Mirroring

Every now and then, conversations between doctors and patients boomerang between questions and medicalese. Not many of us nod, and even more of them struggle to make sense of doctors' words.

There is a cultural difference in play, too. Not for the first time, I encountered Chinese patients speaking in Chiuchow dialect or accent. "It seems like you're coming from Chiuchow," I enthused. It wouldn't take long for my patient to figure out I'm also from the same heritage.

But why the digression during clinic consultation? What I hope to do is improving trust by concordance. I have learned recently how doctors can make patients feel at ease when we share aspects of culture and identity, including race. Emma Goldberg, the author of Life on the Lines, taught me the emotional bonds from sharing identity between doctors and patients.

In a nutshell, like attracts like.

On the other hand, Black men visiting non-Black doctors turned down flu shot offers more than those visiting Black doctors, even when offered money incentives. Similarly, when Spanish-speaking patients see doctors who speak their language, they're more likely to adhere to their prescribed medications. 

Doctors are, obviously enough, not just the sum of our technical skills. Our gender, our cultural backgrounds, our ages, our race, our personal history matter too.

Endoscopy

The guru of good habits Stephen Covey once wrote, "Between what happens to us in life and our reaction is a space. In that space lies our power and freedom to choose our responses. In our responses lie our growth and happiness."

He had a point. It's often far more difficult to choose the weather of our mind than it is to wait for perfect weather. With that concept in mind, I've been learning not to control everything, but to control how I feel and react. Regardless of what the weather is like, I choose not to feel under the weather.

Recently, stomach pain woke me up twice. I realized that it's better to get an upper endoscopy examination. That means inserting a tube with camera through my mouth and into my stomach. That isn't a terrible medical procedure but most of us can think of a dozen reasons why we should have sedation medication: to help us rest and relax, to avoid discomfort, to go asleep without remembering the tube scratching the throat.

But then, I wish to go back to work immediately after the endoscopy examination. I did that today and sailed through the procedure smoothly without any need of sleep medication. Fifteen minutes and - ta-da! - I was back to clinic seeing patients.

Break a Leg

I was discussing with my daughter the meaning of the English idiom "break a leg' the other day.

She thought about the context of wishing luck before an audition. That way the "breaking leg" grants you the chance to be "in the cast."

Maybe she's right. Maybe I should not entertain such a question. And man, the story of "in the cast" turns out to be true. Within two months, my daughter broke her leg. Not in an audition, though. After sports injury from ankle inversion, it looked like a golf ball had been seen into her ankle. She ended up in a cast this week.

I went back to get the crutches, which have been passed from one colleague of mine to another in my department. It makes me think of the children's game known as "musical chairs." That's how it works: everyone gets the chance. My daughter's turn this time. Uh-oh.