Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Do you speak German? Nope, no I don't. I wish I did. I have the best of intentions, I truly do, but I always seem to come up short in my German. Even when I do make/take the time to do some computer learning for German, it all seems to go in one ear and out the other. I can never seem to remember anything I learn. At the moment, I can say hello, please, thank you, good morning/day/night, good-bye, I can count from 1-10 (although some of the numbers get a bit hazy at times for me), I can do some colors, I can ask for a menu, I can ask for an English menu, I can order food (very important)... and that's about it. Pretty pathetic for having lived here for 10 months. I know my family has these ideas that I am simply immersed and surrounded by German, therefore I'll just "pick it up." It doesn't really happen that way. I'm not surrounded by German speaking people 100% of the time, and frankly most of the Germans speak English anyways. Which is another reason why I haven't learned anything... I haven't had to. Although I will say, I do much better when I can see the German, as in reading signs or things like that. But still. I am always thinking to myself "WOW I need to learn German!" I thought that again yesterday....
I had my appointment with my German cardiologist, and my co-worker and friend Kristy was kind enough to come along with me as Josh couldn't get off of work. When I arrived it took us a bit of work to find the building we wanted. Once we made it inside it was pretty easy to follow the "Kinder Kardiology" signs. I checked in for my appointment and was handed a stack of forms that were in German. I took them, attempted my best to look them over (I was able to figure out where my name and birth date went) but handed them back to the nurse blank. She didn't speak English, and I didn't speak German. I waited (and waited and waited!) before I was called back, where they did and EKG. It was another situation where I didn't have the language skills to tell the women I'd already had one done two weeks ago. After another long wait (seriously, what's up with that? I work in the dental field, I understand having a schedule and patients... I stick to mine and I'm on time) I got to see the doctor, who did a partial echo. Again, I was a touch confused as I had just had this done... I mentioned to him all the tests which were done at Landstuhl and explained I was told they would be sending a copy of things to him. He seemed a bit surprised by this news. Hmmm. I told him I would take care of it. The doctor reported that things look good, and then said a bunch of things my regular cardiologist has said for a long time. So, a good report, and I am a bit more trusting of this doctor since he seems to have the same philosophies of my other doctor (and he speaks English). At the end of the appointment the doctor said he wanted me to have an MRI of my heart (something I've had before, and am suppose to have every 2 years, and 2012 makes it time for a new one) and he wanted some blood work. I was more upset about the blood work. Maybe that is because I never seem to have a good experience with my blood being drawn. I am a "hard stick" and unless someone is quite experienced, it can be a challenge to find a vein in my arm. Most people like to try to move down to my hands/wrists, which never turns out well. Yesterday was no different. It took 4 attempts to get some meager looking blood samples.
I am attempting to be positive about my appointment. The doctor spoke English, and really that's all that matters. I really did have a good check-up (well, good in I had a good report), and I am being taken care of the way I needed to. It's just frustrating to spend so much time sitting/waiting on my day off only to have to go back to have more things done. Thus far just to have a "usual" check-up I've had 5 separate appointments. Mind you, those all took place on 5 different days off. I'm a little tired of it.
On a completely different and much happier note, my final grades were posted for this semester of grad school. After all the work, stress, and juggling, this girl got a 4.0. That deserves a happy dance.
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