SOS Day

Today was our SOS clinic day--physical exams for the babies to get their visas. We went with Marci--and her two. So we monopolized the clinic intake room for quite a while.

The clinic sits on the ground floor of the the United Kingdom embassy building, about a 15 minute walk from our hotel, but we took a taxi with Martin and a new WC staffer, Kenny. The intake, where they weighed and measured the babies, is on one side. Then you walk outside, through the main entrance, to the other side of the clinic, where the docs work.

We arrived at 8:30, and we were home by 11:30. So it did take some time.

Maisie is doing well--13+ pounds, doing well developmentally, alert and healthy, with some congestion and cold.

We had some concerns about Luc's immediate health, and the appointment came at a good time. He's been coughing at night for two nights, and he is very congested. His German doctor, with a pony tail and goatee, found some congestion in the lungs, and he was somewhat concerned. He's calling it bronchiitis, but Luc is getting an anti-streptoccal in case it is heading toward pneumonia. We got a puffer/asthma inhaler, and a chamber to administer it (the chamber was the big expense $60). And then he got a heavy duty decongestant. With the physical ($65), the total was $180. We think our insurance might cover some of it for us.

The doctor also noted, as we have, that there might be some other developmental issues for Luc, but we will follow up on those when we get home.

We returned home on hotel arrest--which is a good thing. Martin says that the embassy could call now at any time. We need a second interview today, though, if we are to get the visa tomorrow and fly tomorrow night.

If not, it gets complicated. Todd Gallinek, our travel agent, tells us that there are seats available on Sunday night, but not Saturday. We could switch our tickets to Sunday. But then we are on watch for tomorrow for the embassy interview. If we don't get it tomorrow, then we can't get the visa until Monday. So we would have to change flights again. We could just change tickets tomorrow for later next week to be safe.

But we want to go home now.

Maybe the gods will be kind and we'll get a phone call this afternoon.