Posted by klausen on July 01, 2003 at 12:50:10:
In Reply to: Diabetic in a flap with DMV posted by Ellen on June 30, 2003 at 17:16:18:
When I got my undergraduate degree I applied to the Humboldt Foundation for a grant to study in Germany, and was ranked third on the short list of five candidates at my school. There was, of course, the inevitable medical exam to make sure the candidate did not waste the foundation's money by dropping dead before the fellowship ended, and a special condition set for me was that I submit results of the only measure of diabetic control then available, a URINE test! Although my blood sugar, then as now, fluctuated from 2 to 22 several times a day, when the test was taken the result was 4 plus, which oldtimers will remember was one of the worst possible for a urine test. Needless to say, all five of the candidates on the list got their fellowship except for the 'uncontrolled diabetic,' who was supposed to be too feeble to benefit from it since one of his urine sugar results was so high. Ironically, at the same time a life insurance company agreed to sell me a policy because a urine test I had taken for them happened to turn out normal!
Later I developed another autoimmune disease, vasculitis, which may be related to diabetes. A side-effect of this condition was that my fingerprints became indistinct, so when I needed a check of my criminal record for the time I lived in the United States, the FBI refused to certify that I had no criminal convictions, since they could not check my records on the basis of my indistinct fingerprints. Letters from doctors explaining the problem, endless offers to submit other forms of identification, attestations from fingerprint experts that the FBI would be able to identify my prints by using specialized techniques, all failed to elicit a response from the bureaucracy. My plea to a friendly U.S. politician, however, somehow persuaded the FBI overnight that the whole investigation might be possible after all.