SantiagoBear

03:34 pm: Happy CSA Day
I missed Groundhog day.  Damn.  I'm hoping he didn't see his shadow.  I'm not sure I could take 6 more weeks of summer.  It's hot.

I got a message from FedEx the other day, saying they'd tried to deliver a letter, and I wasn't home.  I called. 

"Oh, yes, Mr. Bear, We've tried 3 times now, and so you have to come here to pick it up."
"But this is the first notice I've received."
"I assure that it's the 3rd attempt."
"Then return it to the sender and refund their money."

FedEx doesn't really DELIVER anything here.  They drive by, never bothering to stop or ring the bell, and if you're not in the street to wave them down, they consider it a "delivery attempt." I have never actually RECEIVED anything from FedEx, since I've lived here, and lots of folks have tried.  THEN - - on the third drive-by, they actually slow down long enough to throw a "We tried to deliver" card over the fence.  It says plainly "Please call to arrange a delivery time." 

HOWEVER, since they only throw it over the fence on the third "attempt", they never come back out.  You have to go to their offices, which are either AT the airport or 2 Km to the east of the airport.  BOTH out in West Bumfuck, Santiago where there is no public trans, and you have to pay tolls if you decide to drive.  

When NIH sends me my meds, I drive out. I'm not going to drive out for a letter.

SOOOOOO

I email my Nurse at NIH. 

"You're the only folks I know who insist on using FedEx to deliver stuff to me, when the Postal Service is both faster and cheaper.  SO - - - I'm assuming you sent the Letter I'm not going to receive."

I was right.

April (my nurse) e-mailed me the letter.  It says my study is ending within the year.

Seems that when you combine IL-2 with HAART, the patients seem to get higher CD4+ cell counts, but they don't seem to die any less than the folks who get HAART alone.  IL-2 DOES have seriously nasty side-effects, so they're terminating the study.  (They've conducted it for about 15 years, now, so they've collected a lot of data.  How do I know? I was one of the first participants.)

Anyhoo - - -if you want to imagine the side effects, just imagine the worst flu you've ever had.  Multiply that by 10. Now add fevers high enough that 5 days later, all the skin on your body begins to peel off. Add to that that you can't piss, and if you stop drinking water, you'll die from overheating.  Then add the fact that you need to continually add eloctrolytes (GATOR ADE - - -ICK) to keep from not being able to process the water.

That's sort of what it's like.  For a week.

It's been about 8 years since I've had to take it . .. it's a one week on - six weeks off sort of med - - and they don't give it to you if your cell count is high enough.  Mine's been declining slowly for all that time, but it still wants to stay in the 600-800 range, so far. Not bad considering it was 245 when I started.

Anyway - - this was the 2nd study I've done for them, and they assure me that I'm a VERY good little guinea-pig, and they're looking for something else to test on me . .  I doubt they'll find anything.

The outcome seems to be that after September, my trips will stop, and so will my med-supply.  I'll have to buy them here.  One good thing MAY be that the meds I'm taking are fairly "old" for HIV meds . . and there may soon be generics. Nonetheless, they're pricey, even down here where full prices seem to be about a quarter of what they are up North for most (but not all - - - insulin costs about the same, for exampte) drugs.

They STILL want to see me about once a year, to keep track of me, they say, but it'll probably have to be on my own dime - - the international flight (which sometimes costs more to Miami than it would direct to DC) has been on my own dime, anyway.  But since I won't be getting Meds from Uncle Sugar, the incentive seems to have gone . . .. .

Except that I'll miss the folks . . I've been going there for 22 years, now.  Some of them are like family.

Anyhoo - - I'm probably going to have to find sources of other stuff via mail-order that I've been getting when I take trips  - - -   And probably from Canada.

Why from Canada?  Because you can import stuff from Canada that you can't import from the US.  Don't ask me why.  Nuts and such can come from the GWN, but not from the States. Unless the Supermarket Chains import them, of course, and they aren't reliable.

On a cheerier note, Carlos and I are going to go South in the very first part of March - - I fly to the States on the 12th - my penultimate visit - probably to Chiloé. It's an Island off Puerto Montt - - huge, actually, and with (what I'm told) a culture almost entirely distinct from the rest of the Country.  There ARE ferries (and probably fairies), so we can make the trip by car, not by plane.

I'm going to have to pay taxes to the Feds, this year.  Maybe to the State as well. I've sort of quit in the middle, because it depresses me.

The UF (Unidad de Fomento) has been falling ....about CLP$8 every day for the past couple of months.  It generally only goes up.  Lots of things are priced in UF (houses, insurance, etc.) supposedly as a "hedge against inflation."  It basically means that if you buy a house, the amount you've borrowed continually increases every month until the loan is paid off. It also means that you can start an insurance polcy (on the car, for example) at one price, and your premiums are higher every month. 

People are beginning to change some prices to Pesos.Today's value for the UF is $21,230.28 The US dollar costs $623.87.  Not too bad.

Gasolene has been edging up, again.  It was down to as low as about $412 per liter.  Monday, I paid $438 at the cheapest station in town. At today's exchange that's US$2.66 per gallon (also US).  It's the least I've ever paid for Gasolene outside the US.  Well, I didn't actually convert it when I was paying $412 (that was about a month ago, when the peso was worth less), so I've seen it cheaper, but not in terms of . . . well, you get the picture.

Not much else to tell.  All else seems to be going well.

Sorry I don't post more.