Tuesday, December 23, 2008

We had to go to Brownwood yesterday

It wasn't a trip David and I had thought we would have to make..



It had to do with our immigration stuff, and even though we had already had our adjustment of status interview, and were waiting patiently for my green card to come in the mail, what we got instead was a stack of papers telling us that I needed to repeat my medical checkup. And I needed to send it in by January 12th or my case would be dismissed, and I would have to go through the whole process of applying all over again...

I KNOW!

Couldn't they have told us this at the interview? Their reasons for needing a repeat medical exam? Apparently the doctor who did my medical checkup in Abilene, who was AUTHORIZED as a Civil Surgeon at the time of my physical, is no longer doing that. Like, SO??????? He was authorized WHEN HE DID IT! *rolls eyes*



So now there were no more Civil Surgeons available in Abilene, and we had to travel 2 hours to Brownwood Regional Medical Center, the closest place with an authorized civil surgeon, to have it done. I had already had all my vaccinations with the previous medical exam, and so I didn't have to get any more shots, and also, we used the lab results for HIV and RPR ( Syphillis ) from my recent OBGYN visits, so I didn't have to have blood drawn.

BUT I did have to have a chest X Ray done. I had had a positive tuberculin test the last time we had the checkup done...and speculate that it may be because of my BCG vaccination as a child that gave it a false positive because the chest x ray that was done right after that was clear. However, once you've had a positive tuberculin test, they want you to have another chest xray if a year has passed, or something to that effect. After discussing it with my doctors, we decided to go ahead and have the chest X Ray done with a lead shield protecting Junior. We didn't want to give the immigration department any reason to delay or ( heaven forbid ) dismiss my application after all this time and effort.

So that was yesterday, and we're waiting on the clinic to mail us the completed forms, so we can mail if off to immigration as soon as we can, and get this over with.

Bleh.

We ARE thankful though, even if at first we were totally stressed out, in disbelief and completely disappointed, that it was not more complicated than it was. Thank you LORD!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow--that's annoying. At least it's over with now. Hope everything works out.

Frances Clements said...

O Letti, how disappointing for you. But at least you didn't have to do the vaccines all again. This time I hope it all goes smoothly.

Ashley said...

Here's hoping that it all works out quickly for you!

makuahine said...

Oh. My. Gosh!

I get so aggravated with immigration policies through your story and I want to know how is it that genuine people like you have such a hard time with all this yet the illegals keep getting in? It's unreal!!

But I'm glad you got it taken care of and had to have as little discomfort as possible. Last summer with the mc the dentist had told me that for my teeth we'd wait until second trimester and then shield so I'm sure you're just fine!

McMGrad89 said...

I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. That's bureaucracy for you! I hope the rest of the process is smooth sailing. Best Wishes, and Merry Christmas.
Annemarie

Roban said...

Boy, that sounded like a hassle! I'm sure you'll be relieved to have everything settled soon. Merry Christmas and enjoy the holidays!

Roban

Skwermy said...

Oh yes, they made it horrible for me too! I tested a false positive for the TB test and yes, they blamed it on my BCG test as well. LOL Malaysian thing I bet!

Hope you get it soon! The Green Card that is *HUGS*

Tamara said...

Oh gosh Letti,I hate to hear about the mess they put you through.But have you noticed how easily it was for freakin terrorists to get their papers done and learn to fly planes and all that other b.s.?
UMPH!Imagine that.
I really didn't know it was that much of a pain in the rear tho.Wow.
Oh well...the excitement over our bundle of joy outweighs all of that stuff,huh?
hug hug!

Monica said...

that sucks! Well I hope the rest of this year and next is great, I know a lot of people who have a positive TB test, My brothers wife has something that says she was exposed at some time in her life and she has to do some type of test every year!!

I wish you the Best holiday and a wonderful safe New Year!!!!

Unknown said...

What a pain. And I bet you had to stop several times. I hated the drive to Dallas and didn't drink much so that we didn't have to make as many stops.