Final Medical Clearance!

So I have finished the most time consuming and frustrating part of pre-service stuff for the Peace Corps. Medical Clearance. There is TONS of paperwork and doctor's signatures and scanning and uploading and praying that the PC Nurse doesn't need any more information. But I persevered, and have finished the process! Here's hoping that I don't break my arm between now and June 9th.

I think I went through a relatively painless Medical clearance process, I am a pretty healthy individual, so I guess that helps!

The only problems that I really encountered were my iron levels being too low, which only required a doctor's note saying that I was not anemic. Which was emailed to me promptly, so I could submit to Peace Corps.

And the vaccines. Oh goodness, the vaccines.

I am a bargain hunter. I like to shop around for the best price before I buy pretty much anything, and this includes the travel vaccines that Peace Corps requires: Polio and Yellow Fever. (and Varicella if you are not immune)

So I could be like most Peace Corps volunteers and go to Passport Health or NW Passport or whatever it is called, but as I was calling all of these places, I realized that they were EXPENSIVE. So I started calling smaller pharmacies with travel clinics, like Bi-Mart, Fred Meyer, and Safeway. Safeway ended up being the best option, with my vaccines totaling $230.

So I get to the pharmacy for my appointment, and the immunizations specialist tells me they did not check their stock of the Polio vaccine before I got there, so they could give it to me. And then they tell me that I can't get the Yellow Fever vaccine because I recently had part one of the first Varicella vaccine (turns out I never had chickenpox, who knew??) and you can't have two live virus vaccines at any time except for on the same day, or 4 weeks apart. So I had to wait 2 and half weeks. That put me at 5 days before all of my medical paper was due. Cutting it close, Safeway. Needless to say,  I was not a happy camper.

Luckily I was able to go to a different Safeway that actually had what I needed, with a much nicer staff, and I got everything taken care of. That Yellow Fever vaccine HURTS. I still have a red welt where she poked me. Seriously, people that give shots need to understand what 'just a pinch' feels like, because that was NOT what this vaccine felt like. More like someone cutting out a chunk of my arm. Ouch.


ANYWAY, long story short, I am medically cleared to go to Madagascar on June 9th! :)

Talk about paperwork!

I've always said that I enjoy filling out paperwork. When I was in high school, I used to fill out job applications and things of that sort for my friends, because the average person despises filling in all the little boxes over and over again, and I'm strange, so I love it.

I knew that the paperwork for the Peace Corps was going to be extensive, but there are 3, count them: 3! different portals with different activities that have to be done by April 11. I've been thinking that I did not need such a head start on all of this, but boy was I wrong!

A list of things to do to keep me organized and timely:

Medical Applicant Portal:

• Physical and Lady Exam
• Doctor's approval of Health History Form
• Yellow Fever Vaccine
• Eye Exam
• Updated Tetanus shot
• Proof of Polio immunity
• Chicken pox blood test/vaccine
• Proof of MMR immunity
• A whole mess of blood tests:
• Tb
• HIV
• Complete Blood Count
• Hepatitis B 
• Hepatitis C
• G6PD titer 
• Basic Metabolic Panel
• Urinalysis
• Dental Exam and X-Rays
• Wisdom Teeth extracted

Here's hoping that my insurance covers a majority, if not all, of the expenses! Peace Corps reimburses a large chunk of it, so some costs that are not covered by insurance, I will get back! Woohoo!

New Volunteer Portal:

• Passport and Visa for Madagascar
• Resume and Aspiration Statement
• Volunteer Registration
• Contingency Plan Info
• and loads of other stuff that needs to be read and agreed to!

LearningSpace/PC University

• Online Safety and Security Course

And with that lengthy list, I'm pretty sure I have all of my bases covered. Now to start the fun process of going back and forth between tabs while I read some of this information!