Word of the Day - de cálculos biliares

My neighbors had just returned from their home town, Nacozari, and so I walked over to their house to see how the wife was doing after her gallbladder surgery. All I wanted to do was ask the husband "como esta tu esposa?" because that's about all the conversational spanish I've mastered. I hoped he would give a one-word answer like bien or buena. But nooooooo. He made me go in the house so his wife could give me a personal update on her surgery.

While the wife showed off her surgical incisions, the husband went into the bedroom and returned with the shrink-wrapped gallstone. Yay! a visual aid. I did a lot of exclaiming over its size: muy grande!

The wife talked to me at the normal Mexican conversational speed which is muy rapido. I leaned forward in my chair, trying to pick out a word here and there. I nodded a lot, sighed when I thought it appropriate and hoped I laughed in the right places, you know, not after she'd said something like "I almost died on the table" and I'd go "hahahaha." I think they told me why they went to the hospital in Nacozari and not CIMA in Hermosillo. I think one of their nieces is a nurse. I think.

Story complete, there were hugs and kisses all around. I think I did a fairly good job of faking my understanding of her story. I certainly didn't have to fake how happy I was to have them back in Kino.

Update: Later I ran into the husband when he stopped to greet friends who'd just returned to Kino. He pulled the shrink-wrapped de calculos biliares from his pocket.