Doctor, Doctor....

 Last weekend I headed to Toronto for my medical that is required for immigration. I still find it crazy that I had to go all the way to Toronto for a medical, but c'est la vie. My mom and I headed up to Toronto Sunday afternoon. My appointment was scheduled for anytime between 7:30 and 9 a.m. on Monday. We got a hotel that was about a 10 minute walk to the medical building. We had a pretty uneventful drive to Toronto and the traffic was manageable and we made great time. We got there in less than 4 hours. We ate dinner at the Pickle Barrel restaurant (my mom loves this place!) and then we checked into our hotel. The hotel was not a 5 star by any means, but it served its purpose.

Once we were settled, we took the 10 minute walk to go and find the building where I needed to go early the next morning. We found it easily. We relaxed in the hotel room and aside from a toilet overflowing and having to move to a new room, it was a nice uneventful evening. I set my alarm for 6:15 a.m. Thanks to the visajourney site I belong to, I knew that if you get there before 7:30 they will process you early. I was up and ready to walk out the door by 6:55 a.m. After the short 10 minute walk, I arrived at the building. Almost immediately a woman came up to the door and asked what I was there for. I told her my medical for immigration. A guy walked up as she was talking and she asked him the same question. She is the receptionist for the doctors office and told us to follow her upstairs. We went in and since I was the first one at the door she started processing me. I handed over my passport, my passport photos my 350 bucks (300 for medical and 50 for them to courier it to me!!) signed some forms and then she brought me to an exam room. She told me the nurse would be in soon to take my vitals (height, weight, blood pressure etc.) Almost immediately the nurse arrived. She was really nice. She had me sign another form. She then told me the doctor would be in shortly. At 7:30 the doctor came in and he was very nice. He had me sign some more forms, looked over my vaccination records to make sure they were up to date (they were!) and gave me back my passport that I gave the receptionist. He asked me some basic questions like "Do have any chronic illnesses?", "Do you smoke?", "Do you take any medications on a regular  basis?", "Have you had any major surgery?", "How is your mental health?" etc. Then he checked my throat, glands, and breathing. He made small talk while he was doing all this asking me where I was moving to in the US and why I was moving there (they do medicals for people doing many different types of visas). He congraulated me on my upcoming nuptials and told me the nurse would be back in shortly. She came back in and told me to go back to the waiting room where they would call me shortly for blood work.

The blood work is to make sure I don't have any STD's I think. I got called in fairly quickly and the lady had no trouble finding a vein. I then had to sign another form. After that, I had to go check in with the front desk and they gave me a map to the place I had to go for the chest x-ray. It was literally around the corner. I got there at 7:55 a.m. and they don't open until 8:00a.m. I waited the 5 minutes and was called in shortly thereafter. It was an easy x-ray and I was done and walking back to the hotel by 8:20 a.m. I stopped at Starbucks on the way back and was still back in the hotel by 8:30!

My mom and I then checked out, went for breakfast then headed to IKEA! :) While we didn't buy much, I managed to mentally purchase all the items that I thought would look nice in Jim's house. It is going to look great when I am done with it! :)We then headed back home. After a quick stop at a little country store my mom wanted to stop at, we were home by 4:30. I was glad my mom was able to come with me. It felt more like a vacation than a chore. We had a great time!

Unfortunately, the very next day, they doctors office called me. They told me that I need to repeat some chest x-rays before they could sign off on the medical. Even more unfortunately, I have to go back to Toronto to do them. So, this Monday I am heading back. I am not going to lie. I am worried. They won't sign off on the medical unless everything is ok with the medical. They are mostly looking for TB, but if they were to find something else I would need to prove it was nothing before they could sign off. My big worry now is that if it is something else, then all of that proving could take months! Months that I don't have to the wedding! So in essence, our wedding timeline could be in jeopardy. I am praying they will take these new views, see nothing and I will get the medical in the mail by the end of the week. I would appreciate some prayers if you could spare them, that all will be well. I will keep you all posted.