After a discussion with OR RN Carroll Souza, in about 1995, I decided that if I continued to collect the caps, they would represent a metric of the productivity of my career and that, when I retired, I should celebrate the people I worked with by engaging them in a cap quantity guessing contest with prizes for them.

Since 1995, just after I started at Sutter.  First just from the main OR. By 2005 I started also collecting them from surgery centers.  For roughly the last 15 years I have been collecting them everywhere I anesthetize patients, including on Labor and Delivery.  I stopped collecting them on July 31st, 2026.

No.  I refused to accept vial caps from others.  Every vial cap I have collected I removed personally.

No.  The winner is the one with the closest guess numerically, not ‘the closest without going over.’

Anyone who trained or worked with me at any time in a medical setting enough that we spoke or encountered one another.  This includes doctors, nurses, PAs, Techs, EVS, Dietary, Engineering, Ward Clerks.  It also includes everyone who ever worked at the CASE Medical Group office.

You must first make a cap count guess and then leave an earnest comment at least 3 sentences in length.  Winners will be selected randomly from those who leave earnest 3+ sentence comments.  CASE Med Group office employees and folks who have worked with me for >15 years will each also be entered into separate sweepstakes just for them.

That’s OK.  Go ahead and fill out the guessing form a second time, this time proceeding to leave a comment.  Either enter the same number you used the first time for your cap count guess or know that I’ll accept the comment but will only use the guess you entered initially for the contest guess.

I retire on October 15th, but I’ll let folks continue to guess through October 30th.

Liquid medications I administered to patients frequently came supplied in round, glass vials with a plastic circular cap over an elastomeric septum that needed removed before putting a needle through the septum to draw up the medication with a syringe to give to the patient.  I’ve collected the plastic caps from these vials.

Yes, I counted them twice to be sure I was accurate. Transcontinental flights were my favorite time to do the first count, one batch at a time.  For the second count I put them on my kitchen table in a grid to verify the accuracy of the initial batch count before putting them in the bottles.

Winners will be posted on the Winners Page on this site sometime in Early November and will also receive an email containing a link to their prize.

It turns out there is a market to the arts community for the caps.  If you want them that you might check for them soon on Etsy. 🤣

Thank you for thinking so.  No, I’m retiring at about the average age for an anesthesiologist and I’m excited to move onto my next chapter.  I’m looking forward to so making the most of my retirement!

There is so much…Time with my wife & family, Get to the pool/gym regularly, Compete in Masters Swimming, Improve my Tennis game, Learn Pickleball, Bible Study, Resume playing piano, Take up Guitar, Take classes including music theory, Travel, Learn to Cook, Get old photos scanned in, Serve on my HOA Board, Learn Spanish, Clean my garage.