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On May 30, I received a voice message for Victor from the county Health Department. When we returned the call, they said Victor had to come in for TB tests! First Victor, then I, told them repeatedly that Victor had already had TWO sets of TB tests, all negative, but the woman said that because immigration had informed them about Victor's x-rays, he had to come in for more tests on June 17th. I was angry, but we wrote down the appointment.
A few days later, we received a follow-up letter with our appointment and a cover note that included this:
Although you were cleared for entry into the US, this pre-immigration [TB] exam was not intended to diagnose or treat extra-pulmonary TB, non-infectious pulmonary TB,or Latent TB infection.... We recommend [actually, require !] that you have a medical exam to determine if you have active TB disease.
Had they explained that on the phone, I would have not have been so upset.
On June 17th, they took another lung X-ray, took Victor's medical history, and took a sputum sample. Then we learned that he has to (again!) give a sputum sample twice more, come another time for blood tests, and come a fifth time for final results. Gee, despite what the letter said, they're re-doing exactly what we've done twice in the past in Juarez! All they can say in explanation is that they don't fully trust the clinics in Juarez. You know, the ones they insisted we visit! I'm pissed! 👿
And, of course, after all that, when we went again on August 26th, they said the tests were negative and we were done. What a waste of time!
Link to more photos.
Lured by airfares briefly as cheap as $39, I scheduled a quick trip to the San Francisco Bay area. We were there for several days this past week. The weather was warm and dry.
We landed in Oakland mid-day Tuesday, and I rented a car. There are only a few locations to buy a senior BART Clipper card, so we stopped in downtown Oakland to do that, and then visited Lake Merritt and some of its gardens. We stayed in Pinole.
On Wednesday, we hiked in Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. The hikes were fine, with good views of San Pablo Bay, but San Francisco was too fogged over to see. Later, we went into the city. We tried to see sunset from the Marriott Marquis Hotel lounge, but it was still too foggy and there were no seats. At the Disney Store in Union Square, Victor was delighted to buy this on sale:
On Thursday, we used a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to see much of SF: the civic center to visit the central library and its LGBTQIA Center; Golden Gate Park for views from the de Young Museum tower and some gardens; North Vista Point to see and walk some on the Golden Gate Bridge; Lombard Street for the crookedest block; and Chinatown to eat.
We were with Greg Castillo for most of Friday. At the Museum of Modern Art, while I was checking my jacket, Greg arrived and spotted Victor. We visited a few exhibits, then went to Castro Street. One new thing since I was last there: a bunch of men routinely stand around almost naked. They were happy to let us take photos with Victor standing among them:
As we were walking to one of Greg's favorite restaurants for dinner, I realized I had left my jacket at MOMA! It was now closed. After dinner, we went to several shops in the Haight to find outerwear for me. We also visited Love on Haight and tried on some of the headgear:
Greg had arranged for the owner of the Westerfeld House to give us a private, very detailed tour:
On Saturday, we went back to MOMA to retrieve my jacket, and then flew home.
