Leukoplakia

For the passed two weeks Ive been sick.  Not the flu, or a cold, but oral leukoplakia. Yes and its as nasty as it sounds.  Two weeks ago I started to get what I thought was a sore throat... but it wasn't in my throat, it was more in the back in my mouth.  I didn't think anything of it and figured it would go away. Boy was I wrong. I soon felt pain down around the inside of my gums and made it very painful to speak.  I had my girlfriend take a look and she immediately told me to go to the doctor to have it checked out. Which made me nervous.  When I arrived at DCA the first thing I tried to sign up for was Student Health Insurance.  Unfortunately I was one year too old to get it.  Regardless I had to get this checked out before this became something I couldn't handle.  Something I learned is some Walgreens have a walk in clinic run by nurse practitioners. As soon as the nurse looked she was baffled.  She thought it was a chemical burn of some kind.  She asked me if I had eaten anything spicy recently.  Apparently a pledge for a local fraternity had come in the week before with burns in his mouth from his brothers putting habanero peppers in his mouth.  What we came up for me was I had eaten quite a few cinnamon red hots candy. Everywhere I kept them in my mouth to suck on them is where I had a sore or burn.  The nurse said to keep an eye on it but that it should go away in a few days. I was to stay away from acidic and spicy foods.

The next morning I woke up to quite a bit of pain in my mouth.  Swallowing was painful and speaking was excruciating.  It wasn't my voice that hurt but the rubbing of my tongue against the sores on my gums.  This was grounding me from flying.  During my lessons I am to take on as many radio calls as possible.  Its frustrating to know you can physically fly the plane but cant because you cant talk, even though your instructor is sitting right there. But I also understand.

 

The nurse practitioner from the previous day had given us the name of a Ear Nose and Throat doctor if it got any worse.  I called and made the appointment.  They were able to get me in that day. The doctor was very nice.  He prescribed an antibiotic and an antiviral and told me to come back in 2 weeks.  He didn't really tell me what it was.  

Trying to find foods that I could eat proved to be a challenge.  Even some soft foods were painful. Mashed potatoes felt like sandpaper but oatmeal was OK. Jello and pudding had a sting but mac and cheese was fine.  Some liquids were difficult as well. Water had a burn to it, but sweet tea was good.  Soon I learned to have a full meal I had to douse it with a warm sauce and take very very small bites.  Jessica and I picked up a whole chicken and some sides from Boston Market.  Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and mashed sweet potatoes.  All this with about 3 extra bowls of gravy.  I shredded the chicken into very small bites and tried to swallow without the gravy which proved to be an unwise decision.  As I tried to swallow the small cactus in my throat I took a spoonful of gravy and the prickles were gone.  The mac and cheese was good, and the mashed sweet potatoes were a no go.  Every so often I would take a bite and either brown sugar or the oats, would key the inside of my mouth.

I kept thinking about the fact that my Doctor didn't tell me what I had.  I started to go over the paper work and discovered he had written down the diagnosis but didn't really bother to explain what I had or how I got it.  Oral Leukoplakia was scribbled in almost unintelligible writing.  Google came up with a couple hits.  Normally this is found with smokers and is more common in men than women 2:1.  Basically they are white plaques on the inside of your mouth.  Some can be precancerous.  My doc did say he didn't think they were.  The next thing I Googled was what causes oral leukoplakia. I got a few hits with quite a surprising result.  Leukoplakia has been known to be caused by an allergic reaction to cinnamon.  Hmmmm...  Makes sense to me.  But before I diagnose myself with an allergy I'll ask the doc when I go into the follow up.  Until then I will avoid the stuff.

So for the passed 2 weeks Ive been nose in the books preparing for my oral exam, and hoping I don't forget how to keep the plane in the air.  I'm itching to get back up.  Staying on the ground this long is dangerous and I could start going crazy very soon.  I'm able to speak with almost no pain, and swallowing is still a bit of a chore but not nearly as bad as from the start of this.  I really hope I'll be back in the air next week.

Another Week, Same Stuff

Just one lesson away from a stage check and I just cant get it right.  Ive got half the lesson complete and now when I go fly to make up the rest of it, I always forget SOMETHING to get either an unsatisfactory on the lesson or an incomplete.  My lesson for almost the last week and a half has consisted of a precision approach (ILS) a GPS approach and one missed approach to a hold.  Every flight I nail everything but always screw up on at least one of the objectives above.  Whether its not entering a holding pattern correctly or forgetting to press a button to make everything work in harmony. My instructor commented that he knows I know how to do everything, but he has to see me do it to make sure I'm ready for my stage check flight which will occur after the stage check oral.  

So yes... I'm also studying for the oral exam.  All the acronyms are committed to memory.  Weather reports and types of reports are being studied again.  How the instruments of the "six pack" work.  Airspace, VOR's height and volumes.  My brain is crammed with all sorts of things I never thought Id ever know.  I feel like I could be a weather man for a local news station, or at least fill in for one. I don't think I'm ready yet for the oral... but I will be very soon.

This past week I received the opportunity to tour the KSFB Air Traffic Control Tower.  Because of national security only those with U.S. passports are allowed to tour the facility.  Which means about half the students at DCA wont get this opportunity.  7 stories high in the tower was a great 360 view.  It was a clear day and you could see the scrapers of downtown Orlando. Our guide showed us and explained the job of every seat in the tower.  I think my favorite part was learning about the relationship between the tower and the airport fire department.  Every morning the first person in the tower picks up the red crash phone. I'm not joking... it really is red.  As the ATC guys said, its the only time you ever want to pick up that phone.  They test the phone for two reasons: 1. To make sure it rings the firehouse. and 2. As soon as you pick up the phone it triggers the Firehouse garage doors to open.  How cool is that?  Pick up a phone and the doors open?!?  This gives the Fire guys one thing less to think about.  Wonder if I could set that up with my garage door or front door to my house.

I want to switch gears a little bit and give a shout out to the amazing crew of US AIRWAYS 1594, who, if you haven't heard by now, had to make an emergency landing after losing both engines and use the Hudson river as a landing strip.  Everyone aboard the A320 survived virtually unscathed.  A close friend of mine who is a pilot at United made a comment that I think sums it up best.  "This emergency landing was not textbook... These guys wrote the book."  With all the bad things that have been happening in the airline world these days, I think we sometimes forget that the crews are there for us.  Its not their fault the guys in the offices make some of the policies they do, or decide to charge us for some of the things that used to be complimentary.  Those guys don't fly with us passengers.  The crews deals with the outcome of what the suits put to paper.  The next time I'm on a flight... I'm going to make sure I give my crew a round of applause.  

A week with a Sub

I was excited to finally get back into the swing of things.  I went in to the operations center to check the list to make sure I was in a sim. My  instructor was suppose to change the lesson so I could practice, before going back up for the actual lesson.  Most instructors are pretty good about helping you save money.  Of course a flight compared to a sim is much more expensive. So if you don’t get it right the first or second try in the plane, they usually have you practice again in the sim before trying again.  The schedule however showed a flight.  I met my substitute instructor whose was Arabic but from Scotland.  Quite an interesting mix when you see and hear a Glasgow accent for the first time.  I told him the mix up but he decided to do a mock stage check flight with me, to give me an idea of where I was with my lessons.  I was all for it.

 All was going well.  I came in for an approach under the hood to practice a missed approach to a holding pattern at Leesburg Airport, and went direct to the holding area.  This is when I felt like I was on a completely different planet.  The procedures from my instructor from this one were different.  Where with mine I was able to do the pattern my way, my sub had me go through a list process everytime I made a turn.  5 steps that had to be verbalized as I did them.  In a holding pattern there are two headings to use.  The outbound heading and inbound.  They are reciprocals of each other. For example if your outbound leg is on a heading of 360 degrees your inbound is 180.  There is a marker I can place on the instruments called a bug that I use to remind me of any heading whether its given from ATC or for whatever reason.  Normally I would keep one heading in my head and the second heading under the bug.  This eliminated the need to keep twisting the dial for the bug to jump between both headings.  This wasn’t liked by my sub.  I was to start my time clock (a holding pattern is one minute for the leg) make your turn while twisting the bug to the next heading then call Approach to let them know I’m established in the pattern.  I felt in total chaos with this new order of procedures.

On the ground my sub said he would put incomplete on my lesson so that I could get back with my instructor and go over the lesson more. 

The next day came and went with no lesson.  As it turns out quite a few instructors took time off for the holidays which put them in a shortage of instructors for students.  I also found out  my instructor was sick and stuck in Canada.  So I would be in a sim with the same sub I had.  Which… I was really looking forward to.  He is strict but fun.  He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to disappoint.  Where I felt my instructor was s good guy, but way too laid back.  I was considering talking to someone about switching instructors.  Unfortunately the right people were no longer in their offices and it would have to wait.

That night I got the email that my instructor was back and I had a sim with him in the evening the next night.  Ok… lets give it another shot.  Something happened.  I’m not sure what.  My instructor was taking a completely different approach with me.  Was it the Canadian beer?  As I controlled the plane in the sim any time I made a mistake or forgot to do something he started me over from the beginning until I got the whole thing right. DAMN! This is frustrating… but… EFFECTIVE!  Lets stick with this guy for a little bit longer to see what happens.

Week of Books

Upon returning home I opened up my books to prepare myself for my upcoming stage check, as well as keep things as fresh in my head as humanly possible.  The next morning my nose was completely stuffed and my ears were constantly popping so I thought it would be best if I did not go fly to avoid any possibility of my head exploding while in the air.  I kept the books cracked open and the next day my head cold was no better or worse.  After this I stopped being put on the schedule.  I called my instructor to find out what was up.  Apparently when a student calls in sick two days in  a row they must call their instructor to state they are feeling better to get put back in the rotation.  So… I did.

The next day came and I was not on the schedule.  I called my instructor again who said he would call in and call me back with the word.  I never got that phone call.  I called in myself to scheduling to find out my instructor was on vacation and when they tried to put me on the schedule it would not allow them to.  Ok…  so… where was the phone call to ME asking me for what was up?!  FINALLY I get an email that I will be up and flying again this coming Monday… but with a different instructor.  This should be interesting.  I have only flown with a few other instructors and even though they are good… they are not MY instructor.  One particular instructor was really good, but was a smoker and it stunk up the cabin to the point where I could not concentrate on the tasks at hand.  Somehow I miraculously passed the standards and went on to the next lesson.  We shall see how this plays out on Monday.

Happy New Year to All!!  And Go Chargers!!!