Medical Review: Dr. Mascarenhas

[KTandTommy 31]

I decided to book with Dr. Mascarenhas even though there weren't many reviews of his, since I think he just recently got added to the list of panel physicians for Canada. His office is about 5 min from where I work, so I was familiar with the area (Avenue Rd. & St. Clair). There's $10 parking outside the office (they double park and jam as many cars in as possible, so you'll probably have to leave your keys) otherwise, if you're lucky, you can find meters on the street.

His office is 101-W, which is in the newer wing, you kind of have to snake around the building a bit if you go in the main doors (or if you go in the door right behind where the parking attendent booth is, it's immediately to your right).

I was about 40 min early for my 10:30 appointment - was going to grab a coffee, but there's nothing in the immediate area, so I just went in - which turned out to be not a bad idea. The office was already pretty full, and the receptionist was super busy. In between phone calls, she handed me a form and asked me to fill it out (it was just name/address/phone number). Then when I handed it back to her, she asked for my Packet 4 letter, vaccination records, Passport, and passport photos.

She then handed me a bunch of US Visa forms - I basically only had to fill in name, birthdate, passport number, MTL # on the tops of all of them, then the doctor fills in the rest. I was done all that by about 10:15.

About 5 minutes later, she handed me two forms, and had me walk over to the other side of the building to get my chest xray and blood work done. I did my x-ray first, was asked to take everything off from the waist up and put on a paper gown. Then she had me up against a machine, asked me to take a deep breath and hold for about a minute, then that was done. Walked over to get the bloodwork done - waited a bit longer in here, as there were several other people waiting. Nurse took one vial of blood and sent me off. I was done with both of those things by about 10:50.

Walked back over to Dr. Mascarenhas' office. Barely had enough time to crack open a book before he called me in. He was *SUPER* impressed with my vaccination records. (My mom has saved absolutely everything since I was a baby, including the little notices that go home when you get vaccinated at school LOL). He checked everything off on the vaccine list and wrote the dates of my immunizations. He asked me my height and weight (I gave it to him in ft/lbs, but he wrote it down in metric), and he asked me what I do for a living. (Then he asked if I was moving to California, because I said TV - I said "nope, Florida... and I think I want to get out of the TV industry!") . He asked if I was generally healthy, if I had any medical problems, if I had any surgeries, or if I was on any medication. I said nope - just my tonsils when I was 13. He said he wished everyone made his job as easy as I did! LOL

He asked if I had the fee for him - I mentioned that the receptionist had said it was $250 on the phone, and he said that it was actually $300. He said that he does the exams for USA, Canada and Australia, and they're all different fees because of the different tests each country requires, and she probably got them confused. It was a good thing I read on here last night that Seiden charges $300, because I brought an extra $50 just in case.

We made a little more small talk about Florida, and then he wished me good luck about 5 times LOL... really pleasant guy He said that he doesn't think there will be any problems (ie, as long as the other tests don't show that I'm positive for TB or Syphilis ... and I certainly HOPE not!! LOL), it should be fine. He said if there are problems, he will call me ASAP, if not, Lily (the receptionist) will call me either later this week or early next week to pick up my sealed envelope. Then he wished me good luck again, and sent me on my merry way

I was out of there by 11:02am.

[Texas22 50]

Awesome Katie, I'm so happy for you!

The kids and I are booked with Dr. Seiden on Jan 7th.

Mine will likely be a wee bit more complicated because I have had 3 heart surgeries, a couple of C-sections and a hernia repair. Fortunately I am well prepared with my clinical notes from my cardiologist, I will also have results of my most recent physical with my GP, along with all of our immunization records.

I started the kids vaccinations in May. The last Hep B shot is being done on Thursday. My daughter will have had 6 needles in total and my son 5 (since May)... they must feel like little pin cushions... but will be all done on Thurday.

I am taking a copy of Rick's medical insurance plan with me to medical and interview so we have proof of medical insurance for us when we move. I am trying to gather everything possible that they might ask for because of my special medical circumstances.

[VeeNDee 44]

Awesome Katie, I'm so happy for you!

The kids and I are booked with Dr. Seiden on Jan 7th.

Mine will likely be a wee bit more complicated because I have had 3 heart surgeries, a couple of C-sections and a hernia repair. Fortunately I am well prepared with my clinical notes from my cardiologist, I will also have results of my most recent physical with my GP, along with all of our immunization records.

I started the kids vaccinations in May. The last Hep B shot is being done on Thursday. My daughter will have had 6 needles in total and my son 5 (since May)... they must feel like little pin cushions... but will be all done on Thurday.

I am taking a copy of Rick's medical insurance plan with me to medical and interview so we have proof of medical insurance for us when we move. I am trying to gather everything possible that they might ask for because of my special medical circumstances.

If it makes you feel any more at ease, I also have a complicated medical history. Mine was also tricky because I was not medically supposed to get one of the required vaccinations (the booster for MMR). I'm also on some expensive medication for my chronic disease. I took along a note from my family doctor summarizing the medical conditions I have, my current treatment and medication and the situation with each condition (aka "under control" etc). The doctor was very nice - he asked me several questions about living with the condition and said he thought I would have no trouble with the medical - he would just review my documents and have to write some more notes.

Long story short, I got a waiver for the MMR (checked off as 'contraindicated' on the copy of the form they gave me), and in the sealed package he must've wrote some things (I saw a brief glimpse at the visa interview when they opened the medical package, but it was upside down under the glass window so I couldn't read it - oh the curiousity!), but I was approved for the visa.

I also made sure to take along my fiance's tax records for the past 3 years (they wanted an extra copy of W2s - we brought the originals but they made copies at the consulate thankfully), as well as I copied his health insurance card and got a letter from his employer to back up the affidavit of support - which I'm sure were going to be required in my situation. We were approved so I think you also will be fine!

[Texas22 50]

If it makes you feel any more at ease, I also have a complicated medical history. Mine was also tricky because I was not medically supposed to get one of the required vaccinations (the booster for MMR). I'm also on some expensive medication for my chronic disease. I took along a note from my family doctor summarizing the medical conditions I have, my current treatment and medication and the situation with each condition (aka "under control" etc). The doctor was very nice - he asked me several questions about living with the condition and said he thought I would have no trouble with the medical - he would just review my documents and have to write some more notes.

Long story short, I got a waiver for the MMR (checked off as 'contraindicated' on the copy of the form they gave me), and in the sealed package he must've wrote some things (I saw a brief glimpse at the visa interview when they opened the medical package, but it was upside down under the glass window so I couldn't read it - oh the curiousity!), but I was approved for the visa.

I also made sure to take along my fiance's tax records for the past 3 years (they wanted an extra copy of W2s - we brought the originals but they made copies at the consulate thankfully), as well as I copied his health insurance card and got a letter from his employer to back up the affidavit of support - which I'm sure were going to be required in my situation. We were approved so I think you also will be fine!

Thanks VeeNDee,

I have his IRS transcripts for the last 3 years. He is getting me a letter from his employer to go along with the affidavit of support. Plus I will have proof that I am self-supporting as well. My income comes with me.

So hopefully anything they ask us about, I can simply hand them paperwork.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Texas22