Looking Forward

Nik was in Seattle for four weeks in September and October.  Let me tell you that I am one spoiled women.  That was the longest time that we have been apart since we were freshmen in college. And I think that it was the longest month of my life.   Nik does so much for me in our day to day life, it is the little things you know? Like making coffee and kissing boys goodnight that I am so used to having a partner in crime for that felt wrong without him. I am so thankful for having Grandma Carol here... if she hadn't been here we would have been a huge mess.  

While Nik was in Seattle, he was working in the anesthesia department at Virginia Mason Hospital.  He really enjoyed his time in Seattle and took full advantage of all of the wonderful things the city of Seattle has to offer.  Mostly though, he enjoyed getting to know a new hospital system and started the process that will consume our next few months.... thinking about residency.  

I don't know if I have explained this in the past so just ignore me if I have.  Nik will graduate this coming May from Medical School... I will officially have a doctor on my hands in about 6 months.  After graduation, the medical school students transition into residencies.  In medical school, they learn all of the facts they need to be a physician, in residency they learn how to do procedures, they learn more facts, and they learn how to be good doctors in the field of medicine that they have chosen to work in.  Nik has chosen to go into anesthesia, anesthesia is at least a four year residency (Nik will probably do a fellowship after his four years so it will probably be a 5 year process for us).

The process of ending up in a residency program is complicated and crazy... this is how I understand it.  In September, Nik applied to 25 anesthesia programs all over the country.  We combined location with the type of program to determine which programs were on that list.  Then the residency programs ask for people to come and interview.  Once all of the interviews are over, the medical student ranks them from the program they would most like to go to, to the program that they would least like to go to.  The residency programs rank the students from their first choice to their last.  Then the residency programs and students are "matched"  so if your number one program ranked you number one then that is where you will go.  BUT if your number one program didn't rank you number one then they go to your number two program and see if that program "matched" you high. On March 21, 2014, we will go to a "match party" and find out where we are going.   It boils down to this, the medial student has a little control over where they go, if they don't like a program you put it low on your list, but there is the unknown variable of the programs, they have to like the student.


Right now we are in the interview stage.  Nik interviewed at the program in Seattle.  He has also interviewed at the programs at the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  So far, there are things about each of the programs that he has been to that he really likes.  He 2 more interviews coming up in November and a whole bunch in December and January.
























This means a busy and thoughtful next few months for us.  Deciding on the order to rank the residencies is going to be a huge decision, we will be weighing many options to determine where we will move our family to for the next four years.  Things like the quality of the program, their on-call schedule, the quality of the public schools in the area, the job opportunities for me, the cost of living in the area, and the "livability" of the area. There is so much to consider.  So, if we are grumpy, unavailable, or distracted, please forgive us.We will keep you posted!