My name is John P. Hanlon and I have COPD with Emphysema worsened by 30+ years heavy exposure to asbestos. The blog is about dealing with disease and the psychology needed to cope.
I was diagnosed with Asbestosis in 1981 just six months after my father passed away from the same disease. That was a traumatic event in my life. I had just buried my father and started my new career in IT at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Denver, Colorado. The industrial doctor at Bell Labs found the disease and had it confirmed by Mt. Sinai Institute. I have pleural plaques, pleural calcification, and interstitial fibrosis from the asbestos. My father was a card carrying journeyman insulator my entire life and I joined the labor union and became a journeyman too. Most people with exposure to asbestos don’t show any symptoms for 20 years or more. I worked for the union from 1968 to 1980. That’s only 12 years. I asked the Dr. about it and discussions with Mt. Sinai about my history revealed that I was BORN exposed to asbestos. 30 years. That sucked.
With a new college diploma – valedictorian – and a new wife, I was set to put the hardhat away forever. I am starting this blog to record what I have gone through and what it takes to survive a disease with zero survivability rate.
what does ‘journeyman’ insulator mean? were there masters and apprentice insulators?
i was going to make a sick joke about survival rates and time to accomplish a masterpiece, but even i’m not that much of a sick bastard.