Received a call on Tuesday from a very upset 18 year old.
He had a couple of little spots on his head and went to medical to have them check out.
They gave him an antibiotic which started to clear up the spots in 24 hours but they set him up and appointment with a dermatologist the next day.
He went to the dermatologists, who stated that the spots appeared to be a fungus that could turn into an infection but had cleared up so much they could not get a sample to do any testing on.
He was then told by Navy medical that he had two choices, he could leave the Navy and go home now or be put on a low dose antibiotic and be monitored for up to three months, if his head stayed clear he could go through to graduation.
If it reappeared then he would be kicked out of the Navy.
If he got athletes foot, would they kick him out of the Navy? we are haveing trouble understanding all this.
I understand he was upset and could have heard only parts of this but we need to know if possible how we can help him. I understand he is 18 now and needs to learn how to make his own decisions, but he is only 18 years old. He was so upset he was ready to quit and come home because he had worked so hard and then felt like he got kicked it the gut. We convinced him to stay and it will all work out. I hope we are correct.
Can anyone give us insight?
thanks
Kent
Replies
In three months he's going to deal with a whole different set of corpsman and doctors who may see this fungus quite differently.
Kent, glad to hear the update. We just got back from the PIR on Jan 6. Our son was in 036. He had a similar issue with a medical thing in his past record as a civilian. Took a while to get cleared up and he has to stay in GL another week too. Hopefully he'll be flying out this next weekend. But it gave us more time with him. We got to be with him Friday and Saturday.
Hi Kent, CVN74 John C Stennis. Aircraft Carrier
Hi Kent, I went through a different medical situation with my son through Boot. I know how much he wanted to succeed and follow through but on the other hand it was very discuraging for him. My son has been on the Stennis for over 2 years now and through everything I have been there for support and reassurance either verbal or visiting him when I can. I am very proud of him and others that have and are serving. That answered the call. With that said the only thing I can say is what I have done and be as supportive as can be and offer possative renforcement to our kids who are now adults. Congradulation to your son on his graduation and his accomplishments so far. I am sure there will be many more. Dave
Kent E Omer said:
I would advise my son to stick it out, take the medical treatment. Chances are high that it will clear up and be good to go and not come back. I've not heard of "fungal issues" of the scalp.If he had something like that it would be rare. Just Stay, that way he will have no regrets and will have done all he can for his situation.