Concluding Thoughts
When an outsider steps into the corridors of a surgical pathology unit, it will seem as if things are perfectly calm. Secretaries tap at their keyboards. People gather around microscopes, laboratory assistants drift by with slide trays, phones might ring. The visitor is oblivious to the wavelength of the department, which operates in an invisible part of the spectrum, and would never sense the turmoil because a huge part of the action is silent. Slides do not make a noise but, in their hundreds, scream to be read. If, after all of these years on the job, there is anything that I would like to have back, it is the Time that we once had to go patiently into our cases and to mine our specimens, gross and microscopic, for the tantalizing clues that they constantly manage to keep slightly out of view. Make no mistake, the Internet is wonderful and allows us to scoop up huge gobs of information at a keystroke and in seconds. But what a far cry from the graceful world inhabited by Nadler, to whom I referred in the introduction. Still, pathologists all over this country are doing their best to ensure good patient care, even as the pace of their work has greatly intensified. Neutral advocates for the sick, surgical pathologists are mindful of the pain that daily crosses their desks and against which they must defend themselves, often with intermittent doses of humor. We know that you’re out there. Do you know that we are here, for you?