By the way,,,,at the last swim meet Christine Q asked me if you knew that you rec’d an award for a recent med. publication (why no, my husband doesn’t know anything about it……. or perhaps he forgot to tell me that little detail) but she couldn’t remember which case it was or which one it was published in. I wondered if it might be the Jehovah’s witness case where you had to come up with a synthetic substitute since she refused a transfusion…Maybe I’m confused but that was the only thing which rang a bell.

Anywho…I’m glad you’re feeling better. You wouldn’t be normal if it didn’t grate on you at times. Remember though….You’re on third and poised to slide into home base at this point. Or in the words of the most prolific Neil Young…it’s better to burn out than to fade away…I know you’ll make the best of these last few weeks…. down to 51 days.

Besides, we’ve had so many visitors this summer you’d feel like you’re losing your mind if you were here now. I do and they’re mostly my family….:) Actually it’s been fun and Molly and Drew are now getting along famously. They are both great kids. It’s been nice getting to know Molly; we’ve enjoyed having her Barry and Ellen.

Well…Maya has been (not kidding) meowing for me for the last 10 minutes so I must vamoose. Be good to yourself/cover your bedding with a tarp when you leave in the AM and roll it back at night. Who knows; it’s so crazy it just might work.

Mwah.

The presentation went very well. Here it is, by request, though probably not too interesting for non-doctor-types: http://rupard.org/Pix/Al%20Asad%20CME%20Lecture%20clean.ppt

The intro is a bit of ribbing directed towards the Army Medical Corps. Much of the presentation is spoken, rather than simply represented on the slides, so you miss a bit not seeing the punch lines delivered by me, but there it is.

AFN is back up now; my room is covered in dust, but hey, that’s how I’m used to it… Checked out the WSJ article dad–very interesting and helps explain why the soldiers are a bit wary of officer-types. I have been a religious WSJ reader since coming to Al Asad.

That stinks though; honestly I can’t imagine waking up to that dinge every morning but I truly appreciate those who do wake up to it and go headlong into it and who have to keep doing so for a very long time.

Just remember E, that it gets darkest before dawn (or in your case, darkest before orange) AND…. here’s the even-better news….21 August you rotate back to EAMC the endearing, overwhelmed Hem/Onc clinic full of patients who are, at this very moment, patiently awaiting your arrival.

But first and foremost…… you get to take leave!!

I hope/pray that your hem presentation goes well tomorrow. Or by the time you get this–today.

Hang in there!

Love you!!