The sacrifices we make for medicine

“It won’t be the last sacrifice you make for medicine.”

These were the words my surgical intern said between yawns as I expressed regret at having to miss a distant cousin’s wedding. The digital wall-clock read a blurry 3:15 a.m. as we sat together in the on-call room, the coffeemaker dripping black gold into the pot.

She had three pagers affixed to her scrub pants which would beep intermittently in turn, signaling anything …

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