Note: All names are changed to protect privacy. Also, any other possible identifying information may have been changed as well, but you’ll understand the general point of the story even with these changes. 

Javier is a young gentleman in his 40′s who we had to give bad news to. We diagnosed him with a malignant cancer whose survival rate 1 year from now would only be 25%. If stats and trends held true, he likely has only 6 to 10 months to live from now.

Overnight shifts usually have a different flow in the hospital than during the day. It can be busy, but sometimes it can give you some extra time to talk to patients that you may not normally have time to do when you’re working the days. Plus, Javier was being followed by one of the other doctors on my team so even though I heard all about him during rounds, I had never met him face to face yet.

I was told during sign-out from the doctor going home that Javier was generally stable and comfortable. Despite starting to understand that his prognosis was poor, he still was in good spirits. He also had a daughter that came to visit him frequently and who acted as our translator since Javier spoke little English.

So I busted out my handy English-Spanish translator app on my Android just so I could say a few things to him. Mostly I just wanted to see if he was in any pain and that I would be in the hospital all night if he needed anything. Now I’ve never spoken a lick of Spanish in my life and grew up in Southern Ontario, Canada, where there wasn’t a big Hispanic population. This was going to be a first …

*knock on door*

“Ola, Javier! Me llamo Doctor Chiu. Como estas?” I ask, wondering if I sounded goofy.

“Bien!”

“Dolor?” <pointing to chest> No. “Dolor?” <pointing to abdomen> No.

At that point I had reached the limit of my Spanish, and not really knowing what to say next I had to revert to English and hoped he understood what I was trying to get at.

“Umm…well….Javier you’ll be here overnight, but we’re going to make sure you’re comfortable, and tomorrow we’re asking one of the surgeons to come meet you and we’ll see if he can do anything in terms of surgery to help with your cancer”.

Javier looked at me for a few seconds, then had a sly smile and proceeded to reply back to me and had a full subsequent conversation…in English. “Oh great! Do you know what time the surgeon will come see me at? What do you think he’ll say? Thank you for updating me on the plan!”

I stood there embarrassed and hoped he wasn’t offended at my poor attempt of Spanish. Javier smiled again and then we shared a laugh. Yep, tonight I was humbled by Javier. Next time I think I’ll begin with, “Habla ingles?” and make it easier for everyone haha!