Im Advent
Our End-of-Year Letter - unser Weihnachtsbrief
Nature's metamorphosis is always astounding here in Wisconsin. A few weeks ago Indian Summer colors stun us and today, on the 2nd Advent, everything is snow white. Our outdoor thermometer shows - 22º C; except for the soft whistling of the wind, it is quiet outside. In our house it is nice and cozy and warm. Heidi "plays" Advent music - so there is the right atmosphere to wish our friends a Merry Christmas and all the best for 1996.
We knew that 1995 was going to be an exciting year, but it never occurred to us that it was going to be even more eventful. Christmas 1994 was probably our last family celebration together with the children, and we, i.e., Annemarei, without her Barrett, Mark with his two beloved wives, Lisa and Fritzi, and of course Heidi and Dietmar enjoyed the holidays with all their hearts.
In early January, while Anna flew back to Washington to join Barrett, we were able to take Mark and his family to the warmth of Florida, where the Eastern Association for Surgery of Trauma (EAST) meets annually. It was wonderfully warm on the Gulf of Mexico on Sanibel, near Fort Meyers. The alligators basked in the sun near the island trail.
For the sake of justice, Annemarei and Barrett joined us at the end of February. to attend the Western Association for Surgery of Trauma (WEST) annual meeting. These meetings, EAST and WEST, are all compulsory exercises for Dietmar! - but fortunately well organized and connected with a lot of quality-of-life events. WEST met near Yellowstone Park, in Big Sky, a ski area in Montana that leaves little to be desired: 4000 m high, fresh powder snow every day, no waiting at the numerous lifts.
We also hiked through the snow-covered landscape of the Yellowstone River Valey and saw many buffalo in the wild. Buffalos are huge Animals! Then, as a herd of buffalo began to cross the icy water toward our shore, some members of our research team felt queasy in their stomachs, because the only escape route was wide prairie - too wide to esquape a running buffalo herd. Luckily the herd stopped on an island, and we were able to start our way home with a sigh of relief.
The next exciting moment in 1995 was Mark and Lisa's "Matching Day" on March 15th. This is the day all residency positions in the US will be awarded by computer. Lisa wanted a position in pediatrics, Mark in surgery. Both had visited many clinics from December to February to introduce themselves. The central computer then "matched" the preferences of the applicants with those of the training programs. We knew the couple match would be difficult. The first result was then also for Lisa and Mark: NO MATCH, because the wishes of the couple and those of the programs could not be reconciled. Both would not have had a place for further training after their license to practice medicine and now had to actively continue to negotiate themselves.
We followed all this from Bermuda where, in the most beautiful sunshine and spring air, we attended a meeting chaired by Dietmar. Annemarei and Barrett were also invited because Anna had a poster presentation to give. The phone lines between Bermuda and Milwaukee ran hot, the tension grew. Every day new combinations were shared by Mark and Lisa and finally the super end result came up: both were placed in Denver.
Both the surgical and pediatric programs in Denver are among the best in the country, and it was now time to prepare everything for the move to Denver, where both should take up their new positions at the end of June. In between, however, was the "graduation" to become a Doctor of Medicine on the 15th. and the wedding on May 27. Their honeymoon then became the road trip from Milwaukee to Denver - about 1600 km. Many of you were there at the beautiful wedding and we don't need to report any further here.
Spring 1995 was no less exciting for Annemarei and Barrett. Both had applied to various medical schools and law schools, but of course wanted to find good places to study in the same place. Luckily, Annemarei's certificates and interview results were so good that she was able to choose from several universities. However, they didn't quite end up in the same place. Barrett is now studying law at the University of Maryland at Baltimore and Anna mrdicine at medical school at the University of Pennsylvania at Hershey; both cities are about 2 hours’ drive from each other and so the two see each other on the weekends.
Annemarei is enthusiastic about her studies, where she learns all theoretical data patient-related right from the start. She is presented with real cases, must diagnose, and treat them (theoretically) and pull the information from textbooks and individual publications that are computer accessible through databases such as Medline. I'm often her consultant (adviser), and that's fun. Just as I am writing this, she calls and we hear the latest on the genes associated with colon cancer, the absorption of the four different dietary components in the different parts of the intestine, and the difference between prevalence and incidence. This is called PBL = Problem-Based Learning.
The year 1995 not only brought good things and all of us, but especially Heidi, had to go through a very sad experience. Heidi's beloved father Emil died of malt lymphoma. Although we were confident after the diagnosis at the beginning of the year - these lymphomas can be cured with chemotherapy - he was already plagued by the recurrence in May. On the day after Mark's wedding, Heidi was able to spend two weeks with her parents in Hamburg and be with her father. The inevitable then happened on July 24th. Emil believed to the last that he would make it and, in the week before his death, wrote the last "Cuddl Dutt" story for the newspaper column he had authored for many years. Although he had wished for a simple burial in a small circle of family and friends, the sympathy was very great and there were many loving obituaries and comforting personal letters and he was buried in the Scholl Foundation cemetery of honor. Emil was a great man and loved by all of us. He became an idol for what he had done, maybe because he loved people so much.
After Heidi had returned from Hamburg at the end of August, she quickly had to change her mind, since we flew to Portugal for the congress of the International Society for Surgery just 8 days later, then to Paris and Danzig. Dietmar had several lecture engagements in these places and Heidi was able to look after her mother again in Hamburg, who was accepting a new phase of life and coping well with everyday situations.
In November, we visited the two newly qualified Doctor of Medicine in Denver to celebrate for the most important American holiday - thanksgiving. Mark and Lisa live in their small house in Denver. Denver is 1600 m above sea level, at the foot of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Even in November it was warm like summer, and you could walk in the park in your shirt, which we did a lot with our granddaughter Fritzi. Mark and Lisa work hard - night shift every 3rd night - so Mark works an average of 108 hours a week and which means enough time to learn surgery properly in 5 to 6 years. Lisa works no less. Luckily, they found 20-year-old Victoria as a nanny and a small playgroup for the afternoons.
After the beautiful Thanksgiving, Dietmar flew to Graz. And here is the other surprise of 1995. In May, the Graz surgeons asked Dietmar to apply to succeed him as professor and chairman of the department of surgery. Although we are very satisfied and happy here in Milwaukee and had previously planned our future differently, Dietmar could not escape the "call" and sees himself challenged to pass on his experience to German-speaking surgeons. The fact that this is connected with surgical research in the field of genetics, as Dietmar knows from his current environment, did shock the Graz surgeons a bit. Nevertheless, the hearing in Graz went well, but the final word rests with the Minister for Research and Education, who appoints the professor.
So the tension will remain for a while. On this occasion, Dietmar rediscovered dear relatives, Brigitte and Günther Moik, in Graz. Dietmar's grandfather comes from Styria.
That should be enough for this year.
Dear friends, we hope to see many of you next year either in Europe or here for Annemareis wedding.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a healthy, peaceful year 1996
Dietmar und Heidi