DatingJosh

At this moment I am peering down the dark, smooth-bored double barrels of a sleepless night that will stretch endlessly until the sun dawns. I am on call this week and this particular night I have found myself at the mercy of the transplant surgeons. My hospital performs a large number of kidney and liver transplants, which is a good thing, a wonderful thing. Sometimes, however, those donated organs are somewhat questionable in their health and viability, a rather unsettling thing. That is where my department comes in. As pathologists, we freeze small needle biopsies of the organ in question, stain them up and squint at them with a microscope to assess just how healthy (or bad) they are.

This is not always a good thing. As organs are harvested as soon as they come available, this process can happen in the middle of the night. Like tonight. I will be looking at potential donor kidney biopsies with the Chairman of my entire department tonight!

Well, at least I get to play a small part in giving the gift of life to someone in need. But boy am I going to be exhausted tomorrow!