More tests and medical expenses...

I had 3 vials of blood drawn yesterday at our Health Center for the blood tests that are required of the Peace Corps application. Apparently the blood and urine tests have to be done within 6 months of the physical, so my bloodwork from August wasn't enough. Those 3 vials of blood and the related tests cost $117 out of my pocket. Yikes. And then I have go to back next week to get the immunizations for my Bejing/Singapore study abroad and for the PC. Its like $600+ of shots, including Japanese Encephilitis, Typhoid, Tenanus (apparently my last one of those was in '99) and odd things like malaria pills. I also need a Polio booster after age 18? That is so weird, Dr. G had never heard of that so he had to check and see if the Health Center even gave polio booster shots. So yeah, I can't wait to go back to the Health Center next week to get the results of my bloodwork and spend more money on shots :(

Another PC Nominee

I met another Peace Corps nominee from Georgia Tech! Its one of Chris' friends (who is also in the same International Affairs grad program as Chris). His name is Joe and he has also been nominated to teach English, in Central Europe. We're both graduating in August so our programs will probably both be leaving in the fall. And he also has Kyle Jessop as his PC recruiter, which isn't too surprising since I don't think that many recruiters work in the Atlanta regional office. He's from somewhere in south Georgia and has a background in teaching ESL. With his masters degree from Tech, he says that he'll probably be able to teach at the university level. He wants to teach somewhere like Afghanistan, though I have no idea why anyone would want to go there, but the PC no longer has a program there so he doesn't know where he'll end up yet. I think I'm a little bit ahead of him in terms of the application process, because he hasn't received his medical clearance forms yet. I unfortunately had to break the news to him that our on-campus health center won't be able to give him a "Peace Corps physical."

Which reminds me, I still need to schedule an eye doctor appointment to get a copy of my prescription and a women's clinic appointment to try to get some of my medical records. At least I was able to get a travel clinic appointment for immunizations (since I'm studying abroad this summer). Maybe they can just give me the shots for the pacific islands reigon too while they're at it. I hope the shots aren't too expensive, I don't really have money to pay for anything extra like that and the PC only reimburses like $165 for medical clearance.

Stickers!

I went up to Chapel Hill over the weekend for my last swim meet ever as a member of Georgia Tech Swimming and Diving, and when I got home, I had another envelope from the Peace Corps waiting for me. It was just a folder with a hard copy of my nomination to serve as an English Teacher in the Pacific Islands region, a checklist to keep track of what paperwork etc I still needed to get through, a book of PC short stories (or maybe essays) for inspiration, and there was a page of PC stickers! The stickers have a square version of the PC logo, and just say "Peace Corps" and "Since 1961".

So since our Georgia Tech student Health Center refused to give me the Peace Corps physical examination over the phone, I asked Dr. Galante - the GT Athletic Association's doctor if he could help me out. Dr. G was nice enough to fill out about half of the packet of papers that I've got, and said to make an appointment with him over at the Health Center to finish the rest. So now that I'm done swimming, I should have a little more time to make appointments and see the dentist, women's clinic, and get this paperwork done.

One Step Closer

My Peace Corps medical clearance forms arrived in the mail today! This is the dreaded medical review portion of the application process, where only 85% of applicants receive full medical clearance. If selected to serve, my medical history will be sent overseas, allowing the Peace Corps to serve as my primary care provider during the 27 months of service.

So I now have 25 more pages of forms to fill out for a through medical exam, dental exam, eye exam, and reimbursement. Not to mention I also have to get some of the forms signed by an orthopedic specialist (since I wrote that I have had shoulder problems). Now I see why this process can take anywhere from 3-9 months to complete.

I called our on-campus Health Center to see if they could give me the neccessary physical, but the lady on the phone said they wouldn't be able to do it since it was too "extensive". I just need a lot of signatures with regards to my immunization records, blood tests, medications, allergies, etc. so I don't understand why the Health Center can't help me out. I am going to try to get Dr. G from the Athletic Association to help me fill out this mess of paperwork and I'm definitely not looking forward to having to go to the dentist and pay for new xrays. I also have to get 2 pairs of glasses, since PC volunteers aren't allowed to have contacts... many countries do not have the appropriate sanitary conditions to support the usage of contacts. I haven't had glasses since I first got them in 7th grade, this should be fun :)