bad metaphor

My mom called me up last week and immediately asked if I could fly to Houston, offering to comp the plane ticket. She mentioned the word “surgery” and I immediately went into panic overdrive, “ahh! on what?!” She said it was nothing serious, but that it had something to do with her throat? I remained panicked, because what could be so serious that would necessitate me flying? After calling my sister and between the two of us researching her vague descriptions on the internet, we deduced that she was having an endoscopy (like a colonoscopy but through the other end). So, nothing too alarming (yet), but she’d have to be put under anesthesia and would need me to drive around. Yes, she could probably have gotten someone else who actually lived in the area to chauffeur her around, but at least this way I’d be there for her and somewhat cognizant of what was happening with her health.

As I sat in the waiting room this morning, I contemplated just how difficult it must be for my mother and other people like her, whose grasp of English is tenuous at best. Medical complications and insurance issues in this country can be really foggy even for people who speak fluent English, who have doctorate degrees and such. Luckily for Mom, there is a huge Vietnamese immigrant presence in Houston, and services have popped up to cater this population. There was a Vietnamese nurse on hand to talk to patients, and the doctor she saw was Vietnamese. Putting myself in her shoes, I would feel immensely more comfortable going through an awkward or painful procedure, if I could at least understand what was happening. Just a few years ago, she probably would have had an incredibly frustrating experience at the doctor, with a higher potential of misdiagnosis, say. Or even worse, she might just not have gone to the doctor at all.

Despite these extra services, however, medical jargon can still be pretty hard to grasp for a complete layperson like my mom. The doctor explained to her, in Vietnamese, that they had found some whitish spots in her esophageal lining, that could indicate some sort of fungal infection, and that biopsy results would be available in a couple of weeks. Busy doctor that he is, he quickly rushed off to tend to another patient.

In the car, Mom asked, “why the doctor say I have mushroom in my throat?”