Internal Medicine
Those regular physical exams and the routine blood tests that the ophthalmologist recommended still needed to be done. We allowed as how it was time to find an internist in Mexico. What we wanted was a doctor we could see if we were well or unwell. A general family doctor would do, but an internist made more sense for us as mature adults with no children at home. With all the resources we now had, friends and other doctors in the area, we got a referral to a Nogales, Sonora internist, Dr. Luis Guillermo Castillo Haro.
Our exams began at the Endomedica Laboratorio de Analisis Clinicos. The lab is about a mile south of the border. For our first visit, we negotiated a taxi as an alternative to driving. The drivers, all lined up on the corner just over the U.S. Mexico border, said they charge $6 U.S. dollars. We negotiated for $5, got a ride and gave the driver $1 tip.
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Endomedica de Nogales Clinic |
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The lab was on the bottom floor of a contemporary medical complex. We checked out the parking area. As it turned out, there was a dedicated free parking lot down a driveway behind the building. We would be using that in the future.
Inside, the bright, modern, ceramic tile floored office was as spotlessly clean and as professional looking as any lab we had ever seen. It was far cleaner than a few memorable ones I have visited in the U.S. Even the magazines were current and in English. The lab technician who took our information and our blood spoke English very well. As is the case so often in our region, many people, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, have lived in and visit extended families in the region that lies within a few miles north and south of the Arizona Mexico border. Many people are bilingual.
Our complete blood chemistry (CBC) including fasting and non-fasting glucose tests and a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for the guy fell within our plus or minus 30 percent of U.S. charges for two people. Again, we felt as if we saved 70 percent. When we returned for the results the next day, the Quemica (head of the lab) asked us, “You are seeing the doctor?”
My husband nodded yes and she smiled. Something told me our timing was right.
One thing we noticed about getting lab work done in Mexico was how personal and forthright the process is. If we choose to, we pick up the results or images and have them in hand. They are ours.
We carried our results next door and up a flight of stairs. The offices were bright and airy. In the medical group are different specialists much like you would find in any U.S. medical group. A young woman and her husband were leaving the obstetrician’s office. They were admiring their ultrasound image of their expected child as we checked in for our internist appointment.
“At your service,” Dr. Castillo Haro said. “So what can I do for you today?” We explained our mission, to find a doctor. He interviewed each of us and entered our information in his laptop computer. We did the weigh in, height measurement and all the usual. We each had an initial physical exam.
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Endomedica de Nogales Clinic upstairs is bright and airy |
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With our lab results in hand, he gave us suggestions. The first was to increase daily exercise to at least 45 minutes, and with a smile he added that we only need to do that on the days we eat food. Walking in our scenic region was his suggestion. I was thinking that we have a GTS (Gravity Training System) available, the commercial health club version of an efi Sports Medicine Total Gym, and I would get more earnest about working out.
The doctor also suggested that we use the American Diabetes Association web site and publications as a resource to learn new ways of cooking and eating. What he wanted us to do was to develop a new approach to food and sincerely limit the usual suspects: fats, carbohydrates (including sugar) and salt. He gave us a diet to follow as a guideline. There would be no medications required just yet, and perhaps ever.
The doctor even offered Bob the use of an ambulatory blood pressure monitor to take home across an international border, to be returned later. And this was our first meeting! He trusted us and we trusted him.
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| Goal: more fresh fruits and vegetables |
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The plan: repeat lab work and re-evaluate in a few weeks. Are we inclined to follow through? Yes. We were delighted that our new internist would take the time to really talk to us. We skipped the taxi and walked the mile to the border. It wouldn’t take us 45 minutes, but it was a beginning for more exercise.