Medpundit (aka Dr. Sydney Smith) has bid farewell to her blog. 500,000 visits in, she realized that she couldn't keep up with the frequency and quality while taking on additional work responsibilities and spending more time with family. Go back to her first post way back in March 2002 here on the problems Europeans were finding with herbal medicines.

Medpundit is considered the matriarch of the healthcare blogosphere. 4+ years of blogging, a few posts per week - tha's probably close to 1,000 posts. What dedication. What insight. Even though I've never met her, I feel like one of my most respected and beloved neighbors is moving away. Syd, we will miss you.

I think just about every healthcare blogger feels a loss today, but we are also happy for her. Also, if we're honest, at least for a second, we considered whether we should call it a bloggin-day as well. For me, the last 15 months of blogging has felt like a lifetime (in a good way). And yet, we know that we haven't even scratched the surface of the many things we could blog about.

New baby on the way. Moved from the city to the suburbs. Starting a new job in 3 weeks. and now Medpundit signing off the blogosphere. This is just too much!

Check out this week's grand rounds for more thoughts on Medpundit's last post as well as the good-bye party.