Shadowing Practice: Real English Conversation: Talking About Surgery | Simplified Speech 215 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

532 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Hello, everyone.

How's it going?

My name's Andrew, and it's great to be back here with you for another edition of Simplified Speech.

Simplified Speech is the Q -Lips series, which features clear, natural, and easy -to -understand English conversations between native speakers.

Today, in this episode, I'll be joined by my co -host, Indiana, in just a moment,

and we're going to talk about a bit of a difficult topic today, to be honest with you guys.

I think this is kind of pushing the boundaries of simplified speech.

We're getting into a little bit of a tricky topic, but don't worry.

We're going to do our best to explain this topic as we go through it along the way.

And of course, there will be a helpful study guide available for this episode as well.

And our topic for today is about an operation that Indiana had recently.

Now, as a runner, this is one of my worst nightmares.

Indiana is also a runner and she recently, over the last year or so, was injured while running.

Well actually, it wasn't a running injury per se, but it started and she noticed it because of running.

And so this injury was something that was very, very painful to her and could only be fixed by having surgery.

So she's going to join us here in a minute

and she's going to tell us about the whole story about how she was injured, about her surgery and going to the hospital,

about the recovery and rehabilitation process post -surgery.

And also she's going to tell us a little bit about the healthcare system and the medical insurance system in the USA.

So as I said, it's a little bit of a difficult topic for today, but I think you can do it.

And as I mentioned, there's a helpful study guide for all QLips members to accompany this episode.

And also guys, don't feel ashamed ever if you need to listen to an episode more than once.

It's not like you have to listen only one time and then perfectly understand everything.

Nobody can do this when they're learning a language.

In fact, repetition is extremely helpful when we're learning English and building our English fluency.

So absolutely no worries if you have to listen to this episode more than once

or or several times or a hundred times, it's okay.

And it will all help you in the end.

A few announcements before we get started here for you.

The first announcement, this is really exciting actually, and something we're going to do more and more often here at QLips.

And that is, this is a fully video episode.

So we'll put the video for this on our YouTube channel.

Of course, if you prefer to listen to audio only, that's cool.

No worries at all.

We've always up until now been mostly an audio only podcast, but going forward, we want to give people that option.

If you want to listen to audio, we got you covered, but if you'd rather watch the video

and some people prefer to maybe watch a video so you can see our mouths move as we speak, right?

Visual clues like that are an important part of learning how to say words in English and English pronunciation.

So if that's your goal, or if you just want to see what we look like

and how we move our bodies and our gestures and all of those visual cues that come with speaking English,

then you can check out the fully video version of this episode that we'll put on our YouTube channel.

And I'll link it in the description for this episode as well.

So you can easily find that.

So yeah, exciting news.

I think video episodes, we're going to try and do more and more of these at QLips going forward as well.

And this is the very first simplified speech episode that's video only.

So that's the first announcement that I have for you.

The second announcement is about QLips membership.

If you are a QLips member, then you'll get that helpful study guide that I talked about just a moment ago.

You'll also get an interactive transcript for this episode.

You'll get a comprehension quiz and you'll be able to join the speaking classes for this episode as well.

Each week we have three speaking classes for QLips members

and it's a great opportunity for you to to meet with other members of the QLips community

and to practice your English speaking.

It's really, really fun.

If you haven't tried it yet and you are a QLips member, I'd really invite you to join us for one of these speaking classes.

They're a lot of fun and super, super helpful for improving your English fluency as well.

So you'll also get what as a QLips member, ad free audio, our member only series, the fluency files and so much more.

There are tons of resources and tools that we've created to help you hit the next level with your English fluency.

So sign up and become a member today for a really affordable price.

And you can get that study guide.

You can join our speaking classes and more.

So just visit our website, QLips .com to sign up and become a member today.

Well, I think it's time for me to be quiet and we're going to invite Indiana here to the show.

And she's really the star of this episode, everyone.

It's her story.

And I am just sort of interviewing her to get some facts and details about the story from her.

So without any further ado, let's invite Indiana on to the show here and we'll get started.

I don't want to say that I hope you enjoy this episode

because talking about a medical issue and surgery is not the most pleasant topic, but it's a real life episode.

This happens to real people in real life, and it's important that we learn how to talk about it in English.

So I don't think you will necessarily find this to be a funny episode or a fun episode,

but I hope it will be a helpful episode for building your English fluency about this kind of everyday medical topic.

So yeah, without any further ado, let's welcome Indiana to the show and we'll get started.

Here we go.

Joining me now to talk about her recent surgery and operation is my co -host Indiana.

Hey, Indiana.

How's it going?

Are you doing okay?

I am doing okay.

I'm about a little over a month post -op, so following my surgery in December.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good.

How are you, Andrew?

I'm doing very well as well.

And I don't want to say that I'm excited to talk about this topic

because it's never a good thing really to have to go under a big medical operation procedure surgery like you did.

But I'm intrigued and I'm curious about it.

And since you're doing okay, I think it's going to be an interesting discussion that we'll have about it.

And I think this will be the first of its kind on Q -Lips because I've never had a surgery before.

And I don't think we've talked about any of them on the podcast.

So this is going to be great.

Something a little bit different and new for our listeners out there as well.

So, Indiana, thank you for being so open and talking with us about it.

I guess we should start at the start.

And maybe I'll let you just tell everyone about what kind of operation you had and why you had to have it,

those kind of background details.

Could you fill us in on the backstory?

Absolutely.

So to start, I should say that I run.

100

I go on jogs for exercise.

101

That's like a sport that I do casually.

102

And I've been doing that for many years.

103

And then in November 2023, I started to have a weird pain in my leg during a run.

104

It was kind of on the inner thigh area.

105

And it wasn't a strong pain, but it was definitely unusual.

106

It was out of the ordinary.

107

So I, you know, I just kept experiencing it

108

when I went on runs and I would cut my runs short

109

and eventually I was like okay maybe this is not just a normal injury

110

or a sprain a strain you know I'm not just overusing the muscle

111

and um so as I said that was November 2023

112

and after many many visits with urgent care orthopedic doctors so that would be the doctors that treat bone and joint concerns,

113

physical therapists having MRIs or one MRI really,

114

I eventually learned that my problem was a tear in my labrum.

115

So I know we're going to have a lot of medical vocabulary in our discussion.

116

I'll try to keep it as simple as possible.

117

But that is the labrum is a ring of cartilage in your hip socket.

118

So it basically cushions where your leg bone, your femur, where it sits in the hip socket.

119

And there was a tear in that ring of cartilage.

120

And the problem with this injury is that there's

121

so little blood flow getting to that part of the hip joint that it really just doesn't heal on its own.

122

And if it's left untreated, it could lead to arthritis, which is that inflammation of the joint,

123

which is a really bad issue that you don't want to have to deal with.

124

So eventually I learned that the best option for me would be to do a surgery to fix this torn labrum.

125

Indiana, let's just take one little step back to

126

and explain a really common body part word that everybody should know because it is just a really common one,

127

but it is a little bit difficult at the same time.

128

That word is cartilage.

129

Could you.. break that down and explain it to us?

130

What is cartilage?

131

So cartilage is like this soft tissue that connects parts of your body.

132

You could touch your nose and feel between the nostrils, there's a bit of cartilage between the skin there.

133

So that is one of the places in your body that has cartilage, right?

134

So this is just a ring, this ring of cartilage in my hip.

135

It's not bone, it's not muscle it's a little bit different

136

but it's a the soft connective tissue

137

and in this case acting as a cushion in the hip yeah

138

this is like my worst nightmare as a runner come come to life for you

139

so I'm sorry that you had to go through that it's interesting

140

that you said

141

that you were feeling the pain in your leg where did you say it was in your calf

142

that you were feeling the pain, but it was actually a problem with the hip?

143

Inner upper thigh area.

144

Yeah.

145

And that is part of the problem with this injury is the pain can show up in all sorts of different areas.

146

Like it could be near the hip or near, you know, your, your, um, glute or your, your, you know, butt area.

147

It could be closer to that, uh, upper thigh that I experienced it.

148

It could even go down closer to your knee, like all the way down your neck leg.

149

So it's quite difficult to identify this, uh, this injury.

150

And yeah, I spent a lot of time treating it as

151

if it was a different kind of injury before I had an MRI.

152

So how long did you spend just like YouTubing it and searching on the internet,

153

trying to find out what kind of common runner's injury you had

154

and trying some of these different exercises before you're finally like, I don't think that's it.

155

I should go to the hospital and get it checked out.

156

I think I spent because, well, part of the issue is to get approved for

157

and then schedule an MRI can take quite some time in the US.

158

I suppose it depends where you are.

159

But I think I was spending five or six months before I had the MRI,

160

just trying to figure out what it was and treating it with physical therapy or seeing different specialists.

161

Yeah.

162

I even went to my gynecologist in case it was somehow related to something not about my muscles or anything like that.

163

I was absolutely at a loss for what this injury could be, what this pain was.

164

And a gynecologist is a specialized doctor that specializes in women's health issues, right?

165

Gynecologist.

166

Exactly.

167

I'm glad at the end of the day, after this period of five to six months, you were able to diagnose correctly what was happening.

168

And were there any other treatment options on the table available for you?

169

Or was the doctor like, you must get a surgery.

170

This is never going to heal on its own.

171

It's kind of the only option was the operation?

172

Well, so there's a few schools of thought about this injury, and that just means that there's a few different common opinions about it.

173

I went to a surgeon, and in his opinion, the best thing to do

174

if I didn't want to get arthritis when I'm 40 or 50 was treat this with surgery.

175

But he did say, you know, you should try your best to at least give physical therapy more of a shot if you want.

176

He didn't want to sound too eager to do this surgery.

177

So I did, after him, I tried physical therapy for like, yeah, another five months, just to be sure, another four months.

178

And my physical therapists, one of them had this same injury.

179

And she said with physical therapy, she was able to exercise and live pain -free.

180

So I think another common opinion about this is if you put in the work and you do all this physical therapy,

181

you can live your normal life with your sports and exercise and not have pain.

182

But I decided, okay, let me get another opinion from a surgeon.

183

And he just had the same exact opinion as the first surgeon.

184

Like, sure, maybe you can live pain -free, but you will still slowly be wearing down this injured cartilage and it will cause arthritis us eventually.

185

And so I was like, okay, I'm not completely pain -free yet after four months of physical therapy.

186

It did help with the pain, but I wasn't completely pain -free.

187

So I said, okay, I'd better just do this surgery at this point.

188

Were you experiencing any pain outside of running?

189

Was it only painful when you were running

190

or was it bothering you just as you were going about your daily activities as well?

191

Yeah.

192

In the beginning, like at the end of 2023, beginning of 2024, it was constant.

193

Like it was affecting my sleep.

194

It was just a constant painful ache.

195

And, you know, people often will talk about pain on a scale of one to 10.

196

Right.

197

You know, when you go to the doctor in the US or I'm sure in many countries.

198

Right.

199

How is how bad is your pain?

200

And it was always floating around like a four or a five even.

201

Yeah.

202

And then sometimes it would get worse to like a seven out of 10, I would say.

203

So pretty bad in those early days.

204

It was really, really frustrating.

205

But, you know, through physical therapy, yeah, as time went on,

206

it basically got down to like a zero sometimes or like a one or a two out of 10.

207

There was a significant impact of the physical therapy.

208

But yeah, just thinking about the long term consequences, I decided I should do this surgery.

209

Well, definitely you did the right thing in getting a second opinion.

210

It's always good to get a second opinion and to consult with different doctors and with your physical therapist as well.

211

So you did the right thing.

212

And yeah, you made the difficult decision, I guess, to go ahead and get the surgery.

213

So I'm curious in my country, in Canada, you know, we have a health care system that is so -so in Canada.

214

It is like healthcare for all, so you don't really have to pay out of pocket.

215

It's covered.

216

The government covers surgeries and stuff like that.

217

So that's good.

218

That's the nice part of the medical system that we have in Canada.

219

The bad part is that the waiting lists are really, really long.

220

And so sometimes you have to wait.

221

I mean, it really is case by case depending on where you live, what kind of operation you need, how serious it is.

222

If it's a life or death situation, then sometimes you're able to go first, right?

223

You go to the front of the line, but maybe a situation like yours, Indiana, you'd sort of be waiting for a couple of years.

224

So what about where you live?

225

Did you have to wait a long time from once you made

226

that decision to get the surgery and then actually have the operation, or was it a pretty quick fluid process?

227

Yeah.

228

So in this case, it wasn't too bad.

229

When it came to scheduling the MRI, that scan that I needed to figure out what was going on, that did take a couple months.

230

And of course, you know, you said a couple of years for some things in Canada,

231

that's quite a difference, but that did still feel like quite a long time to me in that moment, right?

232

I thought, you know, it's just an MRI, right?

233

But the surgery itself, I could have scheduled about a month out,

234

but I ended up scheduling it a few months away from

235

that time when I got that second opinion because my husband has a guaranteed week off at the end of the year.

236

And I knew that after the surgery, I would definitely need a lot of help around the house

237

and I didn't want him to have to take an extra week off there.

238

So yeah, I just kind of aligned it with like a good time at the end of the year to,

239

you know, not be working and things like that.

240

So you made the decision to get the surgery.

241

You had it scheduled.

242

Tell us about what it was like a few days before the surgery, knowing that you would have to go through that process.

243

What was your thought process like?

244

Were you feeling nervous or confident?

245

What was the buildup to the surgery like?

246

Honestly, I was so scared.

247

I think I was being a huge baby about it.

248

I think I would be too.

249

A lot of medical anxiety.

250

Yeah.

251

I think mainly because of the sedative, sedation or anesthesia.

252

So, you know, when you're given something in an IV drip or perhaps an injection to calm you down,

253

make you feel sleepy or actually put you sort of to sleep.

254

that just that idea scares me so much.

255

Like, what if I don't wake up?

256

What if something goes wrong?

257

I think that was the scariest part.

258

But yeah, for the other part of the surgery, I wasn't too scared.

259

I thought, you know, I can sure I can manage the pain.

260

I've been managing pain all year.

261

So that part wasn't too scary for me.

262

Okay.

263

And did they put you fully to sleep or was it just a localized anesthesia?

264

And maybe we should break down these expressions and these terms as well.

265

If you put someone to sleep, it means that they give you some drug or some medicine that makes you unconscious, right?

266

A lot of surgeries are done that way, so you don't feel the pain.

267

And a local anesthetic is just when one part of your body is numbed, right?

268

So that you can't feel it, but still you're consciously awake and yeah, you're, you're with it, right?

269

You're, you're conscious.

270

You can, you're still awake essentially.

271

So those are two different types of options.

272

What was your option?

273

Were you local or fully under?

274

So I wasn't fully under and I think, yeah, if you're fully under, you probably have a breathing tube and you're completely unconscious.

275

What happened for me was I had an IV drip, which, you know, saline solution, just some basic, basic drip into your veins.

276

You get injected with a needle there and a needle inserted.

277

And they added a sedative to that IV drip, which, so I wasn't asleep.

278

I wasn't unconscious, but it made me feel very calm.

279

And in fact, I don't remember after like five minutes of this IV drip, I don't remember anything.

280

So it basically made me quite loopy and calm and, and, you know, out of sorts.

281

I suppose I was talking to the medical staff, but I don't remember a word of my conversation,

282

which is great for me because then they injected my spine with another local, like you said, local anesthetic.

283

And just the thought of that freaks me out so much.

284

I really don't want a needle in my spine.

285

So I'm very thankful that I don't remember that part.

286

Yeah.

287

A little bit scary, but you made it through, right?

288

And the operation was successful in the end, I assume?

289

It was.

290

And in fact, now a little bit more medical vocabulary here

291

so the reason that I had the labral tear this this tear

292

and the cartilage in my hip was

293

that I had a deformity of the top of my femur so that's the bone in your thigh your upper leg

294

and so this is a little bit gross but as part of the surgery so because of that deformity it doesn't,

295

the bone doesn't sit properly in the hip.

296

And so that wear and tear, it caused that break in the labrum.

297

The surgeon had to shave down the bone to make it the normal size.

298

Horrible to think about, but that was part of the surgery ultimately.

299

So in addition to stitching up that labrum, I had my bone shaved down.

300

So your bone was too big then, I guess.

301

Exactly.

302

That was the deformity.

303

Oh, interesting.

304

Okay.

305

Was it just like that on one side or do you think it's maybe like that on the other side as well?

306

That's the bad news as well.

307

So if it's like that on one side, it is going to be like that on the other side.

308

So it is possible that later in life,

309

this same injury is going to happen to me and I will have to do this surgery on the other side,

310

which is really depressing, but I've done it once.

311

So I know what it's like it'll be less scary and hopefully it doesn't happen soon.

312

Yeah.

313

But if I, if I continue to run, which I would like to, uh, yeah, I guess I just need to really work on my form

314

and try to strengthen some muscles to minimize the impact on that joint, but I might just injure the other side in the same way.

315

So that's a shame.

316

That is a shame indeed.

317

Okay.

318

So you had the surgery.

319

Tell us about that one week after.

320

You said your husband was off work for that week, so that's great.

321

He could take care of you and be your personal nurse, I guess, taking care of you for that week.

322

Was it pretty painful afterwards?

323

How did you deal with pain management in the immediate week after?

324

It was definitely painful, but it wasn't too bad.

325

I was prescribed several different kinds of painkillers.

326

So there's the anti -inflammatories.

327

In the States, you know these as ibuprofen or Aleve, naproxen sodium.

328

So, you know, just throwing these words out there because, yeah, you'll often see those on the shelf.

329

And I also was prescribed an opioid.

330

So that is a type of drug that mimics opiates.

331

So as a very relaxing effect, and you have to be extremely careful with those because if they're misused, they can be quite addictive.

332

But both of those really helped with my pain.

333

And yeah, I only took the opioid for about a week.

334

Yeah.

335

And it really was not too bad that with those medications the first week, the pain was totally, totally manageable.

336

Okay, that's good.

337

And I imagine you were pretty much bedridden.

338

Like, I couldn't imagine you were up and walking around.

339

Did you have a wheelchair or some crutches?

340

Or were you just lying down?

341

What was that like?

342

I was expecting that I would be stuck in bed all week, but really, I did have to use crutches,

343

but I left the hospital the same day after the surgery, and I just kind of sat on the couch in a comfortable position all week,

344

and yeah, I used my crutches to get around.

345

In fact, I had to use crutches for about three weeks after the surgery, so that got old after a while.

346

It became quite annoying to use those and try to do daily activities.

347

But, you know, part of the process.

348

Did you binge watch anything while you were just hanging out on the couch for the first little while?

349

Oh, boy.

350

Yeah, I watched so many movies.

351

And I was actually also playing a lot of video games.

352

I was playing a game called Ghost of Tsushima.

353

And so that's like a cool game about a samurai.

354

And then I started

355

Black Myth Wukong, which is about some Chinese mythology.

356

I wonder if some of our listeners are familiar with these games or not.

357

Both of them are great.

358

Yeah, wonderful game.

359

So I was gaming while I was recovering.

360

Well, that sounds okay.

361

The gaming sounds okay.

362

What about going forwards in the rehabilitation process?

363

You said you would like to run again sometime in the future.

364

So I imagine that it's going to take a little bit of time before you're able to do that.

365

Are you going to physical therapy or are you supposed to do some special exercises

366

or anything to make sure that your leg is as good as new again?

367

Yes.

368

So I've started physical therapy.

369

I did a few weeks in a pool doing exercises

370

and range of motion activities in the pool and now I've moved on to land.

371

Yeah, so there's just a lot of stretching and strengthening that's required to, of course, there was some muscle loss during the surgery and the recovery.

372

I was sitting on my butt all day on the couch, but yeah, so to get it back to normal,

373

I definitely need probably at least three months of physical therapy, if not more, but I have a really wonderful physical therapist that I really like,

374

and I will be returning to her for, you know, getting her insights on how I can safely return to running.

375

And because I think she really had a great understanding of my gait.

376

And that's the way that you walk or the way

377

that you run sort of your form and the problems that might have contributed in addition to this bone deformity to this,

378

you know, this injury.

379

So I look forward to, you know, being examined by her and working on some strategies to run perfectly.

380

I'm not sure, Andrew, how much you pay attention to form, but yeah, this has been such an educational thing for me.

381

I was doing things wrong that I did not realize were so wrong. So yeah.

382

I'm sure I'm doing things the wrong way as well.

383

I have, I had a little bit of tendonitis recently in my ankle and thankfully it's gone away,

384

but it was bothering me for like four or five months.

385

And that started to make me question my form a little bit.

386

And so I did a little bit of research into that and I've been trying to make some adjustments, but it's hard.

387

You know, you just, you've been running a certain way your whole life essentially.

388

And then it's like, nope, that's not the right way.

389

You got to change it up.

390

It's hard to make those adjustments.

391

Yeah.

392

Yeah.

393

Getting the advice of an expert would definitely be helpful in that regard.

394

Indiana, I'm curious about if you thought about maybe switching sports.

395

Probably you hear this comment all the time because I know as a runner too, non -runners, they always tell you like,

396

you know, you should probably not run in the future.

397

You're going to get arthritis or you're going to have knee pain or back pain or something like this.

398

And I hear comments all the time from my non -running friends who just don't get it.

399

But as a runner, I totally get it.

400

And if I were in your situation, I would be pretty heartbroken.

401

I think that I'd have to give up running for such a long time.

402

Now, if I were you, I probably would be exactly the same.

403

I'd be like, I'm going to do the work.

404

I'm going to do the exercises, the rehabilitation so I can start running again but I have to ask

405

because probably a lot of listeners are curious have you ever thought about just being like okay running's done

406

I'm just going to swim from now on

407

and I won't have to worry about injuring myself or anything like

408

that have you thought about switching sports yeah

409

so my the second uh surgeon

410

that he actually did my surgery he was saying you know runners don't like to hear this

411

but with this kind of injury and you know it's the same on the other side if you have this bone deformity.

412

you know, it's probably going to happen again and you really shouldn't run.

413

And he was like, I know that you're probably not going to take my advice.

414

You're probably just going to run.

415

But if you can not make it your main sport

416

and it could maybe be what you do a quarter of the time, you know, 25 % of the time, 20 % of the time,

417

then that would be good.

418

And it's still very hard to like wrap my head around that reality.

419

So I don't know what I'm going to do yet.

420

I definitely want to run because it was truly like my mental health release.

421

It like helped me de -stress.

422

I slept better when I was running.

423

And like no other sport is as easy to get into, I find.

424

Like I can just, you know, do some stretches and get out my door with running.

425

Whereas swimming, I have to drive to the pool.

426

I have to shower multiple times from the chlorine.

427

Maybe I'll get into biking.

428

But even that is, you know, there's a little bit of that barrier to entry.

429

It's a little hard to get started.

430

You have to find a trail.

431

You try not to get run over by a car.

432

So the answer is, I don't know, but I really do want to run.

433

So I'll probably, you know, continue to at least do it sometimes.

434

Yeah.

435

Although I've heard this is how triathletes are born.

436

And if you're a triathlete, it means that you participate in a triathlon, which is swimming, running, and cycling.

437

And so many triathletes, actually, they start as runners, and then they get injured, and they have to do something while they're recovering.

438

So they start either cycling or swimming, and they get good at that.

439

And then they're like, okay, now I'm recovered, I can run again, but I'm also a good swimmer, or I'm also a good cyclist now,

440

So I might as well just start being a triathlete.

441

And I think that's how many triathletes get their start.

442

So maybe that'll happen to you as well, Indiana.

443

But I completely understand the barrier to entry to get into some of those other sports.

444

Now, quickly here before we wrap things up, I would like just to ask you a little bit about the healthcare system in the United States,

445

because I know it's really different state by state by state.

446

And also we hear so much about this on the news.

447

Of course, America is always on the news and even people who are not American like me,

448

we know a lot and hear a lot about the American healthcare system.

449

So since you just had this really close up insider's perspective on this,

450

maybe you could tell us a little bit of information about what it was like to navigate that situation.

451

Yeah, definitely.

452

I think our healthcare system is very,

453

can be very frustrating with especially the communication between medical providers and private healthcare.

454

Like, I remember with my MRI, I scheduled the MRI, but they warned me at the office.

455

They said, you need to contact your insurance to make sure

456

that they received this request and it's all approved because we can't really schedule it until, you know, we have it tentatively in the calendar,

457

but it's not going to be scheduled until it's approved by your insurance.

458

So we're sending them this form.

459

They can review it.

460

So just give them a call and see, you know, if they get it, they should get it in a couple of days.

461

And I swear I was calling the insurance like every single day for two weeks.

462

And they're saying, no, we didn't receive the form.

463

You have to call the medical provider and have them resend it and this back and forth for weeks.

464

And it just felt so ridiculous that I was stuck doing this.

465

And I thought if we just had one health care provider, like health insurance, public health, like, oh, that would be so convenient from this perspective.

466

There's not this bureaucracy.

467

There's not this miscommunication and finger pointing like, no, actually, it's the doctor's office's fault.

468

No, actually, The insurance isn't responding.

469

So that was just one of the sort of negative experiences with dealing with the American health care system in this case.

470

And another thing which is tough, you know, I have private insurance through my husband's work.

471

So I'm very thankful for that because it opens up a lot more options.

472

You know, then if I was paying, I think, through.

473

Like a state, a state paying a state premium.

474

but there's a deductible.

475

Now this is also getting into some tricky vocabulary, but this is great to know.

476

There's a very high deductible for this health insurance.

477

So what that means is

478

that the health insurance provider is going to pay for what you need after

479

you put in this initial amount of money for the year.

480

So it could be thousands and thousands of dollars

481

that you are initially paying out of pocket and then if you have some major, major expense.

482

after you meet that deductible, the rest can be covered by the health insurance provider.

483

So that's just kind of annoying because you think, oh yeah, I have health insurance, but you're still paying exorbitant, very, very high medical costs.

484

So that's another kind of issue that I often hear about and experience this year.

485

Could you give us a ballpark, just because I know healthcare is so expensive in the USA.

486

If you did have to pay out of pocket, if you didn't have insurance, how much approximately would the surgery have cost you?

487

Did your hospital give you an invoice for the surgery or maybe they just send that right to the insurance companies?

488

I don't know.

489

Do you have a ballpark about how much that would cost?

490

I do think I have I received like the breakdown the information

491

this is what was covered this is what you're paying out of pocket um

492

and by the way even after I met my deductible I was paying a lot out of pocket

493

so it's I don't know it's ridiculous

494

but I don't know it could have been maybe close to eight

495

or ten thousand dollars all together um but I yeah don't quote me on that but something a little close to that.

496

Yeah.

497

Yeah.

498

Cause I need, I would need to review my breakdown of expenses, but yeah.

499

Very expensive, but actually a little bit less than I was expecting.

500

So maybe it's not as bad as I thought it was.

501

Sometimes you just see the extreme cases on, on social media when people post their hospital bills and I'm always shocked at how expensive it is,

502

but yeah, well, at the end of the day, you got the surgery, you're on the road to recovery.

503

And you have this story to share with everybody about how you were brave

504

and you were a badass and got the surgery done.

505

So thank you for sharing that with us today.

506

Yeah.

507

Thanks for having me on to discuss it.

508

It's therapeutic to talk about my experience.

509

That's good.

510

All right.

511

Thank you, Indiana.

512

Thanks, Andrew.

513

okay everyone

514

that brings us to the end of this episode thank you for listening all the way to the end

515

and again a special huge thanks to indiana for sharing her story with us

516

and we're all wishing indiana a quick

517

and speedy recovery i hope she's out there running sooner than later

518

and i hope

519

that she never has any of these medical issues in the future we'll cross our fingers for her Don't forget

520

that there's an interactive transcript and helpful study guide available for this episode for all Q -Lips members.

521

And also don't forget

522

that we have a Discord community where you can chat about this episode with other Q -Lips listeners from around the world, just like yourself.

523

And Indiana is also on our Q -Lips Discord server as well.

524

So that if you had a question for her, if you wanted to ask her a question or leave her a comment,

525

maybe you could say, Indiana, feel better soon.

526

speedy recovery something like that

527

if you want to leave a message for her then our discord server is the place to do

528

that as well the link to join the discord server

529

and it's free for everyone to join is in the description for this episode well guys

530

i think that's it for us today here at qloops

531

but we'll be back soon with another brand new english lesson

532

for you very very soon we'll talk to you all then goodbye

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

Modern identity labels | Intermediate-advanced English listening | Chatterbox 331

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Daisy's Big Day | English listening lesson | Bonus 76

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Halloween in North America | English Podcast Conversation (B2)

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Andrew and Kassy Catch up | Simplified Speech 169

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Intermediate English Practice | Nickel and dimed | Bonus 165

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults

Chatterbox #244 - Meeting celebrities [English listening practice]

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

Home alone for the weekend | English listening practice | Bonus 161

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Simplified Speech #93 - Big purchases

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Stories from Canada | Learn Real Canadian English and Slang! | Bonus 169

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Search for the lost ring | Bonus episode 8

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

48 hours in Vancity | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 134

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Chatterbox #309 – Quiet quitting

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Sunday funday | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 128

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

257 sentences

English for Nurses | English Podcast

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

62 sentences

Inside Your Knee When You Suffer an Injury

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

9 sentences

LISTEN AND READ ALONG - DAILY CONVERSATION - PLASTIC SURGERY

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

201 sentences

Advanced English Conversations to Improve English Speaking Skills

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

120 sentences

Learn English Naturally with Me | Comprehensible Input Vlog

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

692 sentences

Podcast To Learn English | Everyday English Conversations!

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

197 sentences

Learn Real-Life English: Life with a Newborn

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

80 sentences

Real British English Conversation: At the Doctor’s 🇬🇧 | British English

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults

377 sentences

Speak Like an American: Accent & Pronunciation Training 🇺🇸

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

684 sentences

Medical English: Essential Phrases for Doctors, Pharmacies & Emergencies 🏥

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Real English Conversation: Talking About Surgery”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: episode, Culips, English, member, topic. This video has 3 sentences and 1090 words to shadow. The speech runs for 38:34. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
audio adjective	/ˈɔ.di.oʊ/	Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight.
announcement noun	/əˈnaʊns.mənt/	An act of announcing, or giving notice.
invite verb	/ɪnˈvaɪt/	To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something.
runner noun	/ˈɹʌnɚ/	A person who moves, on foot, at a fast pace, especially an athlete.
interactive adjective	/ˌɪn.tɚˈæk.tɪv/	Interacting with or communicating with and reacting to each other; influencing or having an effect on each other; acting or capable of acting on each other or…
quiz noun	/kwɪz/	A competition in the answering of questions.
transcript noun	/ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/	Something which has been transcribed; a writing or composition consisting of the same words as the original; a written copy.
necessarily adverb	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	Inevitably; of necessity.
everyday adjective	/ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/	Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions.
membership noun		The state of being a member of a group or organization.
resource noun	/ɹɪˈzɔːs/	Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
painful adjective	/ˈpeɪn.fl̩/	Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
ton noun	/tʌn/	The short ton of 2000 pounds (about 907 kg), 20 hundredweights of 100 pounds avoirdupois each.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
going forward adverb	In the immediate future and beyond.
sign up verb	To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if I were you, I probably would be
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	I've been doing · I've been managing · I've been trying
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't tried · we've created · I've never had
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be joined · was injured · be fixed

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, you'll, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: ashamed /əˈʃeɪmd/, rehabilitation /ˌɹiː.əˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/, comprehension /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/
Long words — get the stress right: interactive /ˌɪn.tɚˈæk.tɪv/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, rehabilitation /ˌɹiː.əˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/, accompany /əˈkʌm.pə.ni/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like topic, helpful, audio.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Real English Conversation: Talking About Surgery | Simplified Speech 215 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

Simplified Speech #43 - Sleep tips

Chatterbox #311 – The Taylor Swift effect

Bonus Episode #036 – A chance encounter

Not so fast | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 133

One more try | Real English Listening | Bonus 179

Modern identity labels | Intermediate-advanced English listening | Chatterbox 331

Daisy's Big Day | English listening lesson | Bonus 76

Halloween in North America | English Podcast Conversation (B2)

Andrew and Kassy Catch up | Simplified Speech 169

Simplified Speech #186 – Christmas 2023

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Intermediate English Practice | Nickel and dimed | Bonus 165

Chatterbox #244 - Meeting celebrities [English listening practice]

Home alone for the weekend | English listening practice | Bonus 161

Simplified Speech #93 - Big purchases

Stories from Canada | Learn Real Canadian English and Slang! | Bonus 169

Search for the lost ring | Bonus episode 8

48 hours in Vancity | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 134

Chatterbox #309 – Quiet quitting

Sunday funday | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 128

English for Nurses | English Podcast

Inside Your Knee When You Suffer an Injury

LISTEN AND READ ALONG - DAILY CONVERSATION - PLASTIC SURGERY

Advanced English Conversations to Improve English Speaking Skills

Learn English Naturally with Me | Comprehensible Input Vlog

Podcast To Learn English | Everyday English Conversations!

Learn Real-Life English: Life with a Newborn

Real British English Conversation: At the Doctor’s 🇬🇧 | British English

Speak Like an American: Accent & Pronunciation Training 🇺🇸

Medical English: Essential Phrases for Doctors, Pharmacies & Emergencies 🏥

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?