After three days, Dr. Rodríguez seems pleased with my comprehension of the language. She tells everyone, “this is the American doctor, she doesn’t speak much but she understands a lot, true?” Then it gets really awkward when I don’t always realize she’s talking to me and don’t respond, but it’s progress! I haven’t figured out if she can’t or just won’t speak any English, but I am finally having an easier time catching on to her pronunciation. No one here pronounces their “s” so it is VERY difficult to understand when they speak quickly. “Mucha gracia” took me a second. I guess we are no better. I try to picture some nonnative speaker getting thrown into Detroit and having to figure out how long “bout a minute” is and what “boo boo” means.
By now I can pretty much conduct a prenatal visit en español on my own. Literally every woman in this town between ages 16-36 is pregnant, or has a newborn. I hope that is not ALSO something in the water. I have had ample practice writing scripts for supplementos de hierro con ácido fólico y vitaminas prenatales. “No puede tomar, fumar, ni beber café negro” rounds out the advice to the expectant mothers. I have read ultrasounds and done fetal heart rates and a few pap smears. Good thing I paid attention in my ObGyn rotation! I like these and the pediatric visits though because I know what kind of medicine to expect, so the translation is easier. It took me about 10 minutes to understand the guy who came in with a gluteal abscess, and when I did I was like oh gross!
I haven’t yet worked in la sala de emergencia. My tenuous grasp of la lengua isn’t quite at the point of surgical abdomens and traumas. I’ll save that for next week.
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