I left work early today and told the intern to call me if anything came up. So when he called later in the afternoon, I figured it was a new consult or maybe an update on one of our patients.

Me: What's up?

He: When the vascular intern signed out to me, he told me that the vascular fellow died today.

Me: What?

He: Greg, the fellow, he felt sick this morning, so he went home and he died.

I don't know the details, but apparently that's basically what happened. I worked with him for about a week and half last month at the end of my VA vascular rotation after he took over for CJ. He was a good guy - smart, hard-working. I remember CJ telling me that Greg had lost two of his grandparents in the past year (and I'd heard he lost a third right after I rotated off the service) so he was obviously going through a lot in his personal life, but it seemed like he would get through it and be ok.

It's all so fleeting. And we invest so much. Only a mist, Lord willing. Only a mist.