The day started bright and early at 7:30 am. I had booked a room in the Concorde Hotel. which happens to be directly across the street from the doctors office. In my case I would be going to the doctors first. They usually send half of the applicants to the doctors then half to the embassy. The first letter of your surname determines where you go first. Then they switch.

At the Concorde Hotel a continental breakfast is included. So at 7:45 I went down and had my breakfast. Before I went in I could see people waiting outside the doctors office. So after breakfast I headed over exactly at 8am just as it said on my appointment letter. Just as I got there the door opened and in we went.

As soon as we got in there was a reception area. We were all given a pink folder then shown to a waiting room. In the pink folder there was a check list of things they required. They were the medical questionaire, one passport sized picture and any vaccination records. When you were done you handed in the pink folder at the reception desk.I think that the order that you handed this folder in was the order in which each person was called. Everyone was called by this annoying intercom. It made this awful noise then the woman called your name. A few peoples names were called. I knew they were going somewhere because once called they did not come back. Anyway my name was called. At the reception desk I was asked to pay the £125 medical fee. They also asked to see my passport and to sign the passport photo that I had given them.

I was then told to go down some stairs. At the bottom was everyone else and another waiting room. There is also a thing to put your folder in. I missed it and did not realise until the person behind me put theirs in. In this waiting room which was smaller there was some idle chit chat and exchanging of stories. Particularly annoying was that some people who were there had only sent in their I129f's in February unlike myself who had put theirs in in early November. This was May. Needless to say their service center was Vermont and mine was Nebraska.

Anyway first thing that happened was that we were called one at a time for the blood test. I went in she took the blood and asked me to confirm that it was my name that was on the sample. I give blood regularly being a blood donor however I found this whole experience quite painful. I dont know if it was because i did not have a local anesthetic or I was nervous. Anyway it was probably just me as no one else thought that it was that bad.

After about another 10 minute wait I was called into another area where there were four little cubicles. I was told to remove everything above my waste. Then one at a time were called for our xrays. This was easy. Just hold your breath then they take a picture with a big ass camera. All the guy asked in there was if I had had a chest X-Ray before. Then I went back to my cubicle.

I then waited another 5 minutes. At this time people were getting called in to speak to a doctor. There were two as two people were getting called in at the same time to different rooms. Also I don't believe Dr Phelan was there as I have heard he is an older gentleman and these guys were younger.

In there I was asked some general health questions. If you answered yes to any of the health questions he will ask you about those. Also showed him my vaccination record and was told that it was fine and i did not need any vaccinations. Incidentally if your vaccinations are not up to date you do not need to get them there to get you K1 visa. However if you do need any they must be done before you adjust status. He also checked my eyes by having me read the letters that gradually get smaller. After this I was given the all clear except the blood tests which were not ready yet. I was given my X-Ray rolled up in a tube and told to make my way to the embassy. It was about 9:45 so the whole process at the medical took less than 2 hours.

14 May 2003