Please see inside: what does this sentence say to you?

That is a prepositional phrase and not a sentence…if I understand what you are asking.

It is also an awkward one.

“What with my mom having a breast biopsy and the temperatures hitting record highs, I am having a very bad week.”

It could easily be “I am having a breast biopsy. My mom is with me.” OR, “I am with my mom, who is having a breast biopsy.” OR, it’s an incomplete thought, as @gailcalled suggests, above.

I think it’s likely to be mom that is having the biopsy.

@augustlan: I missed that; good ideas also.

Yeah, I’m going with @augustlan‘s “assumed I am”:

”[I am w]ith my mom [, ] having a breast biopsy…”
or
”[I am w]ith my mom [, who is] having a breast biopsy…”

It’s a poorly crafted sentence because of the ambiguity and because of the lazy way of leaving out the first person and verb. (It’s not like the understood “you” in an imperative sentence: “Close that door!” “Go to the hospital and visit your mother!”) Maybe some day, given trends in language and writing, it will be, but by gawd… not there yet!

Maybe you saw what I did there.

My best wishes to your correspondent, however. Someone’s in fear and uncertainty, clearly. That’s not ambiguous.

It could also mean that she is doing some medical research, and is testing someone else’s breast biopsy, and her Mom is teaching her, though I doubt it.

She is with her Mom. Her Mom is having the procedure.

Ok. My wife and I agree that it
is not a sentence and ambiguous. My wife thinks that the way the phrase is worded incorrectly implies that the mom is having a biopsy. I say the phrase is so ambiguous that one cannot determine who is having the biopsy.

Whatcha all think?

Edit: My wife’s GA goes to @filmfann

I take it as “I am with my Mom who is having a breast biopsy” but it is poorly constructed and ambiguous for sure.

If I were the surgeon, I would double-check carefully before putting the knife to either party’s boob.

Any context?

My first impression was that it was the mother having the biopsy, as in “I can’t concentrate, what with my mom having a breast biopsy”, but that would be adding words. If what you posted was the entire sentence, it kind of sounds like a Facebook status update, with the daughter having the procedure done in the company of her mother.

Facebook status.

I am imagining finding this on my Facebook newsfeed, and having the same question you did… but given that three hours have elapsed since you asked your question, I am also imagining 542 responses to that status update expressing concern over the poster’s condition. Did your friend end up coming back to clarify what she meant?

Is it supposed to be a texted answer to somebody’s question?

I would say the poster is having a breast biopsy and her mom is with her. (I’m) with my mom having a breast biopsy.

Knowing that it’s a Facebook status makes me think that the writer is having the biopsy and that her mother is with her.

I will now play the part of jca, our update lady. Let us know which one is right!

I hope things go well for whoever of the two ladies is having it!

At first I read it as an excuse to not do something. “With my mom having a breast biopsy…I am too nervous to go out to lunch today.”.

Then I saw it was a FB status. So now I read it as:
“With my mom, having a breast biopsy… I will be sore tonight”

Could we speculate that since the person is a “friend,” (whatever that means today), the readers would know from the shorthand who is doing what to whom?

@gailcalled We seem to be able to do nothing but speculate with this!

Probably because we all need stronger glasses.

It turned out my aunt was the one having the biopsy and it was my cousin’s status.