Med Visit

Coming to you from PC office in the capital, I have been out of site for med visits for the last week and a half. On the bright side of things, I have been enjoying the many frills of San Salvador consonant of life in the US: catching up on e-mails and blog entries, eating foods not seen for some time, movies, CNN, newspapers... Oh! and getting healthy. On the down side, I have been passing in and out of town over the last week and a half, and will continue to do so for another week while I recieve physical therapy. I have found the quiet and seculded life of the campo decidedly agreeable, and though equally satisfying to enjoy the spoils of life in the urban world anew, it has been an operose reverse (micro) culture shock to be afronted with the noise and bussle of the more efficient/productive civil sectors. Whats more, travel is something of a hassle here, in my situation cheifly for the sheer distance and amount of time required to get from place to place.

I had sustained minor and localized inflamation to the left hand from over-use when working with machetes, shovels, pick-axe, etc. which I of course ignored. I have had symptoms of what has been afectionately called the "trigger finger" where the tendons risit motion about the knukle until enough pressure is exerted at which point the finger snaps with a "trigger" like clicking motion. Its possible to manifest these symptoms both by extending or contracting the fingers. My experiences, however, have accompanied contractions exclusively, likely because of the nature of the causitive injury: extended exertion in crasping objects. Though not particularly uncomftable, the persistance of this alment I liken to what your legs feel the day following a long hike. A dull discomforture radiating about the area, tight as if beggin to be streched.

By any streche of the imagination, this is no more than a minor injury. It has been an incouraging experience, then, to see exactly what level of care a PCV can come to expect. One backed with government medical attention need waste little time worrying about poor or insufficient care. That which I have been subject to, barring lower quality of the resources at hand, medicines or facilities in country, the staff and level of care are as near to that of the US one could hope to expect. Each doctor I have been to see, both general interist and physical therapist, seemed to me knowledgable and able. In fact each had spent four years in medical school in the states, and my physician had even interned in a US hospital. These doctors are by no means a reflection of the majority here in ES. Yet I have come to realize a more reserved veneration for the medical services of the third world, if only for specific and perhaps exclusive ssectors, as opposed to outright condiscention. I have had the opportunity to tour some of the national hospitals as well, and in spite of the less than disirous equipage and furnihings, the staff are likewise intellegent, passionate, and diligent individuals providing a level of care far and above what one might expect from mere appearance.

I expect to remain inacttive, with regards to heavy manual labor, for some time following the completion of PT while I allow time for all this to be sorted out. Furstrating as it may be, I will do my best to be reserved to more delicate ventures... if only for a while.