Typhoid!?!?

So this is the Chinese visa.  AKA, that which is going to put my husband’s life at risk, and take him away from me, leaving me in this foreign country ALL ALONE!

Glenn had his first visit at our new doc’s office this afternoon.  At the mention of his upcoming visit to China, he was immediately handed a prescription for four pills of anti-typhoid fever.  YUCK!  He is to start taking them immediately, especially since we have no clear idea as to when he will have to go, except to say that it will be ‘sooner than later’.  He was also referred to their gastroenterologist, since he is due for his VERY regular colonoscopy.  Should we not receive a phone call from the gastro’s office in the next THREE days, we are to contact them immediately.  

After checking his BP, Dr Dave also requested that he take his own blood pressure every morning, and to forward the readings to the office.  Yes, we Canucks are inclined to be a bit scathing of the US medical system, but so far, I’m impressed!  AT home, we can wait for a  l o n g  time to get a referral to a specialist, not every time of course, but….  Plus special tests requiring the use of snazzy equipment can involve an interminable wait!  You need an MRI?  Better go in through the Emergency Department, since they get priority.  Otherwise, you are likely in for at least a year’s wait.

Of course, I have no idea what the waiting period for that sort of test is here, but this HMO at least seems focussed on finger snapping speed.  Getting a phone call from the specialist does not necessarily mean that the test will happen that quickly.  I will certainly keep you apprised of this new experience of ours, and how it plays out in our case.  Honestly, there is NO big hurry for yet another test for his colon, as he has tested clear every time so far.  It is his family history that keeps growling in the background, and the fact that his Dad’s case wasn’t diagnosed until it was far too extensive to be conquered.  

Today, he got a surprise call from Apple’s Immigration Lawyer.  Apparerently, Glenn got lucky:  his name was drawn in the H1B lottery.  This means that he now  progresses to the next step;  the State Department  evaluates his visa request, and will let him know by the end of May as to whether they will continue to process his application.  He could potentially have the new visa in his hands by the fall!  

Should he get this precious visa, we will eventually be given the option of applying for US Citizenship, or ‘dual citizenship’.  WOW!  This is all happening SO fast!  We arrived into this country just over a month ago, and now…  I DO have this feeling of it all being preordained, and that we are simply following the dance steps that were determined perhaps long ago, by someone else.  I know, I’m lapsing into the just plain weird, but it is a comfortable place for me.  

So, my less exciting adventures today included me stopping in to a grocery store that is new to me.  Constantly searching for somewhere that I can buy Natural Bran (aka Red Bran), I figured that this was a reasonable  place to check.  I had heard that they have a worthy bulk food section!  They do in fact have three aisles of bulk foods, including oat bran, flax, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and the like.  But….NO BRAN!  I asked a staffer, who asked a manager, who asked THE manager, who took my name and phone number, and said he would definitely let me know about what he learns.  Meanwhile, I suggested that the lids of the bins AND the backs of the bins would be better served if half a magnet was affixes to each, keeping the lid open while the customer self-served.  Without those magnets the lids were constantly slapping closed, knocking the scoop out of the customer’s hand, and spreading the product on the floor!  ‘WOW! ‘   The manager said, what a cool idea!  Bless my frequent visits to Bulk Barn!