Off to the Doctor

Greg and I took Arilyn Sneha to the Max Medcentre today. Now, when we adopted from China, we were met in Guangzhou by a guide who then took us everywhere we needed to go. She knew when and where our appointments were, what we needed to accomplish at each step of the way, and even took us to some fun places too. She was there to translate for us, to be sure we knew what was going on and to be sure we were understood. I understand that a portion of that was due to the fact that China has a history for not allowing foreigners to wander China unaccompanied, but it was a huge blessing. With this adoption, we are pretty much on our own. There is a greeter here connected with Holt, but we have not seen hide nor hair of this person.

We used the hired driver Holt arranged for us (much to the dismay of the hotel who did not get a cut) and traveled to the Medcentre. Holt had expressed some concern over the fact we were staying near the airport rather than in downtown Delhi, further from our appointments. It only took us 20 minutes to get to the Medcentre from Hotel City Park-Airport. When we arrived, we took a number and waited at reception, only to be directed downstairs to the immigration office. Upon arrival, we found another Holt family waiting, and then were joined by another Holt family. You'd think that with 3 families in the same place, there would be someone with a clue helping.

After filling out paperwork, we were sent to wait in the cafeteria, then up to wait outside the paediatrician's office. Directions were difficult to understand, but we eventually found our way there. We then got to see the paediatrician who asked to see her records and discussed the TB test results with us. He said they would normally not use the former positive tests, but since she has two very visible marks on her arm still healing from two tests in two weeks, he decided to skip testing her again. Had he repeated the test, we would have waited until Wednesday to have it read, then gotten chest Xrays done, then gotten the medical certificate for her visa to the USA. Instead, we received Xray orders to be done today. Before we went to Xray, she had to receive two shots (who vaccinates for flu in April? But the CDC says she had to have that and varicella to enter the USA) which actually made her cry. She hadn't really cried yet, but that did it. I was able to comfort her, then she shut down and went to sleep while we searched for the Xray room. Poor thing. We will receive the report and the medical certificate on Wednesday morning before we head over to the US Embassy.

Enjoying her first soda at lunch today. We ordered lemonade but received this. She loved it :)

Since we had no clue what we were really doing and are still rather tired, we headed over to the US Embassy at this point. We thought we were supposed to drop off some paperwork to begin the process for her visa today, especially with the TB test complication. Turns out that we were just wasting time. Communication is difficult, so we hope that we really did not have to turn anything in.

We returned to the hotel and found the rest of the family just hanging out. Well, all except for my father who had gone out to explore. There is a subway right by the hotel, so he went to see where it went. Turns out, it is just a tunnel to get to the other side of the road. He was so disappointed. I spent my afternoon washing clothes in the sink and hanging them to dry in the bathroom. Do I know how to have a good time or what?

Sing together in the car

It is such a blessing getting to know Arilyn Sneha. She has such a sweet, affectionate personality. She nearly always has a twinkle in her eye. She knows so many songs that we know and sings all the time. She knows "Jesus Loves Me," "Who's the King of the Jungle," "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "If I Were a Butterfly," and other songs just bubble out of her all day long. Fortunately, "Lord's Army" has fallen by the wayside. She is still working hard to hold it all together, but we know a major break down (break through?) has to come at some point. What a blessing we get to let her know that we will love her through it.

Tomorrow the ladies are headed out to the Taj Mahal. The guys have decided that a tomb is not worth a four hour one way trip to see, no matter how grand. They are going to check out more of Delhi. More tomorrow!