To Costa Rica

Arriving in Costa Rica today for a week of mission, medicine and adventure. It's my favorite week all year.  Sometimes my job sucks. Healthcare in America sucks. I often struggle with  wanting to really listen and help people in the face of time constraints, financial strains, pressures from hospital administration and insurance companies, and sometimes  the American sense of entitlement and not really wanting to be helped. Why did I become a physician again? Then I go to Costa Rica- to a barrio of Nicaraguan immigrants who have no support or money. I see them and really do so little. I hug them and tell them their children are healthy and give them basic antibiotics, flintstone vitamins, and tylenol. And they are grateful- just to have somebody listen.  I stop focusing on me. I stop focusing on birthday parties, and Target shopping trips and summer vacations. I stop worrying about what code Medicare will want to see and how much money this costs me. I step outside of myself and put aside my selfishness - at least for a moment. This is what God means for me. This is my passion.  I am here and ready to soak in every second and listen to whatever God wants me to hear. And I. Am. Thrilled.