Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Getting closer! One more needle prick and I should be good to go!

I received a rather snide email this morning from my nurse reviewer saying that the labs my doctor faxed over were not right and, basically, that if I want to be medically cleared then I need to send over the correct labs. (Okay, I do, so I will get right on it!) Obviously I wanted to call my doctor's office at 6:18am when I got the email but, alas, they don't open until 8 so I had to wait... So I got ready for work extra quickly, took my dog for a walk, and then sat staring at the clock waiting for it to strike 8 so I could make an appointment to get in for the blood draw to run the labs. (This is evidence of my personal growth through the Peace Corps process - I am actually seeking out doctors and needles and blood draws!) I left a voicemail for my doctor's assistant, explaining everything and asking her to get back to me. Then I waited. At 10:53 I called again because I hadn't received a call back. This time I actually got to talk to my doctor's assistant, who I adore. She said she was going to chase down my doctor and get her to send the tests to the lab right away and that she would call me back to confirm as soon as it was taken care of. It's now 11:56 and I'm waiting again to hear from her. Sigh. Honestly, if Peace Corps teaches me anything during this whole application process it's patience. I will most likely get in to the lab this afternoon for the blood draw and hopefully they can put a rush on the two labs. I really want to get everything faxed over to Peace Corps by Friday so that my nurse reviewer has a chance to look it all over and medically clear me by Thanksgiving - it sure would be a nice little side dish to turkey and gravy! Fingers crossed!

6 comments:

  1. FYI, my doctor called and said I could come in so I dropped everything and drove straight to the lab! My final Peace Corps medical review blood draw is officially done! The labs should be ready in 2-3 days and my doctor is going to fax them directly to my nurse reviewer when they come in!!! I may actually get to be thankful for my medical clearance by Thanksgiving!

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  2. I had some trouble with the Hep B labs too, the nurse who was ordering the labs was all a titter and wanted me in and out tout de suite. she was convinced that "these three for hep..." meant ABC and not B surface antigen/core antibody, etc. I had to take a deep breath and tell her to take a chill pill while I explained it all. It shouldn't matter if you were vaccinated or not, they should do what you ask. I was born in 83 also, and not vaccinated as a child, but my university required it as an incoming freshman, so I had the three shots done in 01. Glad you've gotten it done finally though! it'll be a good feeling :)

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  3. This is all good news, even though it was a total hassle to go through. You got everything moving, and you learned to be OK with needles! Is it too early to wish for an invite before Christmas??

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  4. Elizabeth, I wish my university required them so it'd be over and done with... Oh well, I'm sure I will get the vaccinations eventually. And Kati, I think we absolutely should wish for an invite for Christmas! I mean, I've already decided that I'm going to be grateful for medical clearance at Thanksgiving dinner (I hope!) so it sure would be nice to wake up to an invite under the tree for Christmas! ;-)

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  5. Congrats! I've been reading your blog and see you're from Washington. Me too :) I'm on the eastside ... I was invited to serve in Thailand in January and am so excited!

    Not sure if you heard about the PC event this Friday ... here's the link. I'm thinking about going. Should be pretty cool - PC Director is in town :)

    http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=meet.regrec.event&eventid=95110

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  6. Tija,

    I figured I would move our conversation from Kati's blog to yours. I went to high school with Katie and yes, I was at the wedding so we totally did meet. You'll probably remember me as the girl who tried to wrestle in the bar. Sometimes I just can't help it. ;)

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