Residency

Today is July 1. Actually, it’s July 2, but I was thinking about this yesterday and just couldn’t make time to write it down until today. So I’m going to say it’s July 1. Exactly ten years ago was July 1, 2016, and it was the last day of the life that I decided to leave behind – my last day of general surgery residency. But this note isn’t about July 1. (Then why did she just make such a big deal about it being July 1??) This is about 6 months before that July 1, which is when I actually decided to quit. ...

This past weekend I met up with a few of my former colleagues from residency for dinner and drinks. It felt a little bit like a meetup with high school friends might feel, if you spent high school removing gallbladders and incising and draining abscesses. (Maybe you did. I don’t know your life.) Having a chance to confront and reflect on my former self in a controlled environment—in this case, a contemporary Mexican restaurant—was not a bad exercise. Part of me was hesitant, as my general feeling towards that time in my life is “thank you, universe, for the opportunity to learn about the world and myself, but also, don’t ever put me there again.” ...