Huffin and a Puffin Messes Up My Golf Game and a Letter from the Center for Disease Control

In the dog days of summer in Florida, the heat and humidity is rough.  I still golfed in the morning, toting around a bucket of ice to dip a wet cloth in to keep cool.  The summer of 2011 was different.  I became unable to finish an 18 hole round of golf even riding in a cart.  Shortness of breath and tiredness took over.  On a good note, sometimes it came as I was having a bad round.  I'm sure that my Men's golf club guys thought, This shortness of breath is sure convenient.  But, I began to know that something had drastically changed in my health.

Of course, I blamed the heat, but after few lost game finishes, I became more concerned.  The shortness of breath and extreme fatigue was relentless.  My family physician suggested that I see a cardiologist who scheduled a stress test and a chest X-ray.  Heart issues were considered first.  The stress test proved that my heart wasn't the issue.  But...the xray came back with some “areas of concern” on my lungs.  He said it looked like there was fluid in my lungs.  He ordered a CT Scan and referred me to a Pulmonologist.

The Pulmonologist, armed with the results of the CT Scan, said, "It is not fluid in your lungs, but scar tissue."  I replied, "But, I've never smoked, except for two weeks in high school until my mother found the cigarettes and threatened to tell my dad."  I left his office with prescriptions for the treatment of COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Three days later, I received a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services - Center for Disease Control - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.  The letter stated the following (excerpts):

"...sending you this letter and enclosed information because we recently finished a study that included men who worked for at least two days at a beryllium processing plant."

"By receiving this letter, our records indicated that you worked at one of these facilities some time during 1940 to 1969."

"Our study found health concerns that we feel you should be aware of."

"...increased risk of CBD has been found..."

"We feel that this information would be important to share with your doctor at your next yearly visit to allow for better patient care."

Included as an enclosure was a fact sheet titled "Health Concerns for Workers who Worked Around Beryllium"

Wow!  My wife and I looked at each other wide-eyed.  This was interesting and so timely.

With the letter in hand, my wife and I went back to the pulmonologist with this new information.  He said that , "he had heard about Beryllium Disease in medical school and there was one question on a test he remembered", and "You'll be my first Beryllium patient."  Once again, my wife and I looked at each other knowing that this would never do.  We smiled politely, left and didn't make another appointment.

That's when my research into Beryllium related health problems began.