It’s really hard to believe that the clinical part of the trip has come to an end. This may be a good thing considering Kit thinks she may have Dengue Fever, or heat exhaustion and a stomach not meant for Vietnamese food. Last night, we took our translators out to dinner. We went to a place called Tai Pho (which is not Thai food), and had a family style meal of spring rolls with pork and banh quioe (kway, and totally spelled incorrectly), which is a crepe with bean sprouts, pork, shrimp and lettuce. They picked the restaurant and told us this is a place they come to as a group. The food was yummy and we were stuffed by the time we walked out. However, out translators did insist that they take us out for dessert that consisted of layers of sweet bean, +/- corn, +/- banana all served with ice and coconut milk. Sounds crazy, but actually really sweet and delicious, like a parfait. The whole evening was a lot of fun and it was wonderful to spend time outside of clinic with everyone we have been working with, go to their favorite restaurants and share their favorite meals.

The last of clinic was both a very (medically) interesting and rewarding day. One of our colleagues saw a patient with leprosy, and we had a large group of Down’s syndrome patients. My last patient of the day was a young boy with Down’s syndrome who was not feeding well or growing as well as his peers. Tuyen (my translator) managed to distract him while playing music for him on my IPhone and showing him pictures. Talk about a team effort, but worth it. He seemed to like Van Morrison the best, and I was able to look at his heart with the ultrasound machine I have been lugging about. He appeared to have a complete AV canal defect (heart malformation) and we were able to refer him to the hospital for surgical repair.

We as a group then had a special celebration with all of our translators, and honestly, we cannot say enough about what a treat it was to work with them. We each worked with one specific translator the entire time, and we hands down had the best two translators. They were quick to pick up on all the medical terminology and were even recognizing our patterns of questions and diagnoses, when we would want a blood sugar checks, etc. We would talk about music, movies and what they typically did on weekends. Tuyen really liked the Dave Matthews Band that I introduced to her. Kit and Huong were listening to a lot of Beiber and Backstreet Boys. We are especially excited for them as they both won scholarships to study in the US this year and found out where they are going. Tuyen is going to Minnesota and Huong to South Dakota. So, if any of our friends have any XXS winter coats you no longer use, I am sure these girls will need them!

All in all, the people we have worked with on this trip have been a great group – from our translators to the Vets who have returned to a country they were at war with, and everyone else.