2010年ESL之就医和人际交往 17 Making a Medical Diagnosis

17 Making a Medical Diagnosis 1

GLOSSARY 2

battery – a series of things; a group of many similar things

* Applicants 3 have to pass a battery of tests before they are admitted to thisspecial school.

to zero in on – to identify one object or explanation among many, usually byeliminating or removing the other options

* What are the police doing to zero in on the criminal?

to make a diagnosis – for a doctor to identify someone’s illness or other medicalproblem

* Before making a diagnosis, I want to consult with some other doctors who arespecialists in this area.

symptom – a physical problem that shows one has an illness or disease

* A high fever can be a symptom of a bacterial 4 infection.

intermittent 5 – coming and going; not constant; present at some times, but notpresent at other times

* As they were driving through the mountains, the cell phone signal wasintermittent.

to flare 6 up – for a disease to become worse, often with no warning

* Omid’s acne flares 7 up whenever he uses sunscreen.

under observation – being seen, monitored, or tracked; being watched carefully

* We’re going to keep your son under observation overnight to see how heresponds to the medication.

ambiguous – with more than one possible explanation; confusing and unclear;difficult to understand

* That was a horrible test! The questions were so ambiguous that we didn’t evenknow what the professor was really asking.

root cause – the main reason why something is happening

* What do you think is the root cause of the recent increase in crime?

mystifying – confusing, unclear, and strange; leaving one wondering aboutsomething

* Her ability to always know what I’m thinking is mystifying.

mild – not very strong or serious; not severe

* The weather report says today will be sunny with mild wind.

chronic 8 – continuing for a long time, especially when talking about a disease thatdoes not have a cure

* Nigel has had chronic asthma 9 ever since he was a little boy.

severe – very strong and serious; not mild

* When Kenneth came to work with a severe sore throat, all his colleagues gotsick, too.

occasional – happening only once in a while, not regularly, often, or frequent

* We get the occasional letter from friends, but normally the mailman just deliversbills.

poked 10 and prodded 11 – touched many times, in many ways, often as part of atest, experiment, or medical exam

* The artifact was poked and prodded by scientists who were trying to determinewhen it was made.

guinea pig – a small animal like a large hamster that is often used in biologicalor medical experiments, used to talk about people who are being used to testsomething

* Now that we’ve finished the first version of the software, we need to find someguinea pigs who will use it and tell us what they do and don’t like about it.

to curl up with – to relax comfortably, often on a couch or sofa, perhaps with ablanket, book, magazine, TV show, movie, and/or drink

* Terry loves curling up in front of the window with a warm blanket and a cup ofhot chocolate to watch the snow as it falls outside.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What is most painful for Sally?

a) Her intermittent symptoms.

b) Her chronic, mild leg pain.

c) Her occasional, severe back pain.

2. Why can’t the doctor find the root cause of Sally’s symptoms?

a) Because she hasn’t been able to observe the symptoms.

b) Because she isn’t a very good doctor.

c) Because she’s spending too much time with the guinea pigs.

_____________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

battery

The word “battery,” in this podcast, means a series of things, or a group of manysimilar things: “Is it difficult to pass the battery of tests needed to become an FBIagent?” The word “battery” more commonly refers to a small object thatgenerates electricity: “We should replace the batteries in our smoke detectorsevery year.” Or, “The flashlight doesn’t work because the batteries are dead.”

The phrase “assault and battery” refers to the crime that occurs when someonehits another person: “When Chuck drank too much, he hit another customer atthe bar and was arrested for assault and battery.” Finally, the phrase “torecharge (one’s) batteries” means to spend time relaxing after one has beenworking very hard, so that one has energy to continue working: “Once this caseis finished, she’ll take a week off to recharge her batteries before accepting anew case.”

to flare up

In this podcast, the phrase “to flare up” means for a disease to become worse,often with no warning: “Jerry’s arthritis 12 flares up in cold, wet weather.” Thephrase “to flare up” also means for people to suddenly become angry or upset, orfor a situation to become worse: “Tensions between the two countries flared 13 upwhen a hospital was bombed accidentally.” The phrase can also mean for a fireto burn more brightly: “The campfire flared up in the wind.” When pants or skirts“flare out,” it means that they become much wider at the bottom: “I like the waythis skirt flares out around the knees.” Finally, when someone’s “nostrils 14 flare,” itmeans that the openings at the end of the nose become wider, usually becauseone is angry: “When Lawry is mad, his face turns red and his nostrils flare.”

CULTURE NOTE

When Americans “see” (have an appointment with) their doctor, the “medicalassistant” (the person whose job is to help the doctor) usually takes severalstandard or normal “measurements” (attempts to see how big, small, fast, slow,hot, or cold something is), no matter what the patient is being seen for.

The first measurement is usually the patient’s weight. The medical assistantasks the patient to take off his or her shoes and “step onto” (begin to stand on)the “scale” (a piece of equipment that measures how heavy something is). Themedical assistant “records” (writes down) the patient’s weight for the doctor toreview.

Then, the medical assistant may take the patient into the “exam room” (a small,private room where the doctor examines the patient) and measures his or her“blood pressure” (how much pressure is placed against the veins 15 as the heartbeats). The medical assistant puts a “blood pressure cuff” (a piece of fabric 16 thatfolds around the arm and is used to measure blood pressure) around thepatient’s upper arm while touching 17 the patient’s “wrist” (the part of the armimmediately above the hand) to feel the “pulse” (the rhythmic 18 pushing of bloodthrough veins). The medical assistant records the patient’s blood pressure and“pulse rate” (how many times the heart beats each minute). The medicalassistant might also use a “thermometer” to “take the patient’s temperature” (findout how hot or cold someone is).

Then, the medical assistant leaves and the patient waits for the doctor to enterthe exam room to begin his or her medical exam.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT 19

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 630: Making aMedical Diagnosis.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 630. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Visit our website at eslpod.com. Download a Learning Guide for this episode, an8- to 10-page guide that gives you the vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences,additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes, and a completetranscript of this entire episode.

This episode is called “Making a Medical Diagnosis,” when you go to a doctorand he or she tells you what your medical problem is. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Terrell: Where have you been?

Sally: At the hospital, again. My doctor is putting me through another battery oftests.

Terrell: She still hasn’t been able to zero in on the cause of your pain and makea diagnosis?

Sally: No, she hasn’t. Part of the problem is that my symptoms are intermittent,and they seem to flare up only when I’m not under observation. The symptomsthemselves are ambiguous, so finding the root cause hasn’t been easy.

Terrell: I can see how that would be mystifying and frustrating 20. Are you still in alot of pain?

Sally: The mild pain in my legs seems to be chronic, but the severe pain in myback is occasional.

Terrell: I guess you’re not up for going out tonight.

Sally: After a day of being poked and prodded like a guinea pig, all I want to dois to curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good book!

[end of dialogue]

Terrell begins by asking Sally, “Where have you been?” Sally says, “At thehospital, again. My doctor is putting me through another battery of tests.” Herdoctor is putting her through, meaning making her do some things that areperhaps not very pleasant, not very nice, or require a lot of work. What sheneeds to go through – what her doctor is putting her through is another battery(battery) of tests. A “battery” is a series of things, a group of things. It’s oftenused with the word “test.” A battery of tests could be used to determine whichclasses you will take at an English language school. They may give you aspeaking test, a writing test, a listening test; we would call those a “battery oftests.” This is a battery of medical tests. A few years ago I went to the doctorbecause I was having problems with my allergies 21. My nose would start to run,my eyes would water, my throat would sometimes make me cough; all of thesethings were related to allergies. So my doctor put me through a battery of allergytests to determine what the problem was. You can tell today that I still haveallergies because my voice is what we would say a little “hoarse 22” (hoarse).

When your voice is hoarse you don’t sound normal; your voice is often lower,more difficult perhaps to understand.

That’s enough of my medical problems! Now back to the dialogue: Sally hasgone through a battery of tests. Terrell says, “She (meaning her doctor) stillhasn’t been able to zero in on the cause of your pain and make a diagnosis?”

“To zero in on (something)” means to identify one thing, one explanation thatsolves a problem or that gives you an answer, eliminating all of the otherpossibilities. The doctor is supposed to zero in on the cause of Sally’s pain andmake a diagnosis. “To make a diagnosis,” or simply “to diagnose” as a verb, iswhen a doctor identifies what your illness or medical problem is. Sally’s doctorhas not been able to make a diagnosis. Sally says, “No, she hasn’t (she hasn’tzeroed in on the cause yet). Part of the problem is that my symptoms areintermittent, and they seem to flare up only when I’m not under observation.” A“symptom” (symptom) is some usually physical sign that shows you have someillness or disease. So for example if your head starts to hurt and you start to geta fever, where the temperature of your body goes up, that is a symptom perhapsthat you have some illness – some disease. Sally’s symptoms are intermittent.

Something that is “intermittent” comes and it goes; it’s not constant. It willhappen sometimes but then sometimes it won’t happen, so it’s difficult todetermine what is going on. “To flare up” is a two-word phrasal verb meaning fora disease or an illness to become worse, often without any warning. Suddenlymy nose starts to run, I start to sneeze, I might say my allergies are flaring 23 up; they’re getting worse suddenly. The word “flare” has several meanings inEnglish, some of those are found in your Learning Guide for this episode.

Sally’s symptoms seem to flare up – get worse – only when she’s not “underobservation,” meaning only when she isn’t being watched carefully. She isn’tbeing monitored, we might say. So when the doctor isn’t looking, basically, hersymptoms get worse. “The symptoms themselves,” she continues, “areambiguous.” Something that is “ambiguous” has more than one possibleexplanation. It’s also a word we use to describe something that is confusing,unclear, difficult to understand. Often when something could have more thanone meaning and it isn’t clear which meaning is meant, we say that thing isambiguous. A question could be ambiguous, for example. Sally’s symptoms areambiguous – it’s hard to tell what they mean, so finding the root cause hasn’tbeen easy. The “root (root) cause” of something is the main cause, the mainreason why something is happening.

Terrell says, “I can see how that would be mystifying and frustrating.” Whensomething is “mystifying” it is related the idea of a mystery, something we don’tunderstand. In more general terms, something that is confusing, something thatis not clear to you. Terrell asks, “Are you still in a lot of pain?” Sally says, “Themild pain in my legs seems to be chronic, but the severe pain in my back isoccasional.” We have two different kinds of pain: we have “mild” pain, which isnot strong, not too bad, not serious; and we have “severe” pain, which is verystrong, very serious, the opposite of mild. We also have two differentdescriptions of when this pain occurs – when it happens. “Chronic” (chronic)pain continues for a long time, especially when it is related to a disease thatdoesn’t have a cure – there’s no way to make the illness go away. “Occasional”

pain is pain that happens every once in a while. Maybe once a day, twice a day,maybe every other day, that would be occasional pain.

Sally says, “The mild pain in my legs seems to be chronic, but the severe pain inmy back is occasional. Terrell says, “I guess you’re not up for going out tonight.”

A couple of phrasal verbs there: “to be up for (something)” means to have theenergy to do something, to be interested in doing something. “To go out” meansto leave your house and have a good time: go a movie, go to a nice restaurant,have fun with someone outside your house.

Sally says, “After a day of being poked and prodded like a guinea pig, all I want isto curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good book!” “To be poked (poked) andprodded (prodded)” means that you are being touched many times, usually by adoctor or someone who’s examining you for some medical problem. It could be part of a test that they are doing; they could be taking your blood, they could bechecking your temperature, lots of things that would require that you are touchedmany times. The idea of “poked and prodded” is that it is somewhat painful,although it isn’t always necessarily that way. It’s usually used in talking aboutmedical exams that require a lot of tests and that require that you be at thedoctor’s office or the hospital for a long time. A “guinea pig” is a small animal; it’slike a hamster. It’s used here, however, because guinea pigs traditionally havebeen used in medical experiments and biological experiments. It’s now a generalterm to talk about people who are being used to test something new, especially anew kind of medicine. It’s often used in a negative way, meaning that the personwho is giving them this medicine or doing something to them is using themwithout really knowing whether that thing is going to work or not; it’s anexperiment.

Sally says, “After a day of being poked and prodded like a guinea pig, all I want isto curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good book!” “To curl up with” here meansto relax comfortably, sitting on a couch or a sofa perhaps with a book or amagazine and/or something to drink. “I want to curl up with a good book” is acommon expression meaning I want to go home, sit in a comfortable chair, andread a good book.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Terrell: Where have you been?

Sally: At the hospital, again. My doctor is putting me through another battery oftests.

Terrell: She still hasn’t been able to zero in on the cause of your pain and makea diagnosis?

Sally: No, she hasn’t. Part of the problem is that my symptoms are intermittent,and they seem to flare up only when I’m not under observation. The symptomsthemselves are ambiguous, so finding the root cause hasn’t been easy.

Terrell: I can see how that would be mystifying and frustrating. Are you still in alot of pain?

Sally: The mild pain in my legs seems to be chronic, but the severe pain in myback is occasional.

Terrell: I guess you’re not up for going out tonight.

Sally: After a day of being poked and prodded like a guinea pig, all I want to dois to curl up with a hot cup of tea and a good book!

[end of dialogue]

There’s nothing mystifying about who the scriptwriter is. You know, Dr. LucyTse. Thank you, Lucy.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Comeback and listen to us again here at ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2010 by the Center for EducationalDevelopment.