SURGICAL REUNION MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

 Dear Family,

One purpose of the trip was to attend a surgical reunion at the MGH.  I had never been there before and it was time to visit old friends.  We flew back on Friday night and took a cab to the hotel.  The cabby took the long way around and through traffic in the middle of Boston and yes it was like old times.

 We stayed at the "Liberty Hotel" which was the old Charles Street Jail built in the early 1800's.  Here is a picture of Mom in front of the Jail Hotel.  It was strange because it was still a jail when I was there.  We used to send drunks over there from the MGH ER.

The reception was there on Friday evening.  We went to register and this gray haired lady comes up and gives me a big hug, "Dr. Wirthlin, we are so glad you came; you are a legend!"  It was apparently one of the nurses I had worked with years ago.  It felt so good to be back among friends and men whom I had also trained, who have since all become pretty big names in American surgery..

 Here is a picture of me and Hardy Hendren, who is still a legend there.  He was professor of pediatric surgery and one of my great teachers.  He took me to Africa with his scrub nurse when I was his resident.  We went to Malawi and did surgery for about six weeks and that was the adventure of a lifetime.  We chatted about our experience there recalling some of the more difficult surgeries.  I reminded him of time he tried to shoot a 'dik dik' with a 30-06 rifle with a shortened stock.  He really cut his eyebrow down to the bone and I helped stitch him up.  In a recent talk to the Brookline Country Club, he talked about the African experience and showed a picture of our last Xmas card at the 50th reunion and it brought a gasp from the audience.

Here is part of the surgical intern group of '62.  There is George May with home I used to go pheasant hunting.  There is Mike Margolies who married one of the nurses and is still married to her.  It was fun to talk with them both.  Mike was a big hard bench biochemistry esearcher at the MGH.  We saw so many friends including John Wesley who ecame Professor of Pediatric surgery.  He is  a direct descendant of John Wesley the Reformer.  His son met a returned sister missionary, joined or church and was married in the temple.  John visit them and goes to church with them.  John was very helpful in getting Doug mitted to University of  Michigan medical school.  Just a great friend!

I was standing in the lunch line and over heard the person behind me ask his neighbor the date of his marriage and he wondered, "Which one?".  There were a lot of marriage casualties to academic surgery in that group.  We ran into one of the successful ones in Mel and Jodie Platt.  He was chief of the East when I was chief of the West surgical services at the MGH.  We chatted and chatted and went to Legal Seafood for a great Boston seafood meal.  Mel is still operating in Dallas.

We had a day of meetings on Saturday and they even quoted something funny I had said years ago.  The presentations were interesting.  We ditched the meetings and took the MTA over to Harvard Square.  Everything was so different.  There was a clambake in the evening and we got our fill of lobsters and steamed clams.

It was so great to see old friends and colleagues after so many years and relive the days of the surgical trenches and battles at the best Hospital

Alles Gute, Dr. Opa amd Oma