poke + prod + very nice doctor
As everyone in the adoption community knows, compiling one's "dossier" (the set of documents that gets sent over to the country from which you are adopting) is one of the more stressful parts of the process. When it's complete, it's the size of a phone book - or so I'm told. (I promise to take a photo of mine, complete with measurements, before I send it off.)
One of the bigger pains in the arse is getting all the medical tests done and getting a doctor to notarize them all.
I finally got my appointment with my new (and cool, young, smart) doctor. She was very supportive of my adoption plans, and happily ordered up all the eleventy blood tests and other tests, and got me started on my vaccinations.
- I got an overall checkup.
- I gave blood for a full panel (cholesterol, etc.).
- I got a TB test (shot in the inside of my forearm).
- I got the first of 2 Hep A vaccination shots (shot in the upper arm).
- I got the first of 3 Hep B vaccination shots (shot in the upper arm, which burned like a mofo.)
- I got a prescription for my Typhoid vaccination series (pills!).
- I gave more blood for my HIV test.
- I peed in a cup for a God-knows-what test.
I was there for two and a half hours being poked and prodded.Before I left, I explained that I needed four notarized copies of the one medical form, and three notarized copies of the other medical form. And I waited for her to cringe, or tell me to hire a mobile notary to come to her office to notarize all those signatures. But she didn't.
My new awesome doctor said that her brother in law is a notary, and she happened to be having dinner with him the following night, and she would just take all the paperwork over to his house and make him notarize her (many) signatures for free.
This morning I got a message on my voicemail from her front-desk person, saying that all my paperwork is complete and ready to go!!
9 comments:
Thanks for the heads up on what to expect from the shots - "...burned like a mofo" - ooh, I can't wait for that one!
Great blog, btw. I checked you out from Ms JunieB.
so did you have to have all those tests and vaccines for the adoption, or for the travel to Ethiopia?
And is that dossier dependant on the country from which you adopt, or is it a general thing for international adoptions?
Holy Crap! You better set up a little place to worship your doctor because this is often one of the hardest steps. What a great lady!
Glad you have that part behind you...and with minimal distress :0)
Hey there fatwonkkid,
All of the tests were for the Ethiopia dossier and/or for my homestudy agency, and the vaccinations were for my travel to Ethiopia (someday!)
The dossier requirements do vary from country to country -- actually they vary a LOT, and Ethiopia is widely considered one of the easiest. So what am I griping about? :-)
chou-chou
your Dr. is a goddess!!!
That is wonderful that your Dr. handled notarizing the docs so easily! It makes such a difference having a physician who is supportive of adoption.
That's great. My doctor was cool about it all, too, but I had to bring in a traveling notary.
Yay for cooperative doctors and free notaries!! That's like half the battle with this process!
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