Eighty-six, Medical-ese

"Morphologically, the major change in HD is loss of medium-sized spiny neurons in the neostriatum, manifested grossly by severe atrophy of the caudate nuclei and, to a lesser degree, the putamen. Cerebral cortical atrophy may also be evident, particularly in the frontal lobes."

The fact that I can read that and--outside of the fact that I read "spiny" and think Mario games--understand what it's saying to me means that all these years of schooling were worth something. As I try to figure that out, I realize that that "something" that I gained is the ability to speak in a new language. I wonder how useful this new language will be for talking to non-medical-ese people... I guess it's similar to being a translator. Except that it's involved translations where you actually describe what the words mean to each new person you meet (very few of whom will speak medical-ese). So yay! I'm learning a new language! Now all I have to do is spend the rest of my life explaining words from that language to people who speak English (and other languages).