Visa Medical - Take Two - 14.07.14 in Your Face

Dubbo was uneventful. My friend Heslop was still a bit weird and too flirty, but that may be a side effect of his anxiety over me leaving. It's higher than I had thought. But we had a nice weekend, went out for nice meals, went browsing at the shops (which we used to do almost weekly way back when) and played an epic AOE game together.

An American girl came to check out my car and I would have died of the irony if she bought it - I'm selling the car so I can move to America, she'd be buying the car because she lives in Australia. I haven't heard back from her, so I'm assuming it's a no go. Another person is sniffing around now, so we'll keep going with the revolving door of prospective car buyers.

I got up at 4am, to get the train to Sydney at 5:30am for my second visa medical. The trip there was uneventful, aside from me becoming severely nauseated on a hot train while reading a particularly grisly scene from a Stephen King book (Gerald's Game, if you're wondering). That passed, though. Funnily enough, the station I got off at was right across the road from the doctor's surgery. I had gotten a cab there last time, so couldn't quite remember what was nearby.

The receptionist got me to fill in some forms and asked for some passport photos, which I didn't have. I told her that I had thought they would use the excess ones on file, as I gave them half a dozen last time, when they only required three. She said they needed new ones as it had been a year, and asked me to run out and get them. Of course, nowhere was open at 8am, so after lapping the block and the arcades, I returned empty handed. She said it was okay, I could get them later.

Saw the nurse, peed in a cup. My pulse was measuring at 148 - 150 and she was slightly panicked about that. I told her that it has been high for a long time, around 130 when I first wake up and around 110 most of the time. She noted that the doctor ought to check it again. Height and weight check, pee was tested.

I saw the doctor next, who I really liked. It wasn't the same doctor as last time, but she had the previous paperwork to refer to. I stripped to my underwear and bent forward in different ways so that she could check my spine. Stretches, squats right down to the ground. She listened to my lungs and checked my reflexes. I lay on the bed and she pressed my stomach, asked me to cough while she pressed my ovaries, examined my breasts and underarms for lumps, and quickly peeked under my underwear to check that I was, in fact, female. After that it was an extremely detailed questionnaire about my health, family history, medications and ailments. She said that I needed a new flu vaccination and that I needed another chicken pox shot. I vaguely remember being told I needed to get a second one after the previous medical, but I clearly forgot to do it. One of the last questions was, "Any tattoos?" and I had to laugh and say, yes, one on my butt. I flashed it at her and she jotted it down for identification purposes.

After that, I ducked out for the passport photos ($20 for four photos, what a rort). Took them back to the doctor's office and I was given the paperwork for the chest x-ray and blood test. The chest x-ray was in an office about 10 minutes' walk away, that was relatively painless - just get your top half into a paper gown, press tits into the xray plate, wait for the cd to be prepared. That's one good thing - I was given a big x-ray last time that I need to carry in my bag to hand over when I get processed at immigration, now I just carry the cd.

Stopped off for a burrito somewhere around here, despite having eaten a peanut butter sandwich while walking down the block from the x-ray office.

After that, I wandered around and found a post office, for the express post envelope for my results to be sent to the Consulate. I knew I needed that, but had of course forgotten. Once I had that, I headed back to the doctor's office and stopped at the pathology place in the same building. The guy's name was Baltazar and he was adorable. I got nervous when the first thing he did was tear some absorbent paper towel and place it under my elbow, and for good reason. He managed to get blood everywhere, which is terrible for a needle-phobe like me. I'm pretty much traumatised.

So it was back to the doctor's reception, where I handed over the forms that I had signed at the x-ray place and the pathology place, and my express post envelope. I was then off to see the nurse again, two needles in my left arm for the vaccinations. Finally, I was able to go home, albeit a lot poorer.

Got the train home, also uneventful, although I was unlucky enough to be stuck with the train that stops at every.single.stop. Makes for a 3 hour trip, as opposed to the 2hr 15min trip to get there.

As a side note: last night my "incontinence" returned with a vengeance. I think I mentioned a few months back about how I wake up 3-4 times every night to pee - for a while there I wasn't making it to the toilet and it was really upsetting. My doctor couldn't find a reason, and we put it down to emotional stress, which could be valid. It seemed to calm down for a couple of months, and while I would still wake 2-3 times a night to pee, it wasn't so urgent, just annoying. Last night, however, I pissed myself twice (I only got up the two times, I only got 4 hours sleep). Not the full load, but soaked through my underpants and cotton pyjama pants the first time, soaked through my underpants the second time (I didn't have any pyjama pants left to put on!). That's ridiculous. So, it meant cleaning myself off with baby wipes, digging new underwear out and trying to go back to sleep, while feeling humiliated. I really hope it was just a bit of anxiety over having to do this medical again. To be honest, I have been feeling really unsettled and a bit stressed for the last week, just worrying over this visa stuff, money and time. I get really upset when I am worrying about time constraints, even though I know I am often worrying about nothing.

So that's it, I guess. I have finished unpacking my bags after Dubbo, did a load of washing (clean pyjama pants, woo hoo!) and managed to clear the crap off my bed so that I have somewhere to sleep. Tomorrow I have nothing to do, other than hang with my neighbour and his mother (Cass). Cass had eye surgery today and I was really worried about her, she's 91 and very fragile physically. She did well, though. She just looks awful, as they took some skin from one eye and grafted it to the other. She's got one really black eye and a huge patch over the other, poor thing. I love her dearly, and have terrible guilt about how I am willing to spend so much time with her, and yet I rarely see my own grandparents.

Anyway. I am very eager to tuck myself into bed and get some sleep. Hopefully I don't piss myself tonight!