Hurdles

Stressful.  That’s the one word to best describe today. 

We arrived and unpacked late last night so the only food in the house for breakfast was a few packs of oatmeal I had packed in my suitcase.  We started the day with an appointment with the South Africa Adoption Agency / Attorneys.  They were extremely helpful about our stay and even remembered it was Dad’s birthday and had a balloon on the door for him!

From there we headed to downtown Cape Town for Thandokuhle’s medical appointment which is required for her US visa and has to be performed by a US panel physician.  We are staying outside the city so it is a 50 minute drive to downtown Cape Town.  Except today it took much longer because we were confused by the GPS directions and missed a turn in the heart of the city.  As we wound our way back to our destination we encountered construction and then couldn’t figure out how to enter the desired parking garage.  For some reason, the doctor’s office is in the tourist district right along the waterfront.  It is a beautiful setting but not easy to access. 

At the doctor’s office I had to fill out a whole bunch of forms on Thandokuhle’s medical history which is challenging for a child I have only known 2 weeks and the orphanage doctor’s handwriting has the traditional amount of legibility of most doctors.  I also forgot to bring a listing of her medications. Even though I give them to her every day and know what they’re for, I don’t have all the spellings of the drug names memorized.  Thankfully, I was able to call the adoption agency and they were able to email the list of medicines.

After that paperwork was complete a nurse did all the standard measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, etc. on Thandokuhle.  She also tried to give her a vision test but Thandokuhle was a little overwhelmed and wouldn’t say a word.  So, obviously, that makes a vision test impossible.  After some more waiting we met the doctor.  We had already been warned by the adoption agency that her bedside manner wasn’t the best and I certainly would agree.  Not only that but she was more focused on following “the protocol” than assessing the patient.  The big concern for the US is to make sure Thandokuhle doesn’t have TB.  The doctor said her lungs are clear and Thandokuhle is having a skin test, but the doctor decided she needed chest x-rays, too.  There is only one location that does x-rays that are accepted for the US visa application and it is in downtown Cape Town, so x-rays were added to today’s agenda.

We ate lunch at a nice seafood restaurant along the waterfront for Dad’s birthday.  It was a little too fancy for a 4 & 5 year old (cloth tables and fancy glasses always make me nervous with children) and there definitely was not a children’s menu.  However, they were accommodating in splitting an entrée for the girls.  The food was good and they had a great view of the harbor.  Thandokuhle loved pointing out each boat that went by and seemed more interested in the harbor than eating.

From the restaurant we needed to complete the x-rays but we were rather leery of another trip through the congested downtown area and took a taxi instead.  The taxi was definitely a more relaxing ride!  Everything went smoothly with the x-rays and then we returned to the doctor’s office.  The x-rays look great and show no signs of concerns.  However, the doctor decided that we also need to take Thandokuhle to a lab for sputum samples for 3 consecutive days next week.  Urgh!  It just seems like more hoops we have to jump through even though there is no evidence it is needed.

By now it was mid-late afternoon and we still needed to drive 50 minutes back to our house and then do grocery shopping.  Our second attempt at downtown driving had no wrong turns but we got stuck in rush hour traffic and drove in first or second gear for 20-30 minutes or so before inching our way up to third gear.  Traffic was heavy most of the way home.

Now it was dinner time, but with no food in our house a stop at the grocery store was an absolute necessity.  We went speed shopping but it wasn’t like we were only picking up 1 or 2 items.  There literally was nothing in the refrigerator and only salt and pepper in the cupboard so we had to buy all we needed from fresh fruits & veggies to ketchup to napkins.    Our final stop of the day was to buy a wireless router that runs off the cellular network so we could have internet connection in our rental house.  We knew what we needed and it was fairly straight forward, except it took the clerk 3 tries to get it set up.  Meanwhile, we had a cart full of groceries, including the ice cream we bought for Dad’s birthday, and 2 very tired children (and adults) who were ready to be home.

 We were all very glad to be back at the house, eat dinner, and get ready for bed.  Whew!