Gratitude

So I have survived my first 3 days back as a clinical surgery resident. Whew! I feel a bit weary as my body is quite used to 12-13 hr days at this point. I had the opportunity to finally operate today. Unfortunately, it was to remove part of a man's colon who had been diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer . . . and he is only 42 yrs old. Seeing advanced cancer in such young patients is one of the most humbling things I come across. It makes you kind of stop in your tracks. Just the night before, I was feeling kind of down about still being a resident, having 3 more years to go, being childless, and yadda, yadda, yadda . . . and then a patient like this comes along. A phone call to Mom always brings me back to reality too. So, I'm trying to focus on gratitude. Counting my blessings. Living in the moment. Leaving the future to God. I don't do real well with these things sometimes but taking care of sick people every day in much more dire circumstances than my own never fails to bring a reality check.

See how your garden grows . . .

I'm so excited my tomato plants are finally starting to bloom. I wasn't sure how they and my herbs would do since we only get some morning sun in our little yard but otherwise have mostly shade or part sun. Thanks to all the rain and now the steamy heat my little garden is flourishing.

Monster

So I couldn't help taking this photo the other night. This is Monster . . . a funny cat we're pet-sitting for one of our ultimate frisbee teammates. He's a cute little guy that curls up next to me the minute I sit on the couch, often planting himself squarely on my lap . . . over books, magazines, etc!

He'll be our buddy for the next 5-6 weeks which so far has been quite fun for Peter and I.

What to say . . .

So . . . I'm not quite sure how to start all of this. I just feel like I need an outlet. I used to journal more in my college days but my current journal has about 2 entries for 2009 and has been doing a better job collecting dust than anything else. Since I'm constantly around computers it seems that I might do a better job with this medium . . . even though there are a number of days where I really detest sitting at a computer for more than like a minute or two. "Tech" is something I have slowly conceded to as it intrudes more and more into life . . . sometimes bringing more efficiency . . . but often just more depersonalization and multi-tasking to our lives. Hopefully, I can keep this think above water and give myself some creative outlet when I'm tired of typing endless patient progess notes, op notes, and such into the hospital EMR. Here goes!