Day 4 - Medical Exam

Michael's take....

Ahhhh, my turn to take this Blog out for a spin! Today we partook in the medical “exam” required for immigration. We were met in the hotel lobby at 8am by some folks from the company that handles our immigration and an English speaking nurse from ISOS (I am sooooooooo glad she was there to help out).

The clinic was walking distance from our hotel and once we entered we realized that we were no longer in “Kansas.” The waiting room was full of people filling out forms and waiting in lines with no sense of order. Once our chaperones completed our paperwork we got into a line to start the “exams”.

Exam 1: EKG
One by one we were ushered into rooms that offered little privacy and when it was my turn I was immediately told to lie down and pull up my shirt. The “nurse” then applied suction cups to several parts of my body and she attached these to a “machine” via something that I can only describe as jumper cables for a car. The “equipment” in the room looked like it was state of the art in 1950.

Exam 2: Blood Pressure
Once I had completed my EKG I had to wait in another line for a blood pressure check. This “exam” had the newest equipment in the clinic. Basically I had to stick my arm into a blood pressure machine similar to one you would find in a Walgreens or a supermarket. Once the reading came out (it was a bit high) the “nurse” asked if I was nervous...”well YEA” I responded. She then listened to at least 15 spots on my chest and I was on my way.

Exam 3: Eye Exam
This test took me back to my days in grade school. I had to hold a stainless steel cover over one eye and point to the direction the “E” was facing. After several different lines and switching eyes I got a score of 1.0. I am not sure what that means, but I was then off to the next line.

Exam 4: X-Ray
I have to start this section by saying...I think I might glow in the dark now and I am pretty sure I will never father anymore kids. I followed the “nurse” into a room and had to stand in front of the X-ray machine while holding a – what I presume – shield over my backside. The machine was the type that the “nurse” had to slide in a film canister, I am pretty sure that many medical museums have this type of machine on display as “back in the day...”

Exam 5: Blood Draw
The blood draw was one of the best I have ever had as the nurse was a master. She found my vein right away and inserted the needle with no problem.

Exam 6: Ultrasound
Yes, all people are required to complete this “exam” and I am happy to say that I am not pregnant. I am not sure what the “nurse” was looking for but she checked everywhere and after she was done I was left to clean up a ton of gel off of my stomach as I left a room with the door busting with several others waiting for their “exam”.

Exam 7: Urine Sample
This was our last act in our “exam” and probably the funniest. We were handed a small cup that held maybe half the volume of a Dixie cup and a plastic test tube that held less than that. I had been warned about this part of the “exam” and was told to think a lot about the sequencing of my actions as there was no place to set the test tube once full.

Because the cup we were given was so small it did not take long to fill and I had to set it aside as I completed what I had started. After finishing, I looked over and realized that I had set my cup next to others that people had also left on the window ledge. My heart stopped as I had to think about which one was mine. I then filled the test tube and left the restroom (I did throw my cup away so that others didn’t have to see my sample).

I will say that the men were pretty lucky as the women had to complete the urine sample in a restroom with only a squatty potty. If you do not know what a squatty potty is...consult Google.



After all was said and done we all have some great stories to tell and are relieved that this experience is over. After having the rest of the day to think about it, this experience was not so bad. I think our fears and anxiety were heightened as we are in a place where we do not speak the language and don’t know the process...this is a great reminder why we need to learn Chinese and learn to roll with the punches.