Oh @#*% I'm 30!

Well, it happened. I turned 30 and guess what... I survived! So, I worried over the big day and the idea of turning 30. The big day was Monday. I had a wondeful day. Sunday, my mom cooked a big family birthday dinner. It was my favorites- pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and broccoli with cheese sauce. Then a great birthday cake from Mickey's- chocolate on chocolate. Then, Monday I had the day to myself. No work and no Ross for the morning. It was so relaxing. Then a date with my wife. Can you believe! Just the 2 of us! We went to a nice, romantic dinner. The weather was so nice we ate on the porch at Acadia. I tried soemthing new. I ate duck. It was tasty. The side dish was even better- cheese grits! Dessert was a mixed berry cobbler for me and a carmel chocolate tort for Leah. 

Oh, the presents were unbelievable. Leah (being the wonderful wife she is) had a portrait of Ross commissioned for me. A childhood friend of Leah's took a picture of Ross and turned it into an unbelievable oil portrait. I am the luckiest woman on the face of the earth. My family gave me (us) a new video camera. Leah was so intelligent on this. She took the initiative and told my sister that we needed a new video camera. I am terrible at asking for gifts. I am over joyed to have a new camera.

Well, I can now say with a smile that I am 30!!!! I would not change where I am in life for anything. Life right at this moment is just where I  want to be. I have a wife that loves and adores me (and that I love and adore too), a son that makes me smile more and more each day, an extended family that I cherish spending time with, a job I enjoy, and a house that keeps me safe. Life is GOOD!

Just A Note

Today was a little rough for me. I discharged a patient I had become attached to. This is something that doctors are taught not to do. However, it is a serious complication being a pediatrician. Not only am I a pediatrician, but I work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (aka NICU). I want to see a person with feelings not get attached to this precious beings. My job is at times very difficult. Lately, I have felt out of place and insecure. I am a general pediatrician working in a very specialized unit. I am planning on getting the extra training to be a neonatologist. I just have to wait until Leah can make the money to support us. I have been discouraged about work, but today I was reminded why I do what I do, and for the most part love what I do.

EL is a patient I have been taking care for over a month. He is a precious baby boy with blue eyes, blonde- BLONDE hair. He was born with spina bifida. He has been through more in his 37 days than most go through in a lifetime. In the NICU, you not only have your actual patients as patients, you get the whole family. EL's mom is amazing. She has dealt with many set backs and disappointments like a champ. I am amazed at her strength. It was very hard for me to say goodbye to EL and his family. On the way out, EL's mom gave me a card. To most this would be a tiny gesture, to me it was the shooting star I needed to get refocused and remember how much I love what I do. Yes, I truly love my job. I am grateful for the chance to be apart of the lives of my patients. I am truly blessed to be allowed to take care of such innocent creatures. I am not usually outwardly religious, but God has blessed me with this opportunity.

It is funny how things happen in clusters. At home tonight, Leah mentioned seeing a CT scan on an old NICU patient of mine. GM was a micro-premie that I cared for as a 2nd year resident. GM and his family are the reason I want to be a neonatologist. 

The 3rd part of the cluster came when I checked email. I had a notification of a new journal entry on the Caring Bridge website of a cardiac patient I had the privilege of knowing when I was a resident (also in my second year). CR was born with an underdeveloped heart. He is now 3 years old. His mom wrote an amazing story of how CR saw the positive in a terrible situation when she could only see the negative.

I have been having a pitty party tonight, not sure why. But, then I remembered these 3 families, all they have been through, and all they have given/taught me. Then, I realized how amazing the journey of life is.