It's Official!

If you will notice the sentence near the bottom...

I PASSED!  What a HUGE weight off of my shoulders.  It feels so good to have yet another exam under my belt.  This one just happens to be one of the biggest I have ever taken. :) Unfortunately, I still have the Certifying Exam left to take, which is an oral exam.  I have signed up to take this in March of 2014 in New Orleans.  You would know, of all years, it is not offered in Dallas!  BUT, after that one, I will be an official board certified General Surgeon, finally!

I did have some drama leading up to the good news...
After picking Maddie up from daycare, I got home and noted that I had missed a text message from one of the transplant fellows I know at work.  Turns out she had heard through the grapevine that results were already posted (3 weeks early!)  What?  I had not prepared myself for this.  I was tachycardic, near diaphoretic, and even light-headed.  I NEVER get like this...not even when I was 40 weeks pregnant in a long case.  To make matters worse, I forgot my login password, so I had to wait for a new one to be sent to me...longest 35 minutes of waiting ever.  I would have waited longer, too, had it not been for Robert thinking to check my junk mail for the email!  I was convinced by this point that this was an omen.  Thankfully, after I had my new password, I was greeted with the above message.  A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and years (many, many years) went into achieving that pass...so grateful to have it behind me.   

I am so thankful to my family for the years of unconditional love and support, I hope they know that this "PASS" is their achievement as well. 

 

Here is Maddie after hearing the good news!  She doesn't know what she is smiling for, but she is smiling because her mama is grinning from ear to ear at this point! ;)  Yes, this girl is never out of mind, even on test day, I used my lunch break to "make her dinner"...and I wouldn't have it any other way.  This girl is my world.  All that I do, I do for her now.

Oooh, and yet another perk to passing...flowers!  They are the prettiest ones I have ever seen!  Love them...and love you, my sweet mama and daddy.

These flowers weigh more than baby girl...but her smile is bigger!  I think girlfriend likes roses like her mama does. ;)