Applying To A Community

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='shortnun' post='1888526' date='Jun 11 2009, 09:38 PM']Most people I've told about my application were surprised at the number of doctors I had to visit (4 in all). I'd already had my psych evals done for grad school (part of our lay spirituality formation program) and "only" had to go to the dentist (whose aunt was a nun), the eye doctor (who had only filled out forms for seminarians before), and the GP (who in my case also had to be a "lady" doctor--and who had over a dozen sisters for patients). It was kinda fun but it was certainly the most tedious part of the entire process. [/quote]

My GP visit was incredibly strange - they didn't know religious life still existed, so I spent 20 minutes explaining my vocation story to her and the intern. Who was, by the way, quite excited to be doing his first "complete" physical (this didn't put me at ease much ), and proceeded to poke at all my organs with commendable enthusiasm. I have lovely kidneys.

The eye doctor thought something was Horribly Wrong and sent me on to the hospital, where they used seven machines before declaring me totally normal. This was actually nice, because the eyedrops they gave me to open my pupils left me practically blind and my mum had a blast guiding and pampering me through the rest of the day.

But I hear that's not the normal way of doing check ups, so don't be scared

[Maria_Faustina]

Thank you everyone for your replies! It's nice to talk to other people who have gone through this (not that it's something awful to "go through")--sometimes it can feel like you're the only person in your city/college/etc. applying to religious life! And I know I can call and ask questions, only "my" community is both small and cloistered, so there isn't a vocations director, per se...the abbess handles all the interested girls. It's just a bit intimidating to have to call and ask for Reverend Mother with questions about dentist forms, and typed or handwritten, and...other random, obvious things. Even though she's wonderful.

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1888646' date='Jun 11 2009, 08:21 PM']My GP visit was incredibly strange - they didn't know religious life still existed, so I spent 20 minutes explaining my vocation story to her and the intern. Who was, by the way, quite excited to be doing his first "complete" physical (this didn't put me at ease much ), and proceeded to poke at all my organs with commendable enthusiasm. I have lovely kidneys.

The eye doctor thought something was Horribly Wrong and sent me on to the hospital, where they used seven machines before declaring me totally normal. This was actually nice, because the eyedrops they gave me to open my pupils left me practically blind and my mum had a blast guiding and pampering me through the rest of the day.

But I hear that's not the normal way of doing check ups, so don't be scared [/quote]

That reminds me of another question. Lovely topic, too. See, I don't know if I've ever had a "complete physical"--I mean, the list on my medical sheet is [i][/i]complete[i][/i]. How exactly do they go about doing that? Do they just...check everything? Just like that? I had to have an pretty extensive medical form for college done this year, and I guess that is similar. Augh. I just need to smile and get it over with. It's that thing about going to a doctor some people have, you know..

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Maria_Faustina' post='1890072' date='Jun 14 2009, 06:59 AM']Thank you everyone for your replies! It's nice to talk to other people who have gone through this (not that it's something awful to "go through")--sometimes it can feel like you're the only person in your city/college/etc. applying to religious life! And I know I can call and ask questions, only "my" community is both small and cloistered, so there isn't a vocations director, per se...the abbess handles all the interested girls. It's just a bit intimidating to have to call and ask for Reverend Mother with questions about dentist forms, and typed or handwritten, and...other random, obvious things. Even though she's wonderful. [/quote]

I totally understand what you mean! I had questions like "how many blouses is 'several' blouses?" but when I e-mailed Sr. Michelle was just visiting her family, and promptly the noviciate was wrecking their brains trying to remember how many they had to bring, and I felt like such a nuisance... even though they totally said I wasn't. But, you know, they have better things to do, surely?

[quote name='Maria_Faustina' post='1890072' date='Jun 14 2009, 06:59 AM']That reminds me of another question. Lovely topic, too. See, I don't know if I've ever had a "complete physical"--I mean, the list on my medical sheet is [i][/i]complete[i][/i]. How exactly do they go about doing that? Do they just...check everything? Just like that? I had to have an pretty extensive medical form for college done this year, and I guess that is similar. Augh. I just need to smile and get it over with. It's that thing about going to a doctor some people have, you know..[/quote]

I don't know whether an American complete physical is the same as a Dutch complete physical, but what they did in my case was first ask a load of questions to see whether I was feeling anything out of the ordinary (which would indicate something requiring more attention). After that the intern patted and prodded me just about everywhere between my diaphragm and hip bone, most of the time listening through the stethoscope, which had something to do with checking my organs. And then there was a lot of stethoscoping on his part and sighing on my part to check my lungs and heart (this is the most embarrassing part, for me personally). They also measured my blood pressure, and I had blood drawn earlier.

Trying to remember more... That was about it, I think.

Oh, yes, they didn't have to check any special lady things because of my age and history. They did, however, remind me I have to start regular check-ups soon because my mum has had breast cancer.