I think my family motto really should be something like - maxime difficile viam - HDWP for short.
When I had my long, drawn out, employment physical back in November I was told I should have a Hepatitis A&B series of vaccinations which is one shot, then another in a month with the third at six months. Silly me, it thought it would be easy to get the next ones. So, got the first one. One silver lining about not getting the go-ahead to 'ship out' in early December was that I was able to get the second shot before leaving the U.S. That's alright, it fit the schedule to be back in the U.S. mid May when I could pick up the third shot - WRONG!
So, I head to the compound dispensary and ask the nurse to set me up to get one here. They couldn't do it in the office, guess they couldn't get the vaccine. I ask her to find me a place around here that can do it. (In actuality she first told me to just go find a place.) She sets me up with an appointment at a hospital in the south part of Jeddah about a half hour away. I asked for directions, what doctor, etc. and the response is Google Maps. Not much to go on.
I get there in plenty of time, go in to be greeted by the obligatory check-point and receive my mask - which I am more than willing to wear in a hospital these days, especially around here, since most of the locals don't get the sneeze-into-the-elbow idea. I'm directed to a desk down the hall to check in only to find out that I must register with the hospital first. OK, way down the hall in another direction, find the desk, get signed up, they take my insurance info (later on to prove useless) and direct me to a third desk back on the other side but down from the first one. Take a number, get called up, find out I need to go to the first desk I went to originally. Go to that one, take a number, get called up, confusion. The clerk heads back to the nurses station to 'consult', come back with something about they didn't have it. Now I'm confused. Clerk invites me to go back to the nurses station for more information. Turns out that they have the Hep B shot but not the combination shot I had received prior and nothing for Hep A. So I leave empty handed. Bummer.
As I'm leaving, I call the nurse at our dispensary and give her the rundown. She told me that another place she spoke to transferred her to the pharmacy and no one picked up the phone so she suggests that I "stop in at another hospital". I suggest that she call around and find me a place that DOES have the vaccine required. Later that day she calls me with another place with an appointment for me the next day. She texts me the name of that place and again pushes Google Maps for the directions like she has stock in the company.
This place actually sent me a text message which I guessed was a confirmation but it was all in Arabic so I don't really know what it said. So, I head out after getting the directions, it's only 15 minutes north of the compound, easy-peasy. I get there in good time and it is easy parking right under the building. I get to the check-point and the gal doesn't read Arabic either so points me back to the front desk. Clerk there tells me that this is the 'clinic' and my appointment is at the 'hospital' (of the same name) which is a half hour south of here. On the road again, trying not to speed b/c I don't need another ticket.
This place is bigger and like many big city hospitals I have seen that had to grow to account for increased population as well as services now has spread through several buildings, some of which accessed easily by connecting corridors across the street. Did I mention that the nearby area seems to be under the usual (continual) mode of construction. There is zero nearby parking and I almost get blocked in to the first little lot. I head down a few of the back streets and find a spot almost on the sidewalk (parking ON the sidewalk, if there is one, is not uncommon.) I mark the spot on the map for the necessary breadcrumbs and head off to find the entrance to this place.
Make it through the check point, get directed to go up to the second floor, across the street,
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| Small elevator but they provide good instruction on how you are supposed to ride in it. |
Get up to the desk and get all the paperwork filled out - at least they are computerized and I don't have to fill in the ream of paper I've had to do at other offices in the U.S. Didn't have to wait too long to see the doctor. She was a nice lady, has a daughter who is in Fort Lauderdale studying cosmetic dentistry. She has some difficulty looking up the particular vaccine that I need. It was listed in their system but they don't have any. After some discussion and calls to the pharmacy onsite and consulting with another doctor we come up with a plan. They do have the Hep B but do not have Hep A for adults, apparently it is for pediatric use only here. So, she writes a scrip for the B and a double dose of the A. Now I head down to the first floor pharmacy to pick up the doses.
Finally find out where this place is, pick up a number and sit, get called up only to find out that they don't have the stuff there - I need to go to the second floor pharmacy. That one is smaller, pick up a number and sit, get called up only to find out that they don't have the stuff there - I need to go to the first floor pharmacy in the other building. Fortunately, since I'm already on the second floor, it is easy to cross the street. After a bit of walking around I find that pharmacy, pick up a number and sit, finally get called up to the desk. The clerk seems to have a lot of difficulty understanding the printed out scrip (it is in English after all.) After she has a couple 'consultations' she heads out back and brings me a couple boxes that she drops in a bag that has a zip-loc with ice in it. I pay the bill, apparently my insurance is useless for this, and I am told that I have to go to the first floor pharmacy of the other building to get the injection. Up two floors, over, down, through the pharmacy room to the injection room. Success, or so it seems. It is at this point I realize that I've been shorted by 50% of the Hep A vaccine - the doc wrote it for 1440 units but this single shot was 720 units, harumph. It will have to do since it has been 5 hours already since I got to the first office. The gal gives me the shots and I ask for the record so I can prove I've at least had the shot(s). She says it's in the computer and I'd need to go back to the doctor for the record.
So, back up to the third floor (at least I know the way by now.) By this time it is a long wait at the desk. [Side note: there was a guy standing in line next to me that the nurse had brought out. She came back up to him and insisted that he put his mask on, seems he didn't want to. Oh joy, just the person I want standing next to me, one that the nurse really feels must be wearing a mask, and he'd been standing there for a while prior to that. As we all know, you have to be two meters from the person in front of you but since viruses can't go sideways the lines can be close together.] There is much confusion at the desk when I get up there. Apparently no one has ever asked for an immunization record before in the history of this institution. So, I sit and wait to see the doctor again. The nurse comes out and we go to see the nice lady again. They don't seem to have any actual form or a way to print out any type of record but since the first time around I had shown her my copy of shot one (and two on a separate sheet) and that there were blank spaces on that paper she figured she could sign and stamp that. Success! Finally free to go. Now to find the car.
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