Not Even My Own Story

I was doing ultrasound on a 65-year old man awhile ago.  When it was my senior's turn to scan the patient, I sat down on the bench to take a break.  The patient's wife started conversing with me.

Beforehand, I thought she was the mother of the patient because she had her hair almost completely gray in comparison to that of the patient.  But the patient was already old himself so I kind of presumed she was an older sister.  Later, I found out that she was more than ten years older than her husband.

She was kind of telling me about her family.  I found out a couple of things.

  • She was from a prominent Chinese family.  I couldn't tell because she was wearing her clothes like any ordinary person in the streets with her worn, simpleton clothes and even overused slip-ons. I couldn't have mistaken her coming from a well-to-do family.  However, she attested that she was related to the owners of Goldilocks and (now, non-existent) Joni's bakeshop, a husband of a showbiz personality and a couple of doctors (Yes, she was related to a surgeon who paid a visit to her husband while I was scanning the patient).
  • Her family called her husband "Negro".  The very same word my family calls my husband just because he was dark colored.  However, her husband was far from being dark-skinned.  The only defect I could see was that he had strabismus (or "banlag" in one eye).  Gee whiz! If they're going to pinpoint defects, they could have said it right.  
  • She said she was degraded or demoted by her family.  This was because she married a "Negro" pertaining to his husband being Filipino.  Damn all racist!
  • She had a spinster for a sister.  Well, she was telling me in detail about her sister who was one year younger than her.  She told me that this sister was so beautiful but it was so pointless because she never got to marry.  A pilot, a well-to-do man, a lawyer - all of them were not good enough for her.  She was such a snob, as she says that she ended up with nobody.  Until now, she was ridiculously proud as a peacock!  Anyway, funny thing is, she admitted that even her husband tried to court her sister!  Fortunately for the couple, the sister didn't like "Negro".  I'm just amazed by how okay it was for the wife, knowing that she was not the first choice.  
I guess she could have told more of her life story if my senior took longer scanning the scrotum of the patient which I have done beforehand.  

By the way, she was teaching me Fookien while we were talking.  

Tosha!

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