A taste of heaven

I am currently suffering from severe withdrawal, having just returned from the annual SVS (Society for Vascular Surgery) meeting. It was wonderful. Attendees and speakers come from all over the world to discuss the latest and greatest in the field. The range of individuals attending is truly mind-boggling. You have residents and medical students who are high on potential, but low on actual experience. Then you have others who are truly legends in the field of vascular surgery--people like Dr Parodi (he invented the endovascular stent graft repair of abdominal aortic aneursyms, turning a huge operation into a relatively minor procedure), Dr Greenfield (invented the Greenfield filter that is inserted into the IVC to catch clots thereby preventing their embolization to vital structures), Dr Rutherford etc, etc, etc. Its all kind of like getting to heaven and listening to Moses give a presentation on leadership, or Joshua speak about battle strategy, or Noah talk about ship-building and care of animals on cruises.

Not only that, but the food was unbelievable. I still don't know which fork I should have been using first, but in the end the food all got to the right place. The best part about it all is that the SVS paid my surgery program for me to be there, thereby making the whole thing free. That's also kind of heavenly, isn't it?