that's a minor side issue really. The claims process is what I'm concentrating on. The State guy says once this preliminary ground-work is done ... the process will come to a conclusion rapidly.