I am ashamed of myself.
Well, my little brain cells work slowly, but this morning while driving to my own doctor's appointment and thinking of things medical, I had a "Doh" moment. And then I felt ashamed.
If you've been around me, you now know that the US Embassy process will take an extra 24 hours in Almaty than it did, say a month ago. The reason is that each child must now be tested for HIV, it takes 24 hours to get the results, and, the only part that causes me discomfort (except for the drawing of Aigerim's blood, of course) is the delay because nothing else can be done on the processing while this 24 hours passes. You now know that I am worried about staying well for yet another 24 hours with Aigerim in a far-off hotel room, and that I have had my lifetime exposure limit of bureaucratic whims.
Friday night we visited our neighborhood religious establishment, the Catamount Bar and Grill, and caught up on all the baby news. Gabbie's baby won't show his face on the ultrasounds and Anthony leaves tomorrow to meet (and pick up!!) his new baby daughter in China.
Anthony spoke of how quickly the US Consulate was going to be able to turn around his daughter's visa application (otherwise he is caught in a week-long Chinese holiday). Hmmm, I wondered. That sounds quite different than the process in Almaty.
This morning it hit me. And I am ashamed. We heard about it in Kazakstan, but stupid me, I didn't put the situation together until this morning.
A horror has taken place in southern Kazakstan: so far 55 or 60 children have been identified as being infected with HIV through bad medical practices. There is uproar but no one even knows how many people were infected. The number could be very high, especially proportionally for a country with only 15 million people. You can Google for yourself but here are some glimpses into the story:
So my newest delay is not just bureaucracy this time. The new step is actually catching and, in our country, triggering treatment for a terrible disease.
I will remove my fat HIV-free foot from my HIV-free mouth and still wish the 24 hours could be run in parallel with some other processing. I am not worried at all about Aigerim's results. But for the sake of all the kids in the country, I realize I can't think of a better way to spend 24 hours.
So just delete all that latest whining from your ears, if'n you would. Thanks.
If you've been around me, you now know that the US Embassy process will take an extra 24 hours in Almaty than it did, say a month ago. The reason is that each child must now be tested for HIV, it takes 24 hours to get the results, and, the only part that causes me discomfort (except for the drawing of Aigerim's blood, of course) is the delay because nothing else can be done on the processing while this 24 hours passes. You now know that I am worried about staying well for yet another 24 hours with Aigerim in a far-off hotel room, and that I have had my lifetime exposure limit of bureaucratic whims.
Friday night we visited our neighborhood religious establishment, the Catamount Bar and Grill, and caught up on all the baby news. Gabbie's baby won't show his face on the ultrasounds and Anthony leaves tomorrow to meet (and pick up!!) his new baby daughter in China.
Anthony spoke of how quickly the US Consulate was going to be able to turn around his daughter's visa application (otherwise he is caught in a week-long Chinese holiday). Hmmm, I wondered. That sounds quite different than the process in Almaty.
This morning it hit me. And I am ashamed. We heard about it in Kazakstan, but stupid me, I didn't put the situation together until this morning.
A horror has taken place in southern Kazakstan: so far 55 or 60 children have been identified as being infected with HIV through bad medical practices. There is uproar but no one even knows how many people were infected. The number could be very high, especially proportionally for a country with only 15 million people. You can Google for yourself but here are some glimpses into the story:
- KazInform, September 7, 2006, Developing story
- Institute for War and Peace Reporting, September 20, 2006
So my newest delay is not just bureaucracy this time. The new step is actually catching and, in our country, triggering treatment for a terrible disease.
I will remove my fat HIV-free foot from my HIV-free mouth and still wish the 24 hours could be run in parallel with some other processing. I am not worried at all about Aigerim's results. But for the sake of all the kids in the country, I realize I can't think of a better way to spend 24 hours.
So just delete all that latest whining from your ears, if'n you would. Thanks.
posted by Bobi @ 12:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home