Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, from mine to yours!

I'm oncall for Christmas this week. And as I rounded on my patients just now, some thoughts occured to me. I expected to be grumpy, being made to work this holiday. Instead, I had fun; I wore my antlers and my Santa badge. I laughed with the patients (and the reindeer antlers were a hit with the nurses! Note to self, must do again next year). I suppose I realized that I shouldn't complain for I have much to be grateful for. And, I'm there to help patients, and wasn't there as a patient, so I shouldn't grumble.

It also brought back memories of the last time I was oncall for Christmas. 2003, when I was a 2nd year resident. At that time, it was night call too, in St. Mary's. I was doing my chest/pulmonary rotation. And being a Catholic hospital, there was a midnight mass too; I recall my colleagues and I, about 10 of us residents from the various medicine services, all attending mass, amidst other employees, patients and their families. Though inevitably, during the hour-long mass, one-by-one we got paged out to admit patients so by the time the service ended, only 2 residents were left. I recall too the attendings who dressed up and went to the various wards, singing Christmas carols and how it made me feel homesick.

Boy that was 7 years ago. And now we're here. A husband, a father, and yet still a son. Though I have aged prematurely and quite harshly, and have lost an alarming amount of hair, I AM blessed with a lot- my family and our health.

Merry Christmas, everyone!