med news & responses to comments

I appreciate the responses to the last post. I am convinced that landing and then moving at a later date is not a problem.

"L-girl" wrote:

I know this may seem crazy to you and others, but I avoided the message boards and yahoo groups when we were in process. They were so full of worry, anxiety and misinformation, I found them more potentially hurtful than helpful.

I do see where you're coming from. I think that what happens sometimes when people on these lists give an account of an event they leave out information. That I see all the time. So, I'm willing to believe that this person had problems but 1) as "mseh" says, it's the odd exception and 2) there may be something that this person is not including in her report.

Other than having to be careful of people's accounts on those lists, I do find a lot of helpful information that can easily be verified through other sources. I have a whole file that includes helpful moving hints, financial-tax-banking info, etc. I don't want to stop reading them all together, but I think you're right that I shouldn't take people's stories as gospel.

"west end bound" questions/comments:

It is surprising to me that there are "issues" that need so much follow-up when it seems to be the case that no one is denied PR status due to health reasons. So why the gyrations? Also, I'm confused when you say no further word from the DMP or CIC - Who is requesting the follow-ups??

For "issue #1": the examining physician in Vancouver (the Designated Medical Practitioner, DMP) requested the follow-up lab tests after irregular results that Alan had -- and we could do those in Seattle. Those, too, were irregular -- and more so. So then there was lots of follow-up with more and different kinds of tests (poor Alan has been poked and prodded a lot and not in the good way); we're honestly not sure if that "second round" of tests were required by the DMP or not. At that point, it was to find a reason for the irregularities that were found in both Vancouver and Seattle.

We heard from the specialist a couple of weeks ago and he said that as far as he was concerned the matter was closed. They've done every test they can think of and they can find no cause; he would only be concerned if some symptom presented itself (e.g. pain). He said he would send his report to our primary physician (PCP) in Seattle. Our PCP will report back to the DMP. I'm not sure if the DMP has been reporting all this to Ottawa or not, but if he did to begin with, he would most certainly have to follow up.

For "issue # 2": This came to us in a letter from the DMP who enclosed a letter from Ottawa. (Yes, odd that it was not the dreaded "brown envelope" sent directly to us. I don't know if that's because we had the exams in Canada.) Our PCP was asked to submit his opinion to the DMP who would then forward it to Ottawa. After doing his best, the PCP wrote a letter to the DMP agreeing with Ottawa that basically he could find nothing "wrong," but perhaps worthy of keeping an eye on in the future.

Ottawa made it pretty clear in their letter that issue #2 would not stop us from immigrating. I'm not sure, but it seems like they were actually writing in concern for Alan's current and future health. And to dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s.

I tried calling the DMP today to ask if he and Ottawa were satisfied that they now have everything from us. The office is closed and I will try again next week. Right now I feel like we're in a black hole of communication. Should I try contacting the consulate in Seattle (where our file resides) to ask them if they have everything? (They should.)

Of course, the most important thing is that Alan is OK and that although we can't find answers, nothing serious -- or even minor -- has been found. And we have lab results that we can use for comparison in the future if there ever be a need.

Thanks, folks, for hanging in there. I'll certainly post if we hear anything else.

I believe it's a three-day weekend in the U.S. and Canada. Have a great one!