Growing Up as the Child of a Palliative-Care Physician母亲是一位临终关怀医生

by Cait O’Donnell

Arony 译

Growing Up as the Child of a Palliative-Care Physician母亲是一位临终关怀医生

Track 6

by Cait O’Donnell

Arony 译

R ecently, I met with a friend who is both a physician and a mother.She told me she was worried she wasn’t doing a “good enough” job being a parent and was missing out on her children’s lives.

I’ve learned from other physicians that they also believe the demands of their profession will somehow1)adverselyaffect their child’s upbringing.

I tell my colleagues not to worry, and that one day their child will thank them for their life as a doctor’s child.

I can say this because I was three when my mother went to medical school.

Growing up as the daughter of a2)palliative-carephysician wasn’t easy: I came to understand that the sound of the hospital3)pager, day or night, meant my mother’s absence, having to share her with other people, and being exposed to human suffering and death were just part of my life.Nonetheless, being the child of a physician had a positive effect on my life.I learned and experienced many things because my mother became a doctor when she did.Here are four of them.

最近，我跟一位朋友见面聊天，她是一位医生，同时也是一位母亲。她告诉我她担心自己不“胜任”母亲这份工作，也没能参与孩子们的生活。

我听说其他医生也认为他们的职业需求会对他们孩子的成长或多或少带来不好的影响。

我告诉同事们不要担心，他们的孩子会在将来的某一天感激那段作为医生孩子的生活。

我这样说是因为我母亲在医学院上学时，我才三岁。

作为一名临终关怀医生的女儿，成长并不是一件简单的事情：我渐渐明白医院传呼机的声音意味着母亲要离开，不分昼夜，必须跟其他人分享她的关注，被迫面对人类的苦难和死亡，这些都只是我生活的一部分。尽管如此，作为一名医生的孩子，这对我的人生有着积极的影响。由于我的母亲当上了一名医生，我学习并体会到许多事情，以下是其中的四个方面。

1 ) adversely ['ædvəːslɪ] adv.不利地，有害地

2 ) palliative-care 临终关怀

3 ) pager ['peɪdʒə（r)] n.无线传呼机

4 ) inhibition [ɪnhɪ'bɪʃ（ə)n] n.禁止，阻止，禁忌

5 ) intimidate [ɪn'tɪmɪdeɪt] v.恫吓，恐吓，威迫

1 ) I learned how others experience life.Through my mother’s work I was exposed to a variety of people, lifestyles, cultures and circumstances.I met patients who were dying and in pain, and their families.Many were happy, but some were angry or upset, or suffering from addictions, mental illness, poverty or isolation.I went along on home visits to people who were poor and dying alone.

I learned that these experiences, while sad, are realities for others.That many people don’t live the same secure life I do, and that life, while good, can be hard.

2 ) I learned that status doesn’t define the person.I was often in situations where I had to interact with other adults—health-care professionals, patients and their families.As a child I hadn’t yet formed socially constructed biases, so I lacked the social4)inhibitionsmany adults have.Prominent physicians and CEOs didn’t5)intimidateme because their status had little or no meaning to me.

（1）我了解到其他人的人生经历。通过我母亲的工作，我接触了很多不同的人、生活方式、文化和境况。我见过垂死并忍受着疼痛的病人以及他们的家人。大多数人是快乐的，但也有些人是恼怒或伤心的，或因毒瘾、精神病、贫穷、孤独而痛苦不堪。我随着母亲到那些贫穷和没人陪伴的病人家里探看。

我知道这些经历虽然伤感却是别人的真实生活。很多人没有像我一样过着安稳的生活，而那样的生活虽好但也许会很艰难。

（2）我明白到地位并不能衡量一个人。我常常要跟其他成年人打交道——医护人员、病人及其家人。我那时还是一个小孩，还没有形成社会上的固有偏见，因此我没有很多成人拥有的社交禁忌。身份显赫的医生和老总们并不会让我惧怕，因为他们的地位对我来说几乎没有（或完全没有）意义。

I only cared if someone was kind to me, or wanted to be my friend.I saw that good, kind people who contribute to their community come from all walks of life.

3 ) I learned that gender wasn’t a limit.I met women who held senior professional positions and were also mothers, spouses, members of their community and world travellers.They were strong, confident, intelligent, beautiful, kind women who worked hard for the life they had.

Once I saw a young woman in hospital scrubs who looked like my Barbie doll tearing down the halls of the hospital.When I asked my mother who she was, she told me she was a general surgeon—a very good one.I was impressed.I saw what possibilities existed for me, and that one day I could be like the beautiful surgeon if I was willing to work for it.It gave me the confidence to choose the career I wanted, and as a result I completed a masters degree in6)bioethicsand health law and am pursuing a career as an7)ethicist.

我在意的只是这个人是否待我友好，或是否想与我交朋友。我看到的那些友好、善良，并对所在社区有贡献的人来自生活的各个领域。

（3）我懂得性别不是限制。我见过一些女性，她们位居高级的专业职位，同时也是母亲、配偶、社团的成员，还周游列国。她们坚强、自信、聪明、漂亮、善良，为自己的生活努力打拼。

有一次，我看到一位看似我那芭比娃娃一样的年轻女士穿着医护制服在医院里急冲冲穿行。我问妈妈她是谁，她说她是一位很出色的普通外科医生。她给我留下了深刻的印象。我看到自己的可能性，只要我努力，将来有一天我也可以成为那位漂亮的外科医生那样的人。这件事给了我信心去选择自己想要的职业，后来，我完成了生物伦理学和医疗法的硕士学位，现在正争取成为一名伦理学家。

（4）我学会了善良和慷慨。在最困难的时刻呈现出来的同情心和人性的高度让我感到惊讶。我见过垂死的病人在生死边缘挣扎，或忍受着非同寻常的治疗手段，只因为他们的家人还不想说永别。我见过医疗人员为病人付出额外的努力。还有些病人亲属给我礼物，尽管他们失去了深爱的人。其中一件事涌上心头。

I was seven when my mother was paged in the middle of the night to care for a dying man.My dad was away on business, so my mother brought me with her.When we arrived at the patient’s home, my mother attended to him and the family sat me on the living room couch with a blanket and someArchiecomics.

I must have fallen asleep.When I awoke the family was in tears; their loved one had died.

After my mother had completed the death certifcate and spoken with the family, she collected me to go home.As she was carrying me out to the car, one of the children who had just lost their father ran up to us with a stack ofArchiecomics.“These are for your daughter,” she said.“I noticed that she enjoyed reading them.I’d like her to have them.”

随着肿瘤微创消融技术不断成熟，甲状腺结节的热消融治疗越来越多地应用于临床[1-3]。超声引导下经皮微波消融是较常用的甲状腺结节热消融方法，具有定位精准、疗效确定、升温迅速、消融范围大、创伤轻微、无瘢痕、保护甲状腺功能等优点[4-11]，较外科开放性手术更易被医患双方接受。但少数病例在甲状腺结节微波消融术后会出现局部皮肤红肿、消融区液化，甚至向皮肤破溃的现象，进而影响疗效，也给患者带来痛苦。本研究通过回顾性分析接受微波消融术后消融区出现液化性坏死的 18例患者 18 枚甲状腺结节的临床资料，以寻找消融区发生液化性坏死的原因及合适的处理方法。

If I could have my childhood over again, I wouldn’t change much.

Sure, there were times when I wanted to throw my mother’s pager out the window, or wished that she could have attended school events.But even as a child I knew that what I was sacrificing, and what she was sacrifcing, were more than worth it for the life that I got to lead.My mother’s work as a palliative-care physician provided me with experiences that enriched my life, teaching me valuable lessons, skills and the knowledge of profound kindness, compassion and generosity.

So, to anyone who is concerned about balancing a career in medicine with raising children, I offer you my reassurance.While there will be tough times (and there will be!), one day your child will thank you for the experiences, and the life, they’ve had as a result of your career.I promise.

在我七岁的某一天，母亲在半夜被传唤去照顾一位垂死的病人。我父亲出差在外，于是母亲把我带上。我们到达病人家里后，我母亲照顾病人，他的家人让我坐在客厅的沙发上，帮我盖上毯子，给我看些《阿奇》漫画。

我后来肯定是睡着了，我醒来时那家人在哭泣——他们挚爱的亲人去世了。

我妈妈开完了死亡证书，跟他们说完话后就领着我回家了。她把我带到车边时，其中一个刚刚失去父亲的小孩拿着一叠《阿奇》漫画书向我们跑来。“这是给你女儿的，”她说，“我看她很喜欢看。我想把这些送给她。”

如果我可以让童年重来，我不想有太多的改变。

当然，有时候我真想把妈妈的传呼机扔出窗外，或希望她能出席学校活动。但虽然我只是个小孩，我明白我们所作的牺牲对于我以后的生活来说是值得的。我母亲的工作——临终关怀医生，给了我丰富人生的经历，教给我关于善良、同情心和慷慨的宝贵经验、技巧和知识。

所以，我可以给那些想着如何平衡医学工作和养育孩子的人一些安慰。将来遇到困难时（这是肯定的！），你的孩子终有一天会感激你给了他们这样的经历和生活——你的职业带来的结果。我保证。

小知识

Archie comics 《阿奇》漫画

《阿奇》漫画是阿奇漫画出版有限公司出版的漫画，公司总部设在纽约。阿奇公司推出了很多动作类漫画，主角多是青少年。《阿奇》漫画（Archie Comics）是美国畅销漫画，男主角是阿奇·安德鲁（Archie Andrews），由鲍伯·蒙塔那（Bob Montana）和维克·布鲁姆（Vic Bloom）所创造，他的第一次出现是在第22期的Pep Comic（1941年12月）。阿奇是个非常成功的虚拟角色，自登场以来便深受海外及美国读者欢迎。

6 ) bioethics ['baɪəʊeθɪks] n.生物伦理学（探讨在器官移植、遗传工程、人工授精等 科学研究中所涉及的伦理问题）

7 ) ethicist ['eθɪsɪst] n.伦理学家