Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1246.
Getting a gynecological exam.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1246.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit ESLPODcom and take a look at our ESL podcast courses.
That will give you additional help in improving your English.
This episode is a dialogue between Matt and Dr. Rodriguez about having a gynecological exam.
The kind of thing that a woman gets and a man does not.
Let's get started.
Hello viewers.
On our show today, we have Dr. Rodriguez, who is here to tell us about women's health.
Welcome, Dr. Rodriguez.
Thanks for having me.
Tell us, as a gynecologist, what one piece of advice would you give to women to help them stay healthy?
Well, as part of their regular checkups, they should be getting a gynecological exam.
This may surprise you, but I've never had one!
Ha ha!
Is that all?
No.
I do a pelvic exam and a pap smear to rule out cervical cancer.
I also look for anything problematic, such as unusual discharge or signs of STDs.
That sounds painful.
Ouch!
It's not painful, and it's very important.
I also discuss with women their menstrual cycles, issues related to being sexually active, birth control methods, fertility issues and menopause.
I didn't know what I was missing.
My point is that it's important for women to talk to their doctor about any medical issues they may have.
And my point is I'm glad I'm not a woman.
That's not the message.
Thanks for coming in, Doctor.
And now, let's talk about something really important, celebrity news.
The term gynecology G-Y-N-E-C-O-L-O-G-Y refers to the study of, and practice of medicine for women, more specifically, for those parts of the human body that only women have.
And if you don't know what parts those are, you'll have to ask your parents.
Our dialogue begins with Matt.
Saying Viewers implies that Matt is on some sort of television program.
And that is, in fact, the case.
He next says on our show today, meaning on our television program, we have as a guest Dr Rodriguez, who is here to tell us about women's health.
He then says welcome, Dr Rodriguez.
And Dr Rodriguez says thanks for having me meaning, thanks for inviting me to be on this show, on this television program.
Matt then says tell us, as a gynecologist, what one piece of advice, what one thing would you give to women to help them stay healthy?
A gynecologist is a doctor who is specialized in gynecology women's medicine.
Dr Rodriguez answers Matt's question by saying well, as part of their regular checkups they should be getting a gynecological exam.
A checkup, C-H-E-C-K-U-P, is when you go to the doctor to have the doctor look at you and make sure there is nothing wrong with you.
A checkup is usually something you do every year or perhaps every two years.
We'll sometimes refer to it as a regular checkup, meaning it's scheduled even if you aren't sick.
You go to the doctor and have the doctor examine you, look at you, make sure you're okay.
Dr. Rodriguez is recommending that women get regular gynecological exams.
Matt says, this may surprise you, but I've never had one.
Ha ha.
He laughs.
Of course Matt is a man and men don't get gynecological exams, though they do get other kinds of exams that women don't, and we won't talk about those today.
Dr. Rodriguez continues.
She says, when women come in, that is when they go to her office for an exam, an examination or checkup I check or look at several things.
I do a breast exam to check for lumps to detect breast cancer.
A woman's breasts are those two parts of her upper body that are on her chest.
A breast exam is when a doctor uses his or her hands to look at the breast to make sure there isn't any problems.
To make sure in particular, there are no lumps, L-U-M-P-S.
A lump is a hard, raised area of what we would call tissue, T-I-S-S-U-E, which is part of the body.
A lump under the skin... the breast area could indicate that someone has breast cancer.
Dr. Rodriguez uses the verb to detect.
D-E-T-E-C-T.
To detect means to find and identify something.
In this case, to make sure the woman doesn't have breast cancer.
Dr Rodriguez says, I also show women how to do this at home on their own meaning, how women can examine or check their own breasts to make sure there are no lumps indicating possible cancer.
Matt then says, is that all?
Meaning, is that all that you do?
Dr. Rodriguez says, no.
I do a pelvic exam and a pap smear to rule out cervical cancer.
A pelvic P-E-L-V-I-C exam is an examination of a woman's pelvis, which is basically the sexual and what we would call reproductive organs, those parts of a woman's body which would allow the woman to have a baby.
So the doctor does a pelvic exam and also does something called a PAP, P-A-P, smear, S-M-E-A-R.
A PAP smear is a special examination during which the doctor collects samples or small parts of a woman's body in order to make sure that the woman doesn't have any sort of cancer down in her pelvis area.
The doctor then takes those small parts of the body, the cells, and sends them to be tested so that The doctor can see if there are any signs of cancer of the pelvis.
The cancer that the doctor is trying to detect is called cervical, C-E-R-V-I-C-A-L cancer.
Cervical cancer is cancer of the service which is inside of a woman's body as part of her sexual organs.
We would say
You can Google it.
The phrasal verb to rule R-U-L-E out is means to test something, to make sure that it is not an option to eliminate something as a possibility.
If a doctor is trying to rule out cervical cancer, he's trying to make sure that you do not have that kind of cancer by giving you a test.
Unhappily, sometimes the doctor discovers that you do have cancer.
He or she is not able to rule it out.
Dr Rodriguez continues.
I also look for anything problematic, meaning anything that looks like it might be a problem, such as an unusual discharge or signs of STDs.
A discharge D-I-S-C-H-A-R-G-E is, in this case, a liquid that comes out of the body.
That is unexpected or perhaps indicates some sort of problem.
STD stands for sexually transmitted diseases.
These are illnesses that are passed or transmitted from one person to another through some sort of sexual contact.
Interesting fact 110 million Americans, as of 2016, have at any given time a sexually transmitted disease.
The adult population of the United States in 2016 is around 216 million, meaning close to half of all Americans have an STD.
So there's that.
Back to our dialogue, Matt says after Dr. Rodriguez talks about these unusual discharges, that sounds painful.
Ouch.
Ouch.
O-U-C-H is a word we use when something is painful, something is causing us pain.
He, of course, is trying to make a joke.
Dr. Rodriguez says, however, that it's not painful and it's very important.
Dr. Rodriguez is referring, I think, to the pelvic exam and pap smear she talked about earlier.
Dr Rodriguez continues.
I also discuss with women their menstrual cycles, issues related to being sexually active, birth control methods, fertility issues and menopause.
A menstrual cycle is the process that women between certain ages go through each month as part of the body's natural process of preparing a woman to have a baby, if the conditions are right.
To be sexually active means to be having sexual relations with another person.
Birth control is a manner, an approach, sometimes a specific drug or device that is used to prevent a woman from getting pregnant.
Research has found that the most effective form of birth control is not having sex.
True.
Another thing Dr. Rodriguez mentions is fertility.
F-E-R-T-I-L-I-T-Y.
Fertility is the ability to have children, whether a man or a woman, or at least to participate in the creation of new life.
Menopause M-E-N-O-P-A-U-S-E is a period in a woman's life when, as she gets older, she stops having her normal menstrual cycle and is therefore no longer able to give birth, to have a child naturally.
This happens for many women sometime between the ages of 45 and 50.
A man never has menopause per se, although men, as they get older, are also typically less fertile, unless you're Mick Jagger, the rock star, who recently had a child, or we would say, fathered a child at the age of 71.
Matt, again trying to be funny, says, referring to what Dr. Rodriguez was talking about.
The expression, I didn't know what I was missing, is used to show how you were unaware of something.
You didn't know about something, especially something that perhaps you would want to participate in.
That's the joke here, of course.
Matt, being a man, cannot have a gynecological examination.
Dr Rodriguez says my point.
What I'm trying to say is that it's important for women to talk to their doctor about any medical issues, any problems they may have.
Matt says in my point is I'm glad I'm not a woman.
Once again Matt is trying to be funny.
Dr. Rodriguez, however, doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
She doesn't think this is funny.
Dr. Rodriguez says, that's not the message.
And then Matt interrupts her.
He, we would say, cuts her off.
He stops her from speaking.
He says, thanks for coming in, doctor.
And now let's talk about something really important.
Celebrity news.
Celebrity refers to someone who is famous.
Matt, of course, is now going to talk about something that most people don't consider very important at all.
What rich, famous people are doing.
People like, you know, Mick Jagger.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello, viewers.
On our show today, we have Dr. Rodriguez, who is here to tell us about women's health.
Welcome, Dr. Rodriguez.
Thanks for having me.
Tell us, as a gynecologist, what one piece of advice would you give to women to help them stay healthy?
Well, as part of their regular checkups, they should be getting a gynecological exam.
This may surprise you, but I've never had one.
When women come in for an exam, I check several things.
I do a breast exam to check for lumps to detect breast cancer.
I also show women how to do this at home on their own.
Is that all?
No.
I do a pelvic exam and a pap smear to rule out cervical cancer.
I also look for anything problematic, such as unusual discharge or signs of STDs.
That sounds painful.
Ouch!
It's not painful, and it's very important.
I also discuss with women their menstrual cycles, issues related to being sexually active, birth control methods, fertility issues and menopause.
I didn't know what I was missing.
My point is that it's important for women to talk to their doctor about any medical issues they may have.
And my point is, I'm glad I'm not a woman.
That's not the message.
Thanks for coming in, Doctor.
And now, let's talk about something really important.
Celebrity news.
If you want to rule out any problems with your English in the future, the best thing is to prepare by listening to our wonderful dialogues by our script writer, Dr Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
