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Calls That Keep Me Going
There is a common misconception about medical interpreting. People often assume that the hardest calls are the ones filled with complex medical terminology, emotionally devastating conversations, or life-and-death emergencies.
Those calls are certainly difficult. They demand accuracy, composure, and professionalism.
But they're not always the ones that leave you mentally exhausted.
Sometimes the hardest calls are simply... people.
Patients who insist on speaking English because they don't want to admit they need an interpreter, even when neither the provider nor the patient truly understands each other. Patients who seem more interested in proving they can speak English than communicating effectively. Those who answer every simple question with a ten-minute life story that has absolutely nothing to do with what the provider asked. Others challenge every clarification, argue over every sentence, or somehow manage to turn a routine appointment into an emotional tug-of-war.
None of these situations make headlines. They're not dramatic. Yet after handling enough of them in a single shift, they quietly wear you down.
As interpreters, we're expected to remain calm, impartial, and professional, no matter who is on the other side of the screen. We do it because that's our job. But we're still human, and these interactions accumulate in ways most people never see.
And that's why I treasure the rare calls that remind me why I chose this profession in the first place.
A few weeks ago, I accepted a call for an elderly couple. The wife was the patient, waiting anxiously for her doctor to discuss the results of some imaging. The provider hadn't joined the appointment yet, so I was connected in privacy mode with my camera turned off, quietly waiting.
During those few minutes, I unintentionally became a silent witness to something beautiful.
The wife spoke softly to her husband.
"What if they found something? What if it's serious? What if it affects my health... or worse?"
Without hesitation, her husband reached over and gently took her hand.
"Everything will be fine," he said. "And even if the doctors found something... I'll be here with you."
She wrapped both of her hands around his arm and leaned against him.
Then, almost as if they had forgotten why they were there, he smiled and asked,
"So... what would you like to have for lunch later?"
She looked up at him with the kind of smile you usually only see in young couples.
"I'll eat anything you offer."
He laughed.
"Well, that makes my job easy."
Then he softly rubbed her hands and said something that brought a wide smile to my face
"Your hands are still just as soft as I remember."
For a moment, I forgot I was at work.
Here were two people in their eighties, still speaking to each other like teenagers who had fallen in love only yesterday.
In my role, I witness people on some of the hardest days of their lives. Fear. Pain. Uncertainty. Anger. Loss.
But every so often, I also get to witness love.
Not the grand, cinematic kind.
The quiet kind.
The kind that has survived decades of ordinary days, countless arguments, illnesses, celebrations, disappointments, and everything else life throws at two people.
Eventually, the provider joined the call.
The news, thankfully, was reassuring. The imaging showed a benign tumor. Even though the word tumor understandably caused concern, the provider carefully explained that it was non-cancerous, nothing dangerous at this stage, and that they would simply continue monitoring it with annual follow-ups.
You could almost feel the weight lift from the room.
As the call ended, I disconnected and sat there for a moment before accepting my next one.
Calls like these are why I keep going.
Not because they erase the difficult ones.
But because they remind me that behind every medical chart, every diagnosis, every interpreter ID number, are real people living real lives.
Sometimes, without saying a single word beyond my role as an interpreter, I'm given the privilege of witnessing moments that few strangers ever get to see.
And honestly, that's one of the greatest privileges this profession has ever given me.
