Day 11 - Costa Rica

Pura vida! - a term which means pretty much everything. From hello to goodbye to what's up to awesome, amazing, out of this world and so on. Today was our last day of clinic. We saw 39 patients in 2 days. The best part was, we saw so many new diagnoses that were different from Nicaragua. Including a few cases of lice, myasthenia gravis, early onset puberty, very large cavities in a 2 year old, mechanical back pain versus neurological back pain, pterigion, and a few different types of rashes. It was bittersweet to finally end our days of clinic. But a wonderful feeling nonetheless because we were able to help a total of 157 people within the 2 weeks we were here, which is incredible. I am so fortunate and grateful to the people of Nicaragua and Costa Rica for allowing me to continue my medical education through their lives and just for the opportunity to hear their stories. 

Another cool thing we did today was have a group meeting afterward and discuss things we learned throughout the last few days, which was great because as we are split up into different triage groups, we don't always get to see every case. I am also thankful for the doctors and translators we were able to work with for being so patient and understanding with my little Spanish speaking skills and for taking the time to explain in great detail about each diagnosis and treatment plan. I sure am going to miss these countries!

Team leader Pouchi

Translators Sophia and Juliana (Neskins* was not shown, but was also a great help in translating)

Dr. Andrea Vargas

Dr. Alejandro 

*Neskins (I'm probably not spelling that right) is almost completely blind, so he relies on anyone around him to direct him to where he needs to go. He is so smart and sweet, it's hard to see him struggle because of his vision. But he is extremely independent and takes everything in stride

We ended the night with dinner at the new city mall, which was HUGE. And we got to see a random circus in the middle of the plaza. Plus, there was a Nutella crepe station. So it was a good night!

Tomorrow we head to Manuel Antonio National Park for a recreation day.