Health Physicals

Yesterday, Eric and I went to the Immigration Health office to get our physicals for our residency visas. We were instructed not to eat after 8:30A the day of the examination. A very lovely woman from Eric's office, Penny, came with us to help translate. When there, we had to complete a form and then present 3 passport-sized photos, our passports, and high-quality copies of our passports. We then sat in a waiting room with a large round table in the center with an aquarium set in the middle.
When our numbers were called, our information was entered into a computer. We were then ushered into the examination area where we were instructed to remove our 'top underwear' and put on these examination robes. Don't I look lovely. At least the robe covered everything. We were also given shoes covers.

We were shuttled from room to room. First we got weighed, had blood drawn, then a chest x-ray, eye test, EKG, blood pressure, an ultrasound. We did not need to provide a urine sample. It was very efficient.














Here is part of my health form (no one needs to know my weight :) ) and my EKG.

The nurses check your papers and guide you from room to room. The doctors speak little English and tersely say 'lie on table' or simply pat it. If you've ever had an ultrasound, then I don't need to tell you about the gel. The woman had a squeeze bottle of conducive gel, which she squirted liberally over your abdomen. When she finished, she handed me a single paper towel to wipe myself off. I just used my examination robe. Eric met me as I was going into the EKG room and laughed as he told me that this would be fun. I've never had an EKG before, but I thought that you'd have a bunch of little round sticky probes stuck onto you. Maybe I watch too much television. The woman put a clamp on one ankle and one wrist and then put several probes on your chest. The chest probes had little bulbs so they suctioned onto you. It looked ancient, like it came from a Soviet yard sale. All in all, it was the fastest medical examination I've ever had.

We'll get something in the mail in about a week. We got there at about 12:45/1P. We left at around 3P and finally had some lunch.