Everyone knows that communication is important. There are college classes on written communication, seminars on body language, courses in foreign languages, books about persuading others with your words. Communication is supposed to be key in marriage, the workplace, relationship, ect. However "good" communication is important not just words alone in all these situations. Sometimes just plain communication can actually make the world even more confusing. I have had several examples of this in the past few weeks so I thought I would share.
- I got a text from a friend asking if I could bring a bag of buns and a package of beats to an Oktoberfest gathering. I texted back asking if she wanted beets? Arthur and I both despise beets and I didn't know what they had to do with Oktoberfest. My other thought was maybe she wanted us to supply music and "beats" was just a code name. It turned out that our assignment was to bring brats and buns instead of beets. This sounded much more appetizing.
- Arthur and I were talking about some project around the house and jokingly I meant to say something along the lines of "I such a stupendous housewife" however it came out as "I am such a superfluous housewife". Arthur looked at me and commented "I don't think that is quite what you mean."
- I have been getting together with several friends frequently this fall and getting ready to invite a few over for our Wednesday night accountability group. I was running this by Arthur just to confirm that it was okay and told him I was appreciative of his support of me spending time with friends since it takes away from time we spend together. I then said, "You'll never be as important to me as my friends". He gave me a puzzled look and said, "I don't think that is quite what you mean."
-While we were dating we were eating at Wendy's and I was enjoying a Frosty. I said, "I think I like Frosties more that you." Instead of comparing our degree of liking a Frosty Arthur interpreted it as my degree of liking a Frosty was greater than my degree of liking him.
- As I have mentioned often recently I just got a new computer at work and I have to train the dictation software, Dragon. I decided to keep a list of some of the slip ups. Here is a piece of documentation with what Dragon would type. Below is the actually intended medical documentation.
This patient emulated into the clinic with hurricane. She apologized for missing her last appointment since she slipped into lake. She just had an x-ray which showed some decorative changes in her low back. She is scheduled to have an epidural from Dr. Fathead next week. She has pain with most daily active TVs. She also had a score of 65% impairment on the Oslo Street Lowfat Pain scale. Past medical history includes Arab vision to her left total need, dislocated sterno clinic killer joint, and emperor from property. She has an Antartic gait pattern and is unable to a friend in decent stairs. These fleas test was positive for pain. Her strength was ache consulate lower tree. Treatment at her next visit one crew Maine Law therapy at L4-L5, lower trunk rotations, anchorages. At the end of the treatment she will have E-stamp amyloids T pectoral.
Sometimes proofreading my work feels like a giant game of Mad Libs. Here's the real version:
This patient ambulated into the clinic with her cane. She apologized for missing her last appointment since she slept in too late. She just had an x-ray which showed some degenerative changes in her low back. She is scheduled to have an epidural from Dr. Fahed next week. She has pain with most daily activities. She also had a score of 65% impairment on the Oswestery Low Back Pain Scale. Past medical history includes a revision to her left total knee, dislocated sternoclavicular joint, and diabetic neuropathy. She has an antalgic gait pattern and is unable to ascend and descend stairs. Thessaly's test was positive fore pain. Her strength was 8 pounds on the left lower extremity. Treatment at her next visit will include manual therapy at L4-L5, lower trunk rotations, and bridges. At the end of the treatment she will have e-stim and moist heat packs.
Words alone have little meaning. If linked together correctly we get rousing speeches, Shakespearean plays, and love letters. If linked poorly we get chaos and confusion. And this is all in the same language. Sometime I will share stories of my attempts to communicate with my Spanish speaking patients with my 100 word vocabulary, with half of those words usually mispronounced. Omnia Vincit Amor.
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