Sitting at the lab/the busiest day

** The first part of this was written on my phone while waiting at the lab, the second half was finished this evening. This might be the longest and most boring entry ever, you are warned.**

I just left the doctor's office where the nurse was in the biggest hurry ever :-/ I went over all the forms with her so she could highlight what needed to be signed by the doctor, but filling out the form for the blood tests made me want to just tell her to stop and chill. I tried to show her the eight tests that I needed done and she just went "yep, yep, yep, we'll just do the Hep Panel and it'll get all three." All three as in Hep A, B, C. Not as in the three Hep B core/surface antibody/antigen nonsense that is required. She offered to have all the lab results mailed to me instead of having to come in again, which I do appreciate, so I self addressed some envelopes so they can send them. Anyway, meeting with the doctor was fine. I got to sit in the office and talk a little bit about me and my life and give my family medical history and then go over all the forms that needed to be filled out. He did me the honor of writing that I'm a non-smoker and was just trying to be honest on the initial application, which I appreciate. He also asked about birth control pills, which I used to be on, but stopped once my prescription ran out and I was uninsured. I don't feel a super strong need be on them since I'm not with anyone right now, but it was nice to have extra light, short periods. I would just really rather be on or off consistently and not changing it up every time I get a new job, insurance, or geographic location. I'll have to call my medical point of contact to see what's available overseas. (I guess I also don't want to start a new medication and have to get a medical hold put on my account...)

After leaving the doctor's I drove over to the lab to get all the blood tests done. Let me just interrupt myself to rant about how incredibly dumb it is that you have to have written doctors orders to get blood tests done. Who the HELL cares if I want to find out about my Hep B antigen status, or if I have HIV, or if my G6PD titer is where it should be. I have a freaking list from the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT that says I need these tests done, why isn't that good enough? Ok, down from my soapbox. I checked in and handed the woman the form that the nurse had filled out and then showed her the list from PC and asked her to double check that the tests requested were the ones checked. She just looked at me like I was crazy and told me I'd have to take it up with my doctor. I tried to explain that I had, that the nurse had been in a hurry, that I wanted to get it right the first time instead of coming back in a week, and that I had looked over the form and didn't understand half of the abbreviations on there. She again looked at me like I was nuts. She said that she would put everything into the computer, see if anything was duplicated and then if anything was missing I'd have to call to get verbal consent to add the tests on. At this point I took a deep breath and counted to ten and then went back and sat down. (I really don't understand why I can't have say over what tests are done from my OWN BLOOD) After a few minutes she called me back to the window and was already on the phone with nurse at my doctor's making sure that all eight tests would be done. I'm so glad I asked too, because it turns out that two were missing. I told her how much I appreciated her calling and double checking for me and actually almost got teary eyed, because I really was that thankful. The guy who actually drew my blood laughed because I asked to see the final form one last time. I had four vials drawn (not bad!) and peed in a cup.

After the lab I drove to the walk-in that I usually go to for colds and such to get my vision and hearing tested. As soon as I parked I realized that I had walked out without paying the nice woman at the lab. Oops. The hearing test was completely embarrassing, I missed so many. I could hear ambient sounds like cars driving by, the air conditioning kicking on, people coughing in the room next door, but I could not hear those damn tones. My vision was better, 20/15 in both eyes without any glasses or contacts :) It must be because I wear sunglasses while I'm listening to my all too loud music? Anywho, I drove BACK to the lab to pay where they just said "oh no, we just send you a bill if your insurance doesn't cover it all." Nice. Good thing the lab and the walk-in are only about a mile from one another.

I drove home after that just time to log on to the info session regarding nominees and invitees and the beginning of service and all that. It was helpful, but I feel like I've perused so many blogs by this time that all the information is just mushing together in my head. I asked about just flat out not receiving an invitation after clearing medical (because that seems to be my biggest fear right now) but I think he interpreted it as "what if I don't pass medical" because he suggested that placement would just be more hesitant about where to put me and that I needed to contact my medical person about holds and whatnot. By the time it was over I was so overloaded with Peace Corps that I needed a break. I drove over to my friends house for a movie date. She has a 4 week old baby so she's home all day and we have a shared love of all things movie, so we figured we'd put our mutual unemployment status to good use and have a weekly cinema experience. I got home a little bit ago and started sorting through my million pieces of paperwork.

I have everything sorted into three piles/giant envelopes. The first is "Stuff that is mine that isn't being sent anywhere." This stuff is the letter I got about my password, my copy of the NAC form, privacy statement, my copy of all my dental stuff, etc. The second pile is "Stuff that is still being worked on". Self explanatory. The third is "Stuff ready to be sent" That pile is getting bigger and bigger thankfully. I was going through the stuff that was done today, checking everything off of that nice blue and white checklist when I got to section X. Can I please say that I freaking hate section X? It's so non-descript but huge and blank and suggests that a LOT needs to be written there. The title is Summary of the Medical Examination and Additional Comments, but the part that the Dr. can write in is a list of "All Active and Chronic Conditions," "Recommendations & Comments," and "Do you have any medical concerns...?" I hate this. Anyway, I was checking everything and realized that my doctor had signed it, but didn't print his name, put his license number, or contact info. Grr. I am really pissed at myself for missing this, and I guess I'll be making a trip back over there tomorrow.

I am so tired right now I can't even think anymore. In non-medical news, I have been emailing back and forth with a woman at the English Language Institute at my alma mater about volunteering there for the semester. I was told there would be two possibilities for volunteering through them, one being a classroom assistant and the other being a conversational partner. I contacted two different women about both opportunities and the one who's in charge of the classroom assistants emailed me back. She asked for my background and resume, which I gave, and then she asked if I'd had ESL Methodologies in grad school. My heart sank. I will first say that I loved my grad school advisor. She has known me my entire life and is amazing and without her I could not have done grad school as successfully as I did. The only regret I have is that she suggested that I not worry about ESOL courses. I really wish I hadn't listened to that. I emailed the woman back asking that would derail volunteering for them, but she got right back to me saying not at all, that she was trying to figure out if I could have TAUGHT October - December for them. I was so relieved and at the same time annoyed. I could still volunteer, but teaching would have been AWESOME.

The nurse said that the lab results should come back pretty quickly, I'm wondering if my October 2nd goal is still doable...