doctors galore

January 21, 2011

Medicals part two -8 doctors (8 is my favorite number, but not when it comes to counting doctors)

By 7PM last night Jim was fast asleep. I was awake still watching the National Geographic Channel, made it to 8PM. We woke at 1AM, played some chess, and went back to sleep until 11:30AM…jet lag.

Vlad comes by at two to take us back to the American Medical Center for the 8 doctor medical. Traffic is lighter and we make it there faster than expected our coordinator has not arrived yet, but we sign in, hang our coats and sit in the waiting area watching something that looks like the Russian version of MASH. A nurse comes to get us and we wait in a small exam room. Up next is our tag team of doctors…

1. General Practitioner

She sits down and says I’m going to ask questions all about you. Really she just asks about our general health. What diseases we have had, have we had any surgeries and how often we get sick. She listens to our hearts, takes our blood pressure, and says she will send in the next doctor. Sadly it is not a rapid succession of doctors but still 8 doctors in about 3 hours isn’t bad. Plus the time between doctors gives me a chance to jot down notes about the meetings.

2. Dermatologist

Take off your close so I can look at your skin. Good you can get dressed. Open your mouth. Okay looks good. Thanks.

3. Oncologist

“Hi my name is, doctor something I can’t remember, and I’m and oncologist.” We don’t have cancer I tell him, and he laughs. Asks about the caner in our families and we share about our mothers. He says “so what’s wrong with you?” Nothing that we know of we tell him. “So no reproductive issues?” He asks. Nothing that we know of we tell him. “Never heard of such a thing.” He tells us and walks away.

4. Psychologist

This doctor does not speak English so the first doctor translates for us. He asks us an interesting variety of questions…
-are we depressed, on medications, have bi-polar, etc.
-asks if we have seen a psychologist before –I say yes, we had to for our adoption
-are we vegetarians
-do we have guns
-do we have pets
-what are we afraid of –I say bugs cause I’m really not a fan
-why are we adopting
-why not natural children first
-asks if I’m scared of giving birth –I say not particularly, but wonder isn’t everyone a little scared of that…
-again he asks why we are adopting

Our coordinators show up and we leave the exam room and talk with them. One just has a pile of post placement reports for us to deliver to Kemerovo after handing them off to us she leaves. Our other coordinator stays and explains something, I don’t remember what, and tells us she will be here when we are done.

5. Neurologist- this was my favorite doctor…he was the only one that told a joke.

Jim goes first. Sit down, follow this with your eyes, let me test your reflexes, stand up, hands out, eyes closed, touch your nose. Great. He asks us about various illnesses and we say no no no. He says “What, you never have a headache” Sure, but not chronic. He is the only doctor that shakes our hands and wishes us luck with the adoption as he leaves the room.

6. Not sure this doctor’s title, but she brings in our chest X-rays for examination.

Sticks the x-rays up on the light box says they look great, asks us about various breathing problems, and we say no to everything. We are so boring that she leaves.

7. Infectious diseases

What diseases have you had? What immunizations have you had in the past ten years? Okay, thanks.

8. Addiction specialist

Tells us our urine looks great. Thanks I’ve been working on that! (I keep that thought in my head for fear it does not translate well into Russian or fear that someone might actually believe me) Asks us how much we drink. Wonders if we use or have used drugs. Again we are so boring he leaves.

We are told that is that and we should go pay (the bill was less than we were told it would be, always good) and wait about 20 minutes so they can get together the certificates that we need. While waiting we chat with our coordinator about what I need to do when I arrive in Moscow. She leaves. We go outside, find Vlad, and head back to the hotel.

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Currently we are at the airport in Moscow waiting for our flight to Siberia. Sadly it is another overnight flight...guess it saves on hotel costs.