Growing Up as the Child of a Palliative-Care Physician母親是一位臨終關(guān)懷醫(yī)生

by Cait O’Donnell

Arony 譯

Growing Up as the Child of a Palliative-Care Physician母親是一位臨終關(guān)懷醫(yī)生

Track 6

by Cait O’Donnell

Arony 譯

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，我跟一位朋友見面聊天，她是一位醫(yī)生，同時(shí)也是一位母親。她告訴我她擔(dān)心自己不“勝任”母親這份工作，也沒能參與孩子們的生活。

我聽說其他醫(yī)生也認(rèn)為他們的職業(yè)需求會(huì)對他們孩子的成長或多或少帶來不好的影響。

我告訴同事們不要擔(dān)心，他們的孩子會(huì)在將來的某一天感激那段作為醫(yī)生孩子的生活。

我這樣說是因?yàn)槲夷赣H在醫(yī)學(xué)院上學(xué)時(shí)，我才三歲。

作為一名臨終關(guān)懷醫(yī)生的女兒，成長并不是一件簡單的事情：我漸漸明白醫(yī)院傳呼機(jī)的聲音意味著母親要離開，不分晝夜，必須跟其他人分享她的關(guān)注，被迫面對人類的苦難和死亡，這些都只是我生活的一部分。盡管如此，作為一名醫(yī)生的孩子，這對我的人生有著積極的影響。由于我的母親當(dāng)上了一名醫(yī)生，我學(xué)習(xí)并體會(huì)到許多事情，以下是其中的四個(gè)方面。

1 ) adversely ['?dv??sl?] adv.不利地，有害地

2 ) palliative-care 臨終關(guān)懷

3 ) pager ['pe?d??（r)] n.無線傳呼機(jī)

4 ) inhibition [?nh?'b??（?)n] n.禁止，阻止，禁忌

5 ) intimidate [?n't?m?de?t] v.恫嚇，恐嚇，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經(jīng)歷。通過我母親的工作，我接觸了很多不同的人、生活方式、文化和境況。我見過垂死并忍受著疼痛的病人以及他們的家人。大多數(shù)人是快樂的，但也有些人是惱怒或傷心的，或因毒癮、精神病、貧窮、孤獨(dú)而痛苦不堪。我隨著母親到那些貧窮和沒人陪伴的病人家里探看。

我知道這些經(jīng)歷雖然傷感卻是別人的真實(shí)生活。很多人沒有像我一樣過著安穩(wěn)的生活，而那樣的生活雖好但也許會(huì)很艱難。……