Views, pasta, and rain… what’s new?

San Jose for the week + a couple surprises mixed in.

Views on views on views

Saturday dinner was with the whole group at Ram Luna, a restaurant overlooking the city. (photo alert!) My shrimp fried rice was delicious and the view was beautiful, until the fog rolled in and our view disappeared. That’s Costa Rican rainy season for you I guess! Sunday started off with a hike up at Hacienda La Chimba, a coffee farm 40 mins outside of San Jose. (photo alert!) The ‘moderate’ hike was a bit more of a hike than the walk we were expecting, and the recent rains left the trail muddy, making the walking sticks they encouraged well worth any embarrassment associated with using them. Our 3-mile hike had a couple of stopping points and overlooks along the way, keeping us going when the ‘extreme ascents’ got to be a little too much. Going early in the morning (starting the hike at 8:30am) got us through before the heat of the day and we missed the rain that began at noon. On our way back we stopped at Cafe Otoya for a yummy lunch before resting up before the work week.

 

 

 

 

Oh rainy rainy San Jose

We were in San Jose for the most part with a couple of hospital, device, and mentor changes throughout the week. Calderon Guardia (national hospital) for an ECG, smart beds, and anesthesia machines. Hospital La Catolica for continuous ECG monitoring devices that can be used by patients for 24-48 consecutive hours. Cenare for a GE stress test treadmill. Clinica Coronado for examination lamps and more ECG machines. We also had a couple good meals this week including a grilled steak skewer with rosemary potatoes (Apotecario), a panini (Kam bakery), pesto pasta with feta and burst tomatoes (our kitchen!), and Reese’s cake (Cafe Miel Garage). (photo alert!) Also, Wednesday after work it was miraculously not raining, so Jhalak and I got to take a walk around and explore the city a bit more.

Tuesday at La Catolica (one of the private hospitals Meditek provides services for) we worked on some GE Seer Digital Holters. They have 12 electrodes with are attached to patches across the upper body and the data storage box is held on a strap at the waist. The doctor sets up the device at the clinic and the patient wears it continuously for 24 or 48 hrs depending on the device specification. Following their time period, the patient returns to the doctor where the data is uploaded and the doctor can visualize how the heart rhythm and blood pressures varied during the normal daytime activities of their patient. This allows for the treatment plans to be more personalized for each patient. In testing to ensure proper recording Jhalak and I took turns getting our blood pressures taken with the device over a period of time! Later that afternoon we headed over to Cenare, where we worked on the GE Case Stress Test. Basically a treadmill with all the same ECG connections allowing for continuous monitoring while the treadmill conditions increase in intensity. Every three minutes it jumps up a stage, which increases incline and speed of the treadmill. After calibrating and cleaning, we tested the machine with a little running of our own and were able to see the printouts from the individual leads.

Tropical Cyclone who??

A bit of a more chill week and less travel than in the past, but a good week nonetheless. Manuel Antonio was supposed to be on the docket for this weekend but with the tropical cyclone heading in it is unclear if those plans will remain.

Check back in next week, pura vida amigos!