DOCTOR'S VISITS

DOCTOR’S VISITS

Today we were picked up at 9:30am to start the medicals. We were taken to a medical dispensary to see the Psychiatrist. We stopped to buy some chocolates for an old lady that works at the dispensary registering patients. Let me tell you, for those of you who have never been to Russia, I can tell you that these visits are more than you can bargain for. We are so lucky to live in the United States, to have jobs and to have health insurance (for those of us who are blessed to have health insurance). Anyways, we had to stand in line in order to get registered. When it was our turn, the lady that registered us was the sweetest old lady I have ever seen; she kept caressing my hair and saying kind things in Russian. Once we were registered, she gave me a kiss and wished us good luck. I will always remember her. I later found out that the lady was adopted herself, and she appreciates the foreign parents who go to Russia to adopt their children. She realizes that we are there to offer them a better life. I think she is one in 10,000. Well, we got to be interviewed by the Psychiatrist, she asked us how long we had been married, the reason why we did not have kids, among other things. Once we were done with her we drove kind of far to the tuberculosis specialist. We had to bring the x-rays that we had taken in the US. After that we headed to the city hospital, ohh my goodness, I was not prepared for that experience…… As soon as you walk in, there is this terrible smell, I cannot even describe it, but it is one of the worst smells I ever experienced. We had to go and be registered. After that we were taken to have an EKG. Well, the EKG machine is so old fachion, they still use cups as electrodes and plastic pliers to put on your ankles and wrists. They asked us who wanted to go first, and I volunteered Mauricio. I wanted to see what it entailed. Well, he had to take everything from the waist up. For him it was pretty uneventful, when it was my turn was when it became an issue for me. You have to get undressed in front of two Russian ladies, our interpreter, and on top of everything you have people peeking in the room while you have you boobies in the air. I was soo embarrassed…. And at the same time I was annoyed at ourselves, I tried to be prepared, since my friends had already warned me about this procedure, that I brought a disposable cover all the way from the US, and guess what, we left it in the van!!!! I could not believe it!!! Anyways, I had no choice, but to go ahead with the procedure, I just covered my eyes, and said to my self, I am never going to see this people again!!!. After we were done, we were taken to another part of the building to see the Neurologist and the Medical doctor. They were both female doctors, they both performed some tests and filled out our paperwork. After that we went to visit 3 other doctors. The last 3 were pretty easy. We were told that the last specialist was not available until the next morning. We were also informed that the judge was not going to be available to see until the next day in the afternoon. We are so hopeful that we are going to get a court date, but we will see what happens tomorrow. In the meantime, we were taken back to the hotel. We were so tired that we went right to sleep. Have I mentioned that I have been suffering from insomnia, I wake up in the middle of the night, and I can’t sleep after that. I have only been sleeping 3 to 4 hours at the time. I miss my bed terribly…. Our hotel is very good and clean, but, yes there is a but, the beds are so hard, worst than rocks. Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep. I will post some more tomorrow, until then.