Lost

No, not the TV show (which I've never seen). My wedding ring. It disappeared Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I have no idea. Beth and I went to dinner with my Aunt and Unlce and my mother's 2nd cousin (apparently he and I are not related at all, no 3rd cousins, no 2nd cousins twice removed). He is related to my mother and my mother is related to him and his father, but he and I are not legally related. That was an interesting conversation. I had no idea. But I digress. I remember having my ring at dinner. When we came home that night I put everything (at least I think I did), my keys, wallet, watch, my Alpha/Omega ring from Beth for graduation and my wedding on the "bar" ledge from the living room into the kitchen. I leave for the hospital early in the morning and often get dressed in the dark. So, I left everything in the living room. I got up Thursday morning and went to work. I don't remember NOT putting my ring on. As I was speaking to a patient's family member, I went to play with my wedding ring. It wasn't there. I have gotten into the habit was playing with it more lately. It's loose and comes off easily. At that point I thought I had simply forgotten to put it on that morning when I was getting ready. I knew it would be there waiting for me.

It wasn't.

It's been 3 days and no sign of my ring. Fortunately, Beth has NOT flipped out. I have. It makes me very sad. I know it's only material...but still, I wasn't planning on throwing it away or trading it in any time soon. One thing is for sure though, I will have to get a new ring soon. I can't stand the feel of there being nothing on my left ring finger. I hope that as soon as I do get a new ring, the old one will show up.

If you happen to find it, let me know.

I crashed a High School Reunion

It was my high school reunion...sort of. For those of you who don't know, a brief explanation. I lived in Abilene, TX from Feb. 1986 (3rd grade) until July 1993 (end of soph. yr). This weekend was Abilene Cooper's 10 year reunion. I went. I only spent 2 years in Tyler and I can only think a 5-6 people who will be at that reunion that I would want to see.

On the other hand, this weekend in Abilene, I had the extreme pleasure of seeing some of my oldest and dearest friends. Friends who taught me how to laugh, how to love, how to cry, how to be me. I AM SO BLESSED!!! Many of these friends I had lost contact with after leaving Abilene. For some, it had been 12 years since I had seen them. This weekend, I felt like we were 16 again and that nothing had changed. NOT that I would want to BE 16 again! We had an absolute BLAST this weekend. Even Beth, my wife, who basically knew no one (and LOATHES these sorts of things) had a good time. As she will tell you, "Two makes a family." Looking as most of my former classmates, Beth and I are WAY behind in the baby department. Some had 3, THREE, kids. We have 2 dogs.

I had such a great time this weekend and I want to thank the "true" Abilene Cooper Class of 1995 for letting me continue to be a part of them. And thanks for helping Beth feel like a part of the gang.

Becky--your name is mud for not showing up. I hope you're ok.
Rachel and Jason--I'm sorry I didn't get to meet Buddy (name changed to protect the innocent) but I love you guys--see you soon.
Eric and Christina--Christina I'm glad I got to meet you, see you at the wedding. Eric, I hope that we always stay in touch--
Lara--your husband is a riot, I think he and Beth bonded (should we be scared?). I'm so glad you're happy. You look GREAT!
Em--you sure know how to throw a party!!!! It was SO GOOD to see you! Next time, I'll help!
Leya--I never knew your mom liked me so much, HA! I could have used that...your little girl is beautiful. Best of luck to you and Brian
Ann--I vote you, "THE ONE WHO STAYED MOST THE SAME" and I LOVE IT!!! You look happy, confident, and at peace. You're an amazingly talented woman and I expect great things. Perhaps the Mrs. and I can make it to AZ to see you!
Alison--you're too cool for words. Not many have the gumption to show up to a reunion unemployed! Best of luck...we need to have a mini reunion in D/FW (since almost EVERYONE from our class lives there!)
Shea--you're one of the funniest people I know. Don't worry, it's a good thing. I'm glad that you came and that you're doing well. Good luck with grad school. Hopefully you can join the mini reunion.
Rachel H-M--you're a dear friend--good luck with the one of the way. Your boys are too cute and I know that they'll love having a new brother/sister. Call us ANYTIME you're in Houston. Until next time, there's always email.
Ben-We have too many mutual friends NOT to keep up! Taiwan will be a challenge. Good luck with Mandarin
Andy--I'm sure we'll keep up through IM. I'm sorry it had been so long before this that we had talked.
Jackson and Erin--you guys look great, I know that you're already FABULOUS parents. Jackson, I know that you're patients are in GREAT hands. Good luck whereever life leads you.
To the rest of the Class of 1995, Emily L., Dave B., Tiffany H, Sherry S. Zac and Bru, Jurel, Emily C, Christy, Justin, and whomever else I've left off this list. Thanks. I can't wait to do it again 5 years from now.
To those from the class that are missing and that couldn't make it. You need to be found, and you need to show up in 2010. It really isn't the same without you.

I go to sleep tonight happy. Happy because this weekend I was able to relive some of the best years of my life with some of the best friends I've ever had. I'm a lucky man. Call me anytime.

End of the First Week

I guess it's safe to say I survived my first week of internship. And no one died. At least none of my patients. I did feel bad for one intern...they came in one morning and one of their patients had died overnight. No, the intern didn't kill this patient. They were very sick and died of natural causes. But imagine how the intern must have felt. No one called to let them (I'm being gender neutral so there is no HINT of a HIPPA violation...I'll explain later) know that the patient had died. The last few days have been interesting.

In hospitals, the team of doctors taking care of patients changes every month on the first of the month. For me, this year...I will spend 5 weeks on the Renal Ward Team because interns started 1 week earlier. That meant that on Friday, me and the other intern got a whole new upper level staff. The resident was post-call from his June month, so he was at the house asleep. The Renal Fellow, who just finished her Internal Medicine Residency, was day 1 as a Fellow. And the Attending was new as well. Not a new attending, but new to the service. Let me explain the higherarchy that is Medicine.

Medical Students--what I was 2 months ago. Basically, can't do anything legal and therefore help their intern AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! They are usually the ones running to x-ray or finding out lab results. We call this kind of work SCUT. And medical students are affectionately called Scut-Monkeys.

Interns--that's me--Graduated medical school 1-2 months ago. New MDs.
Interns are in their first year of their residency (3-5 yrs. depending on the specialty). Interns report to the Resident.

Residents--2nd,3rd,4th...yr of residency. They have supervisory responsibilities of the interns and medical students. Residents report to the Fellow (if there is one) or to the Attending

Fellow--done with Residency. A Fellow has chosen a sub-specialty--cardiology, Nephrology, CV Surgery, Oncology, etc. A Fellowship is 2-4 yrs and most always involves research. Fellows report to Attendings.

Attending--Staff--done with training. Could operate in Private Practice. Board Certified in their filed of training. Eligible to make more money than me, which is less than $40,000 during residency for 80+ hours/week.

So, it's a new month with a new team. My fellow intern was given 4 days of vacation around the 4th of July and won't be back until Thursday the 7th. In Internal Medicine, we all get 4 days vacation around a holiday...he just happened to get the 4th. That stinks for him. Mine are around Thanksgiving in order to attend the wedding of my friend and fellow (not Fellow) Pediatric intern, Jeremy Dalton. So, for the next 4 days, it's me, the resident, and the Fellow on the team. That translates into more work for me!

Happy 4th of July! I will work until noon and then go home and get ready for a little grill time.

In His grace.