TWO

Two days left until the court day!

Breathe.

Yesterday I went to see my doctor. She will also be Tamene's doctor. I like her a lot; an appointment is a conversation, not a bunch of directives and strange instructions that I don't understand.

I used to work there (see the post about passing out from needles)... anyway, I know people that work there. So I called for an appointment two weeks ago. Someone I know was scheduling appointments. She wondered if I thought I needed 30 minutes or 15 minutes. The next 30 minute appointment wasn't until late August. With hopes that I will travel in late August, I decided that was cutting it way, way to close for my liking. I wanted to talk to her about what I should bring for medication, vitamins, etc. for Tamene. I would need time to plan and make sure I could follow any instructions she might have. So, back to the scheduling of the appointment, I was told there was a 15 minute appointment available in two weeks. I said I would take it and I hoped that I could squeeze all my questions in without making my doctor run very late.

So the night before last I spent about two hours going through the paperwork to find all of the information that I wanted to bring to my doctor. I am not sure if two hours was because there is so much paperwork (because I kid you not, there is a LOT of paperwork), or because I obsessed over the information for too long. Probably a combination of both. But, I will blame the expedition on a ridiculous amount of paperwork.

Then yesterday, I get to the doctor with two stacks of paperwork (organized, alphabetized, prioritized as needed). I wanted to know about my medication, and preventative medication I could take to stay healthy while I was there. Is there anything Naven and Angelisa need to do to be prepared for anything that Tamene might have when he gets home? What about medications for Tamene? What if he is sick when we get there? What questions do I ask the pediatrician in Ethiopia? And of course the list of lists of other questions other adoptive parents have brought to their pediatricians along with outcomes of prescribed medications, recommendations and preliminary diagnoses. I also brought information from the international adoption clinic that I worked with, and other various pieces of information that the agency sends that I thought was relevant.

Many of my friends work in healthcare. Some of my best friends are nurses. You know me, I am THAT patient. I mean who brings in a stack of paperwork like that for a 15 minute appointment. My mom is a medical assistant, right now she is reading this and her blood pressure is rising knowing what it would be like to enter all of that information into the electronic medical record.

BUT, I want you all to know that my two hours of preparation for that appointment got me in and out of there in 20 minutes. The doctor took my list answered the questions right on the page. She looked over Tamene's information, wrote me some prescriptions, took a moment to reminisce about my passing out the last time I was there, signed up for "My Chart" (the online portal to my medical records), and we even had another nurse stop in to look at pictures of Tamene. I may be a wacko patient, but I am efficient in my wackiness.