The 80s

"Cava?" B said to me when I walked into her office.

Yea yea sure but I have to go to this panel I said back.

Yesterday was pretty great. Got to see my bestie who moved to Philly like a dumb ass. Thankfully before he left, he took me to his church which I continue to attend, got baptized at, and will probably get married by my pastor. That was a pretty sweet parting gift.

I also got to see the girl I like. She looked really cute. I had to be on my P's and Q's since she was wearing this low cut shirt. Nevertheless, it was nice to see her.

And then B. Well first there was Deb Deb.
We had curriculum committee meeting and my faculty advisor Terry wanted me to present our report. That was interesting. One misunderstanding was ok but when the pharmacology faculty got pissed that I suggested that we not move Autonomic Pharmacology from the course its in to the course I was evaluating. It got real. I'll be honest, I wanted Terry to save me. And I probably said his name like 5 times. He was all "you got this" and it turned out fine but they came for me.
What's the reasoning?
It belongs in that course.
That's a pretty harsh recommendation. Where's the open-mindedness?

And you know what my argument was? The difficulty of the material isn't going to change because you move it from one course to another. We already recommended to move it within the course its currently in to give students more time to study the material. How about you actually try that and do some faculty development with those teaching that material?

I gave that recommendation last meeting. See, that's the nice thing about the way I work. I will have evaluated an entire year's worth of medical school curriculum by the end of the year. Terry and I have surgery, OB, and internal medicine clerkships to evaluate to the tune of 32 weeks of medical school curriculum in addition to the fact that I evaluated OS 1, 2, and 3 which is 6 weeks short of the first semester of 2nd year. I know these courses. Don't come for me!

Nevertheless, at that point everyone wanted to start addressing me as "Dr." I thought that was funny too. So you mad and now its no longer my first name and we're going formal? See that's why I call the folks I like by their first name. If I like you, you get a nickname or first name.

That was quite the fiery discussion but I held my ground. I honestly felt like Terry was making this into a mini surgical grand rounds situation but its cool. I like him...thus Terry.

Then I went and hung out with B. Always a good time. I always learn something. I pulled the images for these two research projects while she got hammered by the ER. I stayed until about 11. When I got ready to leave she said to me "You're perfect. Thank you so much."

You know....if you'd told me I'd have this again, this kind of working relationship with a faculty member I wouldn't have believed you. Isn't God amazing? To think that Leks actually introduced me to the person who would end up being the way I got over is nothing short of God.

I still don't know where that situation with her will go. She wrote me a letter for an away rotation but I haven't been able to talk to her. Really talk to her. I gotta figure out a way to get that done.

But I love that I'm here. I love that even though I know I'm not perfect, I know B wants me around. She does a lot of things that make me feel safe in a mentoring relationship again and that's invaluable. Honestly same thing is true for Terry. Do you know that I asked him if he'd write me a letter for residency and he said "You know I'd be offended if you hadn't asked me."
Where did B and Terry come from?
I'll tell you.
Howard University College of Medicine Class of '83.
That's where.

PS. Terry doesn't really want me to leave because he's worried I won't come back. I told him that when Deb Deb calls and asks me to be her Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, I'll be on the next thing smoking back to HUCM.
And I meant that.