As a lot of you know, I had a nuclear stress test last Monday. They put a radionuclide dye into my veins to light up my heart while I was doing my test.
Tuesday I made a trip down to Mexico to pick up medications for several people. I have done this about 3 times in the last year due to the medications being so much cheaper down there. (For example, one of the inhalers that my roommate's mother uses is $100 for a month's supply after her insurance. It costs $45 for the month's supply there, no prescription or insurance needed.) I was never asked about medical procedures or anything previously.
This time, I parked, crossed the border, picked up the medications at the pharmacy, and headed into the Border Patrol/Customs office. Two officers were in there helping two people already, so I got into line. I heard the first officer ask his customer if he had recently had a stress test. The guy said no, and I thought "well, that's ironic. I'll have to tell them I had one." The first officer lifted up a black box that was beeping and had a flashing light on top and said something to the second officer. I heard the second officer ask his customer "Have you had a stress test recently?"
At this point, I was wondering if I should just tell them right up front that I had a stress test, when the first officer brought the black box up to me and said "It's you." I said "I had a stress test." They asked me to step away from the line, rescanned the two guys which didn't produce any flashing lights or beeps, and then had me come up to the desk.
I wound up talking to the second officer. He picked up the phone and told someone "we have a gamma out front." From then on, I was called "Gamma". I have decided this should be my new online name.
I was taken into the back where I sat on a bench. Another officer came out, apologized that it was taking so long and told me that the machine they needed to scan me with wasn't working. He said it would be fixed soon. While I was waiting, a female officer entered the office. There must have been some sort of notice on the wall, because she asked "Who's hot?". All of the officers who were in there pointed at me. Nothing like having a bunch of uniformed guys pointing at you when asked who's hot to boost your ego. (even when you know that they are referring to radioactive material :P) They brought out a bigger machine and scanned me. Then officer returned my ID and let me go on my merry way.
I was only there for about 1.5 hours. Everyone was polite and professional.
I then got stopped again when stopping at the border patrol checkpoint between California and Arizona. I explained the whole thing to him right off the bat, and it went much faster.
Moral of the story, don't do any travelling for a week after you've had a nuclear stress test, unless you want everyone calling you "hot".