Posted on 08/19/2004 9:20:29 AM PDT by Shermy
(From April 2004)
WASHINGTON - John Kerry has a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh from an injury he suffered in the Vietnam War, his doctor said Friday during a review of 36 pages of the Democratic presidential candidate's military medical records.
The records shown briefly to reporters provided a few more details about the wounds that resulted in Kerry's three Purple Hearts and show that he suffered from respiratory ailments, a skin rash and a minor urinary tract infection during his four years in the Navy.
Kerry was wounded three times while commanding a swiftboat in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, an assignment that brought him close to enemy fire several times.
Some of Kerry's critics have questioned whether his injuries were serious enough to warrant three Purple Hearts and reassignment out of Vietnam. Kerry's doctor, Gerald Doyle, said he could not characterize the severity of the wounds since he didn't see them, but he noted that Kerry was in danger of serious injury several times.
Kerry got his first Purple Heart after he got shrapnel in his left arm above his elbow. Doyle said if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him.
And Doyle said Kerry's third Purple Heart came from a dangerous situation on March 13, 1969, that could have been life-threatening. A mine had exploded near Kerry's swiftboat and enemy snipers were shooting around his boat.
According to notes from a military doctor who treated Kerry three hours later, Kerry was thrown against the bulkhead, resulting in contusions on his right forearm. A small piece of shrapnel was lodged in his left upper buttock. He was treated with a tetanus shot, topical dressing and an ace bandage and advised to apply warm soaks to his right forearm.
Kerry also was wounded by a piece of shrapnel on Feb. 20, 1969, this time on his left thigh. Doctors decided to leave the shrapnel in place rather than make a wider opening to remove it. Doctors removed damaged tissue and the entry wound was closed with sutures, and no infection developed around the shrapnel, according to the records.
Kerry jokingly told reporters aboard his campaign plane that the shrapnel hurts when it rains. He said tht although it was hot and burned at the time, he doesn't feel it now.
Kerry was diagnosed with pneumonia in September 1966 and had an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis during his time in the military. The records also show Kerry had pneumonia in 1965 before his enlistment. Doyle said Kerry has hay fever and allergies to pollen and mold and is probably predisposed to pneumonia. Doyle said Kerry had pneumonia at least once since his time in Vietnam, but he usually recovers quickly from respiratory ailments because his immune system is healthy.
Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan interrupted Doyle to ask that he only comment on Kerry's medical records in the military, noting that the doctor had already issued a letter outlining Kerry's health during the 18 years that he has treated the senator.
Doyle said the skin rash on Kerry's chest, arms and legs in 1967 was probably an inflammation of hair follicles from the warm weather in San Diego, where he trained before going to Vietnam. It was treated with a steroid cream.
Two days after Kerry was treated for the rash, doctors noted that Kerry reported coughing and other symptoms and requested a chest X-ray. "This is a very aggressive patient," the medical notes say. Doyle said he couldn't know what that meant, but speculated Kerry might have insisted on getting the X-ray since he had pneumonia a few months earlier.
This week the campaign has posted on its Web site more than 200 pages of information about Kerry's military record. The campaign said when the Navy sent Kerry his military file, it did not include his medical records, and those shown to reporters Friday were copies that Kerry had in his personal files.
The Kerry campaign allowed 19 reporters who travel with Kerry to talk to his doctor and view the medical file for about 30 minutes. Reporters had to sign the file in and out and were not allowed to take a copy.
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter noted that the 30-minute review was 10 minutes longer than reporters had with President Bush's military medical files. She said the campaign will not release the record to the public because "we don't consider this information to be public in the first place."
Also on Friday, Kerry announced a "Contract with America's Middle Class" during a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The contract was a compilation of ideas that Kerry has been touting on the campaign trail - a new plan to win the war, create 10 million jobs, cut middle class taxes and streamline government.
Kerry also had a private meeting with Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former President Carter, at Kerry's home in Georgetown.
Yeah, and if an elephant dropped out of the sky and landed on him it could have broken his back. So what?
If a chicken had teeth, it could chew gum. Again- SO WHAT? Kerry is so full of it, Bandini should be looking for him as the Golden Goose of BS.
I'll vote for you next time around!
OMG! If the melon gets in your eye you will really have problems!
Yup....a friggen whimp cry baby!
"What is with democrats and grenades?"
I think it has to do with the pivoting arm on the side - it is so similar to a butterfly's wing. (I seem to racall something about "Butterfly Ballots.")
Let me get this straight. He has some shrapnel is his arm, but the doctor feels it helpful to mention if it had hit Kerry's eye, it "could have blinded him"? What kind of idiotic statement is that? And if he'd been shot, he could have been killed. Duh.
Let me get this straight. He has some shrapnel is his arm, but the doctor feels it helpful to mention if it had hit Kerry's eye, it "could have blinded him"? What kind of idiotic statement is that? And if he'd been shot, he could have been killed. Duh.
I would bet the so-called shrapnel that is embedded in his butt is rice! Or a fragment of rice! That is why Kerry wouldn't have it removed! Wanna bet you can't see it on an xray?
Or it could be that democrats, at least those that rise in the party hierarchy, throw like girls.
LOL first thing I thought of too.
It could be a fragment of Terezaaaaaas shoe, namely a sliver of cured leather. It abcessed and the resultant purulent matter inflected Chisel Head's brain. Ala, the Flippy-floppy behavoir caused by diseased and misfiring synapes.
Kerry's forehead 'new look' since he was on vacation for three days -- Frozen stiff. He can't move the skin above his eyebrows...again. All those corrugated ruts in his forehead are gone....again. Ah, the wonder of botox. No mention of botox in any of his med. records, of course.
Good at catching though, hand grenades that is.
How much is TerAYsa paying this doctor? Hmmm?
Kerry's doctor, Gerald Doyle, said that if Kerry had been hit in the eye by the shrapnel, it could have blinded him.
Why did Doyle stop there? He could have added that if the Viet Cong had shot a paper clip with a rubber band at Kerry, and it had hit him in the eye, it could have blinded him.
Furthermore, if Kerry had run with scissors behind a hooch, he might have seriously injured himself.
Why, if Kerry had been in Cambodia on Christmas Eve of 1968 and he'd gotten drunk with the South Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge, he might have nodded out into his drink and aspirated enough liquid to drown in his own egg nog.
All of the above are much more likely than Kerry being a real hero. For real heroes, go to Swiftvets.com. -OhMike
And when I reached for the can of Progresso soup that I had for lunch, it could have fallen on my head, causing severe head injury.
Grew up in California-- moved out because I couldn't stand it there. I'll take CA drivers over MN drivers any day of the week, though. -- but you're right, our traffic doesn't compare.
And if my aunt was a man, he would be my uncle!!!
Speaking of California... ;-)
Minor urinary tract infection? From Olongapo, perhaps?
ya think that piece of shrapnel says 'MADE IN USA' ??
The difference in a 'Rat who screws up and a Republican who screws up is that the 'Rat tries to get everyone to believe, contrary to the facts, that he is a "hero" while the Republican knows he's not and has the good sense to keep his mouth shut!
next...
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