Why I Prefer To Get My Health Care In Latin America
FEB 22, 2018 @ 05:08 PM
By Chuck Bolotin, Next Avenue Contributor
In his Ajijic area office in Mexico, neurosurgeon Dr. Gabriel Varela listened to me patiently and without interruption for 10 minutes as I went on and on about my shoulder and arm pain. After he was sure I’d finished, Varela smiled reassuringly and waited a beat. Then, with much greater efficiency of language than I had just displayed, he summarized the situation: “You’ve reached the age of ‘Nuncas.’”
Varela explained that “nunca” is Spanish for “never” and that “Nuncas” were people about my age (59) who say to doctors that they nunca (never) had the problem they have now or it nunca bothered them before or it nunca took so long to heal. Pivoting to my specific issue, he ordered an MRI of my cervical spine, a nerve conduction study and three X-rays.
So, there it was. I was a Nunca. I flashed back to my European-born grandfather telling me when I was a child that we all tend to experience more health care issues when we get older. Fifty years later, a Mexican doctor was telling me the same thing as Grandpa but using Spanish nomenclature and applying it to me. I guess it’s universal.
The question going forward for all of us Nuncas is how best to deal with needing more health care than when we were younger. As for my health care, I’m extremely relieved and grateful to be entering my Nunca years while living in Mexico (and would feel the same way in other parts of Latin America), as opposed to the U.S. Here’s why:
More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2018/02/22/why-i-prefer-to-get-my-health-care-in-latin-america/#296bd6a42e47
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