Una conversación con un paciente

(En el medio de un examen, la doctora ha acabado de revisar los ojos de una abuela de ochenta y cinco años. Su nieto está acompañándola. La paciente no puede oír bien, por eso, la doctora le dirige las preguntas al nieto )

Dra: Sí, ella tiene cataratas, y eso es por qué ella describe que tiene una “sombra” en su visión. A mí me parece que esta disminución en su visión esté afectando la calidad de su vida y ella se beneficiaría de la cirugía para sacar la catarata.  Pero recuerda, la cirugía para sacar la catarata raramente es una emergencia. Entonces, la pregunta es, ¿Está ella infeliz con la calidad de su vista?

Nieto: (la afronta a su abuela) ¿Está contenta con la visión, o quiere una cirugía para sacar la catarata?

Abuela: Puedo ver. Puedo coser, todo. Solo quiero lentes más fuertes.

Nieto: Ella dice...

Dra: Le entiendo a ella. Bueno, desafortunadamente, no puedo escribir una receta más fuerte debido de las cataratas. Son bien gruesas – es imposible mejorar la visión sin una cirugía.  Ella puede continuar así – sin cambio en los lentes – o, podemos programar una cita para preparar los ojos para la cirugía.

Nieto: (en girar su mirada hacia la abuela) ¿Le entiende a ella? ¿Qué es lo que quiere hacer?

Abuela: No quiero cirugía. Estoy aquí para lentes.

Dra: Bueno, voy a escribir la misma receta, entonces, siempre y cuando usted sepa que el poder de los lentes y la visión con los lentes no van a mejorar. Solo una cirugía puede mejorar la visión.

Nieto: Sí, ella entiende.

Dra: Después de ella recibe los lentes, si ella está luchando para ver pe., la televisión, la tela para coser, la estufa para cocinar, llamen la oficina para hacer una cita para cirugía.

Nieto: Está bien. Gracias.

Abuela: Muchas gracias.

Dra: De nada, es un placer ayudarlos a ustedes.

                                                                        *

(In the middle of an exam, the doctor has just finished examining the eyes of an 85 year old grandmother.  Her grandson is accompanying her.  The patient cannot hear well, so the doctor directs her questions to the grandson)

Dr.: Yes, she has cataracts, and that’s why she describes her vision as having a “shadow”.  I feel that this decrease in vision is affecting her quality of life and that she would benefit from cataract surgery.  But remember, surgery to remove cataracts is rarely an emergency. Then, the question is: Is she unhappy with the quality of her vision?

Grandson: (faces his grandmother) Are you happy with your vision, or do you want cataract surgery?

Grandmother: I can see. I can sew, everything.  I only want stronger glasses.

Grandson: She says...

Dr.: I understand her.  Well, unfortunately, I cannot write a stronger prescription for glasses due to the cataracts.  They are very thick  – it is impossible to improve the vision without surgery.  She can continue this way – without a change in the glasses – or, we can arrange an appointment to get the eyes ready for surgery.

Grandson: (turning toward his grandmother) Do you understand her? What do you want to do?

Grandmother: I do not want surgery.  I am here for glasses.

Dr.: OK, I’m going to write the same prescription, then, as long as you are aware that the power in the glasses and the vision with the glasses are not going to improve.  Only a surgery can improve the vision. 

Grandson: Yes, she understands.

Dr.: After she gets the glasses, if she is struggling to see, for example, the television, the sewing material, the stove when she cooks, call the office to make an appointment for surgery.

Grandson: OK. Thank you.

Grandmother: Thank you very much.

Dr.: You’re welcome, it is my pleasure to help you.

Adirondack Balloon Festival 2017 - Queensbury, NY

Mr. Jondee

Sólo una cosa vuelve un sueño imposible: el miedo a fracasar.

                                                                        -Paulo Coelho

Mr. Jondee (addressing his students): I was reading a newspaper article yesterday and it had this word: “thoroughfare”. What is this word? Have you heard of it?

Students (in unison, nodding to each other): Yeah.

Me: It’s like a highway.

Another student: Yeah, a main road.

Mr. Jondee: I never heard of this word. I have never seen it before. You know, when I came to this country 10 years ago – my English wasn’t so good at that time – I made it a point to write down every word in English that I came across that I didn’t understand. This helped me increase my vocabulary, and it’s what I encourage all of you to do in Spanish as well. It’s the only way to expand your knowledge of the language. And you see, even today, 10 years later, even after all that I’ve learned, I still come across words that I don’t know. There is always something to learn. You never stop learning.

                                                                        *

At the beginning of this blog, I introduce myself as an ophthalmologist making the most of my high school Spanish. I say, “Mr. Jondee would be proud.”  I realize now that I never explained to my blog readers who Mr. Jondee is!  Well, he was my high school Spanish teacher. Prior to classes with Mr. Jondee, I began my first Spanish studies in junior high. At that time, I had a simple introduction to the language: alphabet and vocabulary words. Pronunciation. I remember the vocabulary centered on basic things: numbers, colors, animals.  Then we focused on rooms of the house and items in those rooms. I remember being proud when I learned the difference between:

la televisión     -           the television

and

el televisor       -           the television set

So, by the time I got to high school, I had a strong foundation of basic vocabulary. Insert Mr. Jondee, who was there to teach us how to make sentences with this new vocabulary and further our communication skills. Mr. Jorge Jondee was from Perú. He didn’t talk very much about his personal life. He may have mentioned once why he came to the United States, but if he did I don’t remember now. But I do recall him saying that he hoped to move back to Perú one day. He mentioned something about his wife waiting there for him.

You know, it’s a shame, when I think about it now. I was a high school student of about, what? 15, 16 years of age? My fellow classmates and I were teenagers. Our concerns at the time were just passing the class and moving one step closer to graduation. We weren’t thinking any deeper than that. We weren’t asking the important questions in life. We didn’t ask the questions that would have given us more insight, like, “Mr. Jondee, how did you feel speaking English when you first started? How did you push past the embarrassment of making mistakes? Why did you want to learn English in the first place? How did you feel leaving your country? Was it worth giving up everything to come here to the United States? Are you pleased with the decisions you made?”

Maybe such questions would have been too probing, but language learning is more than just words and sentences.  It’s about learning cultures and mindsets. It’s about encountering everyday occurrences through another set of eyes, seen and interpreted from a very different set of experiences. It would have been interesting to delve more into Mr. Jondee’s perspective, instead of just worrying about passing his tests.

One thing in particular I do remember him remarking on: how poorly Spanish is spoken by some “bilinguals” in the U.S.

I put the word bilingual in quotes because Mr. Jondee was critical of some people in the United States claiming to be able to speak Spanish. He would say, “That’s not Spanish. It’s Spanglish! I can barely understand what they are saying!” For example:

el roofo ->       instead of  ->   el techo=         the roof

la carpeta->     instead of  ->   la alfombra=    the carpet

The only other things that come to mind about that class were my struggles to pass the oral portion of the final exam. My reading and writing comprehension were great, but my listening and speaking skills in Spanish were poor. I didn’t realize it then and I wouldn’t realize it until many years and many more Spanish courses later, that listening and speaking skills do NOT improve themselves through coursework. Those skills come with practice in life. With real people, real conversations. Navigating through real situations. I would not improve my Spanish communication until my residency and medical practice days, nearly 13 years later.

I haven’t been back to my high school since graduation, but I know that Mr. Jondee is no longer there. I know he would be retired by now and I know he’s not in the States any longer. I think after many years of teaching countless numbers of American high school students, he finally went home. I wish him well and I thank him. Espero que él haya encontrado en su vida lo que buscaba y le doy a él gracias por todo lo que él me ha enseñado. Saludos.

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