My doctors want me to get polio.

So I got a letter from the peace corps medical office that they want to know if I have gotten a polio vaccine after I was 18. I called my doc the next day and they called me back the day after that and she said I had not had that vaccine and she asked if I wanted to get it done there. I told her to hold off on that until I call the peace corps. So I call the peace corps and they said to get the vaccine and mail in the paperwork proving I did it. So I call my doctor back and she said that they can do the vaccine there but that they do not have the vaccine at the moment, they will have to order it and it should be in by the end of this week or the beginning of next week, and they said they will call me when they get it in. So at the end of the week I call them and they said they don't have it yet but they will call me when they get it. Okay so I wait and by thursday of the next week they still haven't called so I call them and they say ya, they have it now (ya, thanks for calling!) it's just upstairs in another office, so they just need to know when I want to come in and they will go up and get it. So they don't have another appointment until next week on tuesday so I'm like okay I guess I can wait another week. So over the weekend they left a message on my machine that a polio vaccine is in this other hospital and that I can go there to get it, but since I had this appointment on tuesday I figured I would just get it there. Well on tuesday morning I call and ask what time I made it for because I had forgotten. They then told me that I didn't have an appointment on tuesday at all. So after arguing about that point I made an another appointment on thursday since I was going skiing the next day and couldn't go then. So on wensday while I was sitting in the ski lodge my doctor calls me and tells me that the other hospital she mentoined over the weekend has the polio vaccine and I have to go there to get it and thats why she erased my appointment on tuesday. So whatever I get home and the next day I call the other place and ask them about getting a polio vaccine. Yes, they say, we have that! The ask if I want to make an appointment I say yes, anything available today? There was a big snow storm so I knew there would be a lot of cancelations. She said I can come as long as I don't mind waiting. I don't mind at all so she said to leave now. So I dig my car out of the snow and try to back out of the driveway but I get completely stuck and can't get out at all and I have to call my mom to push me back into the driveway. I call the lady and told her I got stuck and can't actually come in today. So I set an appointment for early the next week. Okay, I guess I can wait another week. So that was on thursday, on friday I get a call from my main doctor and she said that the people from the other hospital called her and said that they want me to go to a travel clinic instead to get the polio vaccine. I was like why can't I just get it there, we have an appointment! She said they just can't do it. So I called the other hospital and ask again if I can get a vaccine there and they said they are not taking "new patients". So ya okay whatever, I call the travel place and ask if I can get an appointment with them. They say yes but we don't take insurance. I was like well that sucks. So at that point I was sick of talking to everyone on the phone so I drive to the hospital (roads are better by now) and walk over to the information desk but there's noone there. I wait around for a while and still noone shows up. Then I remember there's another one upstairs. So I go upstairs and there's noone there either, there's just a note on the desk saying "information desk available downstairs" and I'm like huh, no it's not! So I check the map and go to a random office who it turns out has a list of all the doctors in the hospital, and also a number to call for the referal place. So I go outside to my car in the cold because I know you're not supposed to use your phone in hospitals. I called the referal place and it rings and rings forever before this old lady answers and I ask about getting a polio vaccine. She leaves for a while then comes back with a number. I call the number and they say no, we don't give vaccines. So I call the referal place again and it rings and rings again and this time the old lady doesn't pick up. So I'm like fine, I look in the book that has a list of all the doctors and I call one that says infectious diseases and I ask if they give polio vaccines she says no, we don't. So I call the next number that says infectious diseases and ask and the lady says "you just called here!" so apparently she is sitting there next to two phones or something. But then she says she doesn't know if anyone in the hospital gives vaccines, but I know this one doctor used to do it I'm not sure if they still do why don't you call this number. So I call that number and the doctor says yes we do give vaccines but we don't take insurance. At this point I don't care anymore, so I set an appointment but the earliest I could get in was the 26th.
I called the peace corps and they said they are not going to reimburse me for the vaccine but that I have to get it. Ooookay so if its this difficult to get a polio vaccine I thought maybe my doctors just want me to get polio??

so after many, many months and enough phone calls to be considered borderline harrasment, I got a letter from the peace corps!! It wasn't informing me of my medical clearance like I had hoped, but they wanted to know if I had ever been vacinated against polio after the age of 18. My doctor told me I had not been vacinated for polio since I was a baby so I called the peace corps and they said to get the vacination and send them the paperwork. So my doctor had to order it from another office and they should hopefully contact me by the beginning of this week that they have it so I can send this off as soon as possible. I'm just happy to be hearing something from them. Aaron just found out he's going to kenya on may 21st I think... and I'm supposed to leave in june so theoretically I should find out soon... though, lyndsey didn't find out till like a month before she was leaving so I guess it is up to the peace corps gods as for when you get to find out!
I'm a big dork so the other day I went to the peace corps website and read the descriptions they have of all of the countries where the peace corps is currently active in africa, and I matched them with the vague description of the position I was nominated for. I was looking for a country below the sahara desert that has french as an official language, and that has peace corps volunteers who teach science and english in secondary schools. It looks like the countries with assignments that most closely match the description I was given are: Burkina Faso, Guinea, Benin, and Cameroon. I'm of course very happy with all of these countries! Burkina Faso would be awesome because it specifically said that education volunteers teach in small rural villages and I have always wanted to experience life in a rural village in Africa. Cameroon would be awesome too just because I hear that is a beautiful country, with lush rainforests on the coast and desert to the north and savanah too. Plus it would be slightly closer to aaron and lyndsey. Guinea and Benin are a little scarier because it said the science teachers teach either chemistry or physics, which I'm pretty unfamiliar with. If I teach science I assume it would be in biology since that is where about 90% of my training and interests lie, but if not thats okay I'm going to africa to be challenged and that would certainly be a challenge!
Okay well on non-peace corps news, my cat has ring worm and my dad just caught it from the cat and it looks like my mom is getting it too and ever since she said that this morning I started to feel itchy though I'm hoping its just psychological!! I don't know, living with two people and a cat with ringworm I am probably fighting a losing battle against trying to not catch ringworm, but for now I'm trying not to touch anything, I'd float above the floors if I could.
Ciao