Cutting up in the hospitality room

The scene of many laughs

The days are long here so we make the most of our short evenings. We have a suite on the top floor of the hotel where each evening after work, our quarter master Steve brings out a wide selection of beverages and snacks. This is where everyone unwinds and shares the war stories of the day. This is where everyone gets real.

Hospitality suite spread

A couple of days ago, one of the pediatricians, Sheila, celebrated a birthday. The local Rotary volunteers purchased a gorgeous birthday cake and fresh flower arrangement. I heard that they sang to her in the break room -- I somehow missed it. The cake made its way up to the hospitality room later than night.

Now picture this. A cake, a knife, and a room full of surgeons, operating nurses, and anesthesiologists. Of course, Sheila was getting a lot of advice about how to cut her cake. The nurses were holding out plates – ready to catch pieces ready to be served. The anesthesiologists sat by contemplating what was actually in the cake and what they might need to drink to wash it down. It really was hilarious. But the job was finally done. I didn’t actually try it – the color kind of turned me off (a neon yellow). But it really was a nice gesture.

The hospitality room became the scene of benign disclosure the following evening after the banquet at the governor’s mansion. Lubed up with a few glasses of wine, a smaller contingent of the team, myself included, were not ready to turn in. So Steve opened up the hospitality room for us, and the real party started.

Fun-loving pediatricians Mary and Sheila

Now if you’ve never had the chance to enjoy after hours with medical folks, you have to take the opportunity if the occasion presents itself. What a riot. Accompanied by Steve, Fiona (anesthesiologist), Sheila, David (OR nurse), Mary (pediatrician), and Jim (surgeon), we proceed to set to work on the wine in the room. Then Jim proposed a game – with a cutting twist. Each person was to write down a surgical procedure they would choose to have done if they could; than the admissions would be put in a cup. Each of us would then draw one slip, read it aloud and guess whose it was. I was up first and when I read “varicose vein removal” I realized how mean-spirited this game really was. I took a lame guess and got it wrong. After that, all hell broke loose with an eyebrow lift, eyelash implants, liposuction, breast lift, and mole removal. Guess what? The rest of them took the easy way out and guessed me for all of them! Their argument was that I looked like I needed the least amount of work so it would be the safest way to not offend anyone else. Ouch! And of course, there’s not a therapist on the team. Actually it was fun and afforded us a lot of laughs – I can’t remember laughing so hard in a long time.

Anyway, I’m feeling much more connected to these folks, each of us knowing some vulnerability. Dr. Jim of course believes that his profession will capitalize on these insecurities eventually. With my needle phobia, I beg to differ!