Revue "What's Up Doc" n°26 - Mai Juin 2016 IN THIS FIFTH ENGLISH CORNER, YOU WILL FIND A CONTRIBUTION DEALING WITH PNEUMOLOGY, AND MORE PRECISELY COPD. WE WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU THAT OUR AIM IS NOT TO TEACH MEDICINE BUT TO FAMILIARIZE READERS WITH MEDICAL ENGLISH AS USED BY PROFESSIONALS AND PATIENTS. Dr. Spiro: Mrs Fevis. Now I’d like you to blow as hard and as fast as you can into this tube. First of all, take a deep breath – now blow, blow, blow. Good. Well, the results aren’t very good, I’m afraid. You told your GP that you’d been wheezing and coughing up phlegm, you were feeling short of breath and you had some tightness in the chest. How are you feeling today? Mrs Fevis: Pretty much the same, doctor. I still get out of puff going up the stairs or even just doing the housework. The wheezing comes and goes. The cough’s a little better though. Is there anything I can take to help me breathe more easily? Dr. Spiro: Let’s just go back to the test for a moment. According to the results, you’re suffering from COPD: that’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It means that your airways are inflamed and irritable and overproducing mucus, which explains that chronic cough you’ve got. As well as that, the little sacs in your lungs where the oxygen gets into the blood are also damaged, which means that you have to breathe more frequently and you have the feeling you can’t get enough air in. ... www.reseauprosante.fr

1. IN THIS FIFTH ENGLISH CORNER, YOU WILL FIND A CONTRIBUTION DEALING
WITH PNEUMOLOGY, AND MORE PRECISELY COPD. WE WOULD LIKE TO REMIND
YOU THAT OUR AIM IS NOT TO TEACH MEDICINE BUT TO FAMILIARIZE READERS
WITH MEDICAL ENGLISH AS USED BY PROFESSIONALS AND PATIENTS.
5N°
PneumologyJean-Pierre Charpy, Philip Bastable, Didier Carnet*
EXERCISE - FIND IN THE TEXT A WORD OR EXPRESSION EQUIVALENT
TO THE WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS IN ITALICS IN THE SENTENCES BELOW
1. Influenza vaccination
2. Breathless
3. Breathless
4. Constriction in the thorax
5. Domestic animal
6. Exhale strongly
7. Fill your lungs with air
8. Give, prescribe
9. Healthy food
10. Immediately
11. Make stronger
12. Rather bad condition
13. Recovery therapy
14. Respiratory tract
15. Send a patient to a colleague
16. Sputum or expectoration
17. The organs of respiration
1.Influenzavaccination=aflujab
2.Breathless=shortofbreath
3.Breathless=outofpuff
4.Constrictioninthethorax=
tightnessinthechest
5.Domesticanimal=pet
6.Exhalestrongly=blow
7.Fillyourlungswithair=takeadeepbreath
8.Give,prescribe=putyouon
9.Healthyfood=well-balanceddiet
10.Immediately=straightaway
11.Makestronger=strengthen
12.Ratherbadcondition=prettypoorshape
13.Recoverytherapy=rehabilitation
14.Respiratorytract=airways
15.Sendapatienttoacolleague=referto
16.Sputumorexpectoration=phlegm
17.Theorgansofrespiration=thelungs
What’s Up Doc? 26 mai-juin 201638
ENGLISH
CORNER
Get more keywords and key expressions
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2. At the pneumologist
Dr. Spiro: Mrs Fevis. Now I’d like you to blow as
hard and as fast as you can into this tube. First of all,
take a deep breath – now blow, blow, blow. Good.
Well, the results aren’t very good, I’m afraid. You told
your GP that you’d been wheezing and coughing up
phlegm, you were feeling short of breath and you
had some tightness in the chest. How are you
feeling today?
Mrs Fevis: Pretty much the same, doctor. I still get
out of puff going up the stairs or even just doing
the housework. The wheezing comes and goes.
The cough’s a little better though. Is there anything
I can take to help me breathe more easily?
Dr. Spiro: Let’s just go back to the test for a moment.
According to the results, you’re suffering from COPD:
that’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
It means that your airways are inflamed and
irritable and overproducing mucus, which explains
that chronic cough you’ve got. As well as that, the
little sacs in your lungs where the oxygen gets into
the blood are also damaged, which means that you
have to breathe more frequently and you have the
feeling you can’t get enough air in.
Mrs Fevis: Can you give me something for it, Doctor?
Dr. Spiro: Unfortunately, there’s no cure and I’m afraid
it’s a progressive disease, so it’s not going to get any
better. There are a number of things you can do to
give some relief though. Have you stopped smoking,
for example?
Mrs Fevis: I’m trying, Doctor, but as my husband
smokes, it’s a bit difficult.
Dr. Spiro: You must keep trying. It’s probably
the smoking that caused your illness. I can’t stress
this enough. You’ll be finding it harder and harder
to breathe and one day you may have to carry
an oxygen bottle everywhere you go. I’ll refer
you to a smoking cessation specialist to help you.
Take your husband with you.
Mrs Fevis: Thank you, Doctor. I’ll do my best to
persuade him.
Dr. Spiro: Right, to get back to the COPD.
Tell me, are you sleeping well or do you feel short
of breath at night?
Mrs Fevis: No, it’s alright at night – I’m sleeping very well.
Dr. Spiro: Good. There are a couple of treatment
options available. First of all, I’ll prescribe a spray to
open up your airways. It’s called a bronchodilator and
it relaxes the muscles around your bronchi. We’ll start
straight away with a long-acting one, which you
should use every 12 hours. If that doesn’t seem
strong enough, we may have to use a combined one.
And if the cough continues, we may have to put you
on corticosteroids to treat the inflammation. But we
can talk about that next time you come. Another
thing, summer’s nearly over, so it’s time to think
about a flu jab. Do you have a flu jab every year?
Mrs Fevis: No, I’ve never had a flu jab.
Why, do I need one?
Dr. Spiro: Well your airways and lungs are in pretty
poor shape, so if you get flu, or worse, pneumonia,
it could make you very ill indeed. So, make sure you
get a flu jab. As well as that, you have to stay away
from anything that could irritate your airways.
You don’t have a pet, do you?
Mrs Fevis: No, but my daughter sometimes asks
me to look after her cat – when she goes on holiday,
for example.
Dr. Spiro: I’m afraid you’d better explain your problem
and tell her to find someone else.
Mrs Fevis: Oh dear, she’s not going to like that –
she counts on us, you know.
Dr. Spiro: There are a couple of other things you need to
know. First of all, meals – It’s better to eat several light
meals than one or two big meals, and make sure you
have a well-balanced diet. Keep an eye on your weight
too.The extra effort you make to breathe burns up a
lot of calories, so make sure you’re not losing weight.
Another thing - I’m going to refer you for pulmonary
rehabilitation. You’ll need to do some exercises to
strengthen your breathing muscles. Right, that’s all
for the moment. Do you have any questions?...
*
PROFESSEURS D’ANGLAIS MÉDICAL À L’UNIVERSITÉ DE DIJON
mai-juin 2016 What’s Up Doc? 26 39