human
Air the trouble 'Aunt' ... what the other doctor said hit was?
gpt
Angina pectoris? He may have had a touch of that last winter of course, but my guess is that it's something a bit different now.
human
I haint erfeered ter hyar the truth,
gpt
Well, answered the doctor,
human
I should say that you have a touch of another jaw-breaking Latin phrase, namely, an aneurism of the thoracic aorta.
gpt
Hit shor' sounds powerful bad, grunted Jerry.
human
But then I reckon thet doctors likes ter use big words.
gpt
Right. For instance, we prefer to call an old-fashioned cold in the head, 'Naso-pharyngitis.' The worse it sounds, the more credit we get for curing it, you see. Well, 'sticks and stones may break our bones, but _words_ will never hurt us,' so don't let that Latin expression worry you. Just take things a bit easy, don't overdo physically or get overexcited, and you'll be good for many a moon yet,
human
Is it something pretty bad, Doctor Mac?
gpt
Well, it's apparently a mild case ... so far.
human
But the trouble ... is it ... is it dangerous?
gpt
Nurses have to know the truth, of course, and I am sure that you have a brave little heart, so I'm not afraid to tell you that it _is_ bad. It is almost sure to be fatal, in time, but not necessarily soon. If he will take things easy, as I told him to, he'll live for a considerable time yet; but we mustn't allow him to get very greatly excited, or do any very heavy work.
human
I reckon I can help him better if I know all about it, doctor. I _got_ to help him, you know. He's all I have now in the whole world.
gpt
Of course you're going to help him--we both are--but ... you have me, little sister, and your life work, he answered with awkward tenderness.
human
Now let us see if I can make you understand what I believe the trouble to be. In its incipient--that is, its early stages, it would be rather hard to tell from angina pectoris, for the symptoms would be much the same--pain about the heart and shortness of breath. But one can get over the latter, and feel perfectly well between attacks.