Some simple Hospital vocabulary

[cooperlola]

[quote user="NormanH"]Welcome back Cooperlola.

[/quote]Thanks, good to be back.

I'm amused by the exchanges above your post, Norman.  They remind me of a recent scenario.

Nealy two days after my op', I am still very bloated and cannot f*rt for the life of me.  Eventually, during a visit from Mr C, the moment arrives and, as instructed, when the nurse comes in to check on me, I tell her, sporting a large and satisfied grin "I've f*rted."  Whereupon, she says to her colleague in the corridor:  "She's f*rted" and seconds later this person shouts down down the hallway to another nurse: "Madame's D****'s f*rted."  Then I hear echoes of the same phrase  being passed down the corridor of the entire Gynae department.  There's no privacy in hospital![:-))]

Chris - I love the idea of somebody with a f*rt called Dora.

[sueyh]

Oh Coops its so good that you are back. I am sitting here clutching my stitches, tears running down my face. I should not have read this on my first day out of hospital.

Hope your recuperation continues well.

Very best wishes

Suey

[NormanH]

Welcome back...I hope all went well.

[Cluzo]

My advice is to be able to say in french numbers what your weight is in kilos and your  height in centemeters -  my OH was admitted with a heart attack and I got all flumoxed and mixed up and I think said he was 7ft 8  and 25 stone !!!!! or something like that  . I know he is big  but not that big !!!!!

[mint]

Cluzo, that is a very good post, if perhaps so funny that I am laughing more than I am paying attention.  Do know my weight in kilos but not my height in metres.  It's on my passport somewhere, I'm sure!

Suey, all the best.  Keep your chin up, you chose the best course of action and the pain will soon go away and you will feel better for having been brave! [kiss][kiss]

[sueyh]

Sweets thank you. You are what it says on the packaging very sweet.

Suey

[sueyh]

[quote user="NormanH"]Welcome back...I hope all went well.

[/quote]

Hi Norman,

Yes all went well.  I have to admit to being more scared about going into hospital and coping with the understanding of the language and saying the right things than I was about the actual op.  Your phrases helped a great deal.  My whole experience of the French health service was fantastic.  It has also done my confidence with my language a power of good.

Thanks again for your kind words.

Suey

[NormanH]

That is great news. I know that the fear of not understanding is worse than the actual thing, but you see how the human spirit comes through...

[cooperlola]

[quote user="sueyh"]Oh Coops its so good that you are back. I am sitting here clutching my stitches, tears running down my face. I should not have read this on my first day out of hospital. Hope your recuperation continues well. Very best wishes Suey[/quote]Thanks, Suey.  Good to see you back in good spirits also.  I have been taking it very easy for a few days as I don't want to go back to hospital for a fourth time!  Take care that you do the same.[:)]

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="sueyh"]Oh Coops its so good that you are back. I am sitting here clutching my stitches, tears running down my face. I should not have read this on my first day out of hospital. Hope your recuperation continues well. Very best wishes Suey[/quote]Thanks, Suey.  Good to see you back in good spirits also.  I have been taking it very easy for a few days as I don't want to go back to hospital for a fourth time!  Take care that you do the same.[:)][/quote]

Quite right, Coops; I don't know about you and Mr coops - but the rest of us need a bit of a breather, so go slowly!  [:D]

Hope all is well with you too Suey.

This is such a useful thread; we all hope we won't need it, but who knows!

[sueyh]

[quote user="gardengirl "]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="sueyh"]Oh Coops its so good that you are back. I am sitting here clutching my stitches, tears running down my face. I should not have read this on my first day out of hospital. Hope your recuperation continues well. Very best wishes Suey[/quote]Thanks, Suey.  Good to see you back in good spirits also.  I have been taking it very easy for a few days as I don't want to go back to hospital for a fourth time!  Take care that you do the same.[:)][/quote]

Quite right, Coops; I don't know about you and Mr coops - but the rest of us need a bit of a breather, so go slowly!  [:D]

Hope all is well with you too Suey.

This is such a useful thread; we all hope we won't need it, but who knows!

[/quote]

I will try to be careful Coops and Gardengirl, going a little stir crazy, Hubby not letting me do anything.  However, I know it is best for me in the long run.

Very best wishes

Suey

[NormanH]

I have tried to edit

this into a more organised form.

Administrative

procedures

Acceuil (Reception)

Borne

a sort of slot machine at the reception where you enter your 'carte

Vitale'

Caution

( Deposit)

Chambre

Particulière (single room)

Faire

les etiquettes (give

your details, and get some sticky labels which will be used later )

Bon de Transport (form to authorise transport costs, which you get from the Doctor or nurse. If an other examination such as a MRI scan is prescribed you need to ask he original Doctor, not he MRI technician)

VSL ( sit up ambulance)

Examinations you

might have

echographie

(ultrasound)

radio ( Xray)

IRM 'ee er em ' (a MRI

scan)

la tension (blood

pressure)

prise de sang (blood test)

globules rouges/blancs

(white or red blood cells)

Symptoms

Douleur

aigue  - Sharp

pain

 avoir des démangeaisons (itching) ça

gratte 'sa grat' (it itches)

des

boutons (spots)

Une

escarre or plaie de

lit (bedsore)

Things you might be

asked or hear

le poing 'pwan or

pwang' serrez le poing  (fist, as in make a fist when having a

blood test)

la

plaie (wound)

le bloc (the operating theatre)

service (ward, as in service de chirugie, a

surgical ward)

surveillante (the ward

supervisor- Sister? )

peser, as in' je vous

pèse' (weigh)

Je pique

(said by the nurse as she puts the needle in)

la lame (a

drain tube to let liquids out of the abdominal cavity)

de garde

(on duty, usually a Doctor covering at weekends etc)

à jeun nil

by mouth

"aller à la selle" =  to go to

the toilet (number 2)

les selles

(stools)

Procedures

done to you

"faire une piqûre", or "piquer" = to give

an injection =.

perfusion ( a drip, as

in the arm)

les points 'pwan' (stitches)

Pansement (dressing)

une

mèche ( a piece of gauze or dressing to hold open an infected wound

and let it drain)

peser,

as in' je vous pèse' (weigh)

sonde (a catheter)  although catheter

(pronounced catetere also exists as in.....

pac 

' porte à catheter' a semi permanent catherter in the upper chest or

neck for chemotherapy

Equipment used

Haricot ' areeco' (kidney bowl, for being sick)

Bassine (plastic bowl)

Bassine du lit (bedpan)

pistolet (plastic urinal for men in bed)

Pansement (dressing)

sparadrap

'sparadra' (sticking plaster

une protection/absorbex (absorbent tissue

potence 'the arm over the bed which you can hold

onto)

bocal (a sort of jar to collect fluids or waste,

often to be measured)

couche (a nappy )

Penilex ( a way

of helping urinary incontinence in men with something like a condom

with a tube to drain away the urine )

balance (scales

as for weighing)

poche ( a bag, for example part of a stoma)

fauteuil (armchair/wheelchair)

compress (swab)

brancard

/brancardier (stretcher, and porter)

Parts of the body

see http://www.maisondequartier.com/pedagogie/corps_voca/p_voca_corps.php

[cooperlola]

Mrs Bertiebe's thread just made me think that maybe you could add VSL (I think you had different initials also) to this list?

[NormanH]

[quote user="cooperlola"]Mrs Bertiebe's thread just made me think that maybe you could add VSL (I think you had different initials also) to this list?[/quote]

added, with bon de transport.

[cooperlola]

Here's a really nice simple vocab' site for parts of the body too:

http://www.maisondequartier.com/pedagogie/corps_voca/p_voca_corps.php

[NormanH]

That is a really excellent clear site.

I decided not to try to rival things like that, but just to have a page or so of basics culled from experience, with some of the things which you might not guess..