NASHVILLE, TN – First-year infectious diseases fellow Lena Burke burst into tears of joy when in the rarest of occurrences – certainly the first time it happened for her since starting on July 1st – a hospitalist called her in a non-urgent consult at some hour that wasn’t after 5 PM. In fact, it was called at 8:30 AM in the morning.
“As a first-year fellow in any subspecialty, you very quickly lose track of time, I know I did,” Burke said, blotting tears form the corners of both eyes. “July broke me down, all the consults seemed to be called to me between 5 PM and 6 AM. So you can imagine why I became so overjoyed when I looked at my watch and it was 8:45 in the morning. It was just so… so… reasonable.”
The hospitalist who made the call was Daniel Kim.
“She started sniffling, evidently crying towards the end of the call – I’m guessing that’s when she realized it was still early in the morning – and I asked her if everything was okay,” Kim explained. “All she kept saying was thank you, thank you, thank you for making my day.” When Kim added that it could wait until tomorrow if she was slammed – it was a non-urgent consult regarding antibiotic management after all – that’s when Burke’s whimpering escalated into an all-out hysterical howl. Of joy, of course.
“I’m going to cherish this moment forever,” Burke replied, her before-noon-consult virginity now taken.
