Since I'm horrible about keeping in touch

I figured that I would start this to give you all a way to see what I'm up to and such, since it seems that I am always busy and by time I get done with the day, I never want to answer my phone or make any phone calls.  I know I'm awful, but at least you all know that I love you.

Today was a really sad day for me.  One of the patients that we have been seeing at the hospital hasn't been doing very well.  He had a grade 4 brain tumor (for those of you who don't know what that means, that's the worst grade).  He had surgery to remove as much of it as possible, but his prognosis was still very very poor.  They said that he would likely survive only a few months if they didn't do anything, but with the surgery and chemo and radiation, he might survive for 2 years.  However, both approaches carried a great deal of risk.  He and his family decided to go ahead with the surgery.  And he seemed to be doing really well.  However, a few days ago, he developed a lot of swelling on his brain, and it pushed the healthy parts of his brain out of place and he hasn't been doing very well since then.  The doctor that I am following says that he is unlikely to survive much longer.  It's just really sad and his family is just devastated by all of this.  On top of that, we have another patient who came into the hospital on Friday and has since had a stroke and probably won't live much longer either.  It's hard.  Medically there is nothing left to do for either of these patients and it breaks my heart. 

But it did reconfirm my calling for pathology.  I love people, but I can't deal with just standing by and watching and waiting.

In happier news, I have a patient tell me that I was her favorite doctor.  That made me feel really good.

Also, Katie send me a package with my birthday present in it.  She got me the book Solo Suppers.  It's a great gift.  And I can't wait to use it.  Hopefully the food is really good.  There are some crazy recipes in it that I will probably never try, but who knows, I might feel adventerous one day.  Although I don't know where I'll get swordfish from.

Well, that's about it.  David and I are trying to figure out what to do for the weekend of our first anniversary.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Love you all,
Amanda