Stuart was post-call Friday morning when we left Raleigh/Durham and flew to Tampa (post-call means that he went in to work Thursday morning, worked all day and all night, then left work Friday morning and came straight to the airport). The above picture demonstrates how he spent most of our Friday travels. We had a direct flight to Tampa, hopped a shuttle to our hotel, checked in, and then Stuart took off for the Convention Center for the first part of the conference.
I met him around 5pm, after the Friday sessions finished. It was a busy evening of networking and meeting lots of important people and hanging out with residents, fellows and attendings from UNC that we already knew. We were just trying to decide where to go to dinner when one of Stuart's attendings pulled him aside and said "You NEVER pay for a drink or food at this conference. Never. There are too many drug reps available to do that for you!" He had arranged for a rep to take us to dinner, but it turned out he had double booked. So instead of accompanying us (which would have been terrible and awkward - who wants to have dinner with a drug rep??!), the guy just made a reservation for us at a swanky restaurant (Eddie V's Prime Seafood) and gave us his credit card.
It was delicious and awesome and very expensive. And though it felt a little dirty, because we don't exactly love pharmaceutical companies and their representatives, it was the nicest dinner we have been to since our honeymoon. And so, we were thankful for a free, fancy date night. Though, we did avoid the drug reps for the rest of the weekend.
This was part of the view from our hotel room - a rooftop pool at our hotel. I actually didn't spend as much time by it as I had hoped to, but it was nice and relaxing anyways!
I got to see my favorite life-long friend, Hannah! She picked me up on Saturday and we went to lunch at a place called Datz. It was delicious and really fun inside. And it was just awesome to catch up on her life - she got married in August and moved far way to Tampa, and we haven't seen each other since! I would have been so happy to just sit on a bench and talk all afternoon, but she was kind enough to feed me and my growing baby ;). She also took me tie shopping for Stuart, as we discovered pretty quickly that SGO is a rather fancy conference, and Stuart was just a smidge underdressed (as was I, but I didn't have to spend as much time with important people as he did).
Saturday night was the UNC alumni event, where everyone who ever had a role at UNC gathered in a room at the hotel and had drinks. We knew most of the folks here, but got to meet some new faces who either did their residency or fellowship at UNC years ago, and are now very important at other places. We left feeling reminded how grateful we are to be at UNC and part of the community that has formed over decades in the department. We were actually headed out the door with some residents and an attending (who were headed for drinks, but we were secretly headed to our hotel for sleep!) when this lady whizzes by us in the lobby and says "Come up to see the President!" The attending turns around and says, "Change of plans - you don't turn this down." So we find ourselves packed into an elevator with this lady and lots of drunk people and a professional photographer was taking our picture (?). We got off on the top floor, and as we're walking down the hallway, Stuart grabs my hand and whispers "I don't know where we are going or which country's President we are about to meet, but everything will be okay!"
We walk into the Presidential Suite, where it just happens to be a private party for the President of SGO, Dr. Barbara Goff (who, believe me, is a big, huge deal, but I was a little disappointed it wasn't Obama). All of the important people were in this room, and here walk in a group of residents and an attending from UNC. We had a great time chatting and relaxing on her balcony (and eating her delicious food). We learned later that the lady who whizzed by us in the lobby was Mary Eiken, SGO's executive director. We spent a lot of time talking to her between various events and learned that she is an onc nurse (like me!) and really a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to know her a little - not just because she's important, but we genuinely like her. In fact, we genuinely liked all of the important people we met. A lot. My husband has chosen a wonderful specialty and I'm excited to become more a part of it!
I borrowed two books from my BFF, Casey: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian and Running Scared by Edward Welch. One to enjoy, and one to make me think. And they were both excellent. Between the airport and time by the pool, both were read cover to cover by the time we touched back down in Durham. (This is a noteworthy piece of information to include in my little blog diary here, because I never get to read, and I love reading, so I will celebrate two books in one weekend!)
Above are some palm trees. They're everywhere, obviously because it's Florida. Below is some grass, which is not everywhere, obviously because it's Florida. In fact, the photo below is of a public garden on the riverfront that had big signs and lots of advertising drawing you in to come and see. But it contained only grass and a few bushes. I guess they were really proud that they could grow some grass.
Sunday night was SGO's big fundraiser event, so we dressed up pretty fancy and had a great time! I wish I had taken more photos because it was 1960s themed (well, Mad Men themed to be specific) and it was really fun! We spent a good deal of time with our own residents, and that was really fun. We also had the opportunity to meet James and Vicki Orr, who started an endowment for uterine cancer research with SGO. Vicki's mother was treated at UAMS for uterine cancer years ago, and so we really wanted a chance to talk to them. Turns out so did everyone else at the fundraiser, but we waited patiently and had a moment to slip in and say hello. It was very cool to connect with some important and really nice folks from Arkansas!
Monday morning, my dear friend Ashley picked me up from our hotel and drove us to the bayfront for a stroller walk with her sweet 8 week old. Then, we had doughnuts and coffee. A perfect outing!
It was so precious to see her as a mama with her babe and catch up on the huge way that becoming a mother changes everything (for both of us, actually! We have not seen each other since before James was born.). Ashley's husband, Garrett, was in Stuart's med school class, and they were some of our dearest friends in Little Rock. They're in Tampa now as Garrett works on his dermatology residency. We had a really sweet time of catching up.
Monday afternoon, Stuart skipped out on a few sessions and we took a nap (turns out that schmoozing around all day and night is exhausting for a young doctor, especially if you started out post-call). We figured Monday night would be pretty low key since there wasn't a specific planned event for the evening. I met Stuart near the convention center after the conference sessions wrapped up, and we were deciding what to do about dinner with some of his residents and fellows. Of course, an attending jumped in to save the evening again. He took us with him to crash another alumni dinner that was going on that night - a combination dinner for WashU and OSU. Later in the evening, some folks from Duke joined the party, and then some folks from UAB, and then the President of SGO and her posse walked in! By this time we had met most everyone, so it was fun to touch base and network a little more (networking is so hard and uncomfortable for me, but this evening was more fun and relaxed since we had met everyone). We figured we would just go for a few minutes, and then go get dinner on our own. We ended up staying all night, and actually got to bed the latest the entire weekend!
We slept in on Tuesday and ordered room service for breakfast (so fun)! Stuart went to the conference for the last session, then we took a shuttle back to the airport and flew home! As you can tell, most of the action took place during the evenings (and into late night). Sounds like Stuart spent most of the day listening to research presentations, and drinking coffee in between sessions with all the folks we met throughout the weekend (both of which, of course, he loved). Some of those sessions actually included research that Stuart worked on, and a few of them he was first author (I'll brag, even though he won't). He had four abstracts at this conference, and I am so proud of him!
There's one detail that I didn't mention about this trip, though I'm sure you gathered from all that we did while in Tampa: James stayed behind in NC with my parents! For five days and four nights, I didn't get to see or snuggle or kiss or pray with my baby and it made my heart ache! It was so sweet to come home to him. James, of course, had a great time at my parents' house, playing with my dad and looking at the dogs (two of his favorite activities in life right now). It sort of seemed like he didn't realize we were gone until we got home. So, I'm glad he wasn't as sad as I was ;) It turned out to be a really great weekend, and I'm so thankful that I had some time to be an adult and stand by Stuart's side during such an important event for him - as his wife, not as a mama - and I would very happily do it again. However, I was very happy to see my baby boy and be home!
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