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Managua, Nicaragua
I'm participating in a month-long medical trip to Nicaragua, so I'd like to use this blog to document all of my experiences abroad and keep everyone at home in touch!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day 11

Today was our last day serving in San Juan de Oriente as well as my last day working in a clinical setting. We were up early for a tasty breakfast of French toast, rice with beans, and an assortment of tropical fruits before heading to the clinic. We treated a variety of patients. In comparison to the previous days, Leslie and I met with an abnormally high number of children with asthma. Other common ailments included arthritis pain, ear infections, hypertension, diabetes, UTIs, and a wide array of skin rashes. We shut the clinic down early again (around 3) because of the noise coming from the fair going on outside of the church.
We drove ten minutes down the road to the lagoon again. Instead of just enjoying the view for a few minutes, we were able to swim for an hour or so. We were all very appreciative for the opportunity to cool off and relax a little! Tonight we will go out to dinner as a group and tomorrow (Sunday) we have the morning off. Dr. Cerrato is taking all of us to the beach and in the afternoon we will have seminars introducing us to second part of the trip. From this point forward, we will be working in the Masaya Community Hospital, the main hospital that serves the people of Masaya as well as the under-served communities that surround it like La Concha and San Juan.
While I’m very excited about starting our work in the hospital, I’m also leaving the clinics with a bit of sadness. I’ve loved serving these communities and I will miss them! By visiting their homes and walking their streets, I feel like I’ve gotten to know the people on a more personal level than I will be able to in the hospital. The amount of first hand experience I’ve had in the clinics thus far has far exceeded my expectations. My knowledge of medical Spanish has been expanded greatly because I’ve been encouraged constantly to directly communicate with the patients about their health issues. Once we start working in the hospital, I think our direct line of communication and liberty we have with the patients will decrease. I’m quite confident, though, that our opportunities to serve and learn will be vast (just different) while working under the surgeons and other physicians in Masaya.

A few things are for sure- Each day I’ve left the clinics with a great amount of satisfaction and excitement about what we are doing and what I want to do with my life. I’m learning more and more about myself, the world around me, and the kind of doctor and person I strive to be. I’m so happy and thankful I've chosen medicine as my life and career path.

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