Tom took over the last post
for me, and it’s a good thing he did, or there would have been at minimum a
full two months in between posts!
Sorry for my absence. It’s been a crazy time. I went from
working nights, to the “swing shift” to my gyn onc rotation which had me
occupied to say the least. This hilarious photo (at least I think it is) of Adler sums up what I felt like for some of the past two months.
But in all honesty, I only felt that way because my rotation was sort of another "audition" like when I was a sub-intern in my fourth year of medical school at UW when I did a gyn-onc rotation. I wanted to put myself into motion as if it was the only thing that mattered in life, just for six weeks, for multiple reasons: 1. to try the career on for size, 2. to show the department I was interested and willing to work, and 3. because, let's be honest, I'm a little bit crazy sometimes when it comes to work.
So, I dove in head first to the rotation and it settled my ideas about it. I dealt with loss of life and love on the rotation which breaks my heart, but more so that heartbreak, I feel motivated to be that provider for people. I want to be the one that can help carry a person and/or her family through a diagnosis that is devastating. Not many people want to do that, and for some reason, when I'm navigating the waters with patients, it feels like it's what I'm supposed to be doing. I want to bring an element of realism to the situation, not to smash hopes but to keep a perspective on time that people have left, and for them to be able to maximize that time with no regrets. We all can get taken away from our lives as we know it sooner than expected, and Tom and I know that all too well on a personal level with the passing of his parents. So, if I can help people make that transition a little less shocking and a little more tolerable, that would be an amazing career.
Whew...a lot of words. Pausing here for a cute Addie pic:
Beyond all of that up above, I really do love the surgery within the field of gyn-oncology. I want to train to be a great surgeon, one of the people that gets called into the room because someone else got in too deep (literally and figuratively) and needs help from someone else. It's a lot of weight to bear, but it's also exciting and a challenge I am hoping to get the chance to tackle.
Pause again for another Addie cute interuption:
So what does that mean? It means, another round of "the match" that I went through to get into residency. Starting in the summer of 2019 (eep, that's close!) I will begin interviewing (fingers crossed) for programs. There are only about 50+ programs in the country that only offer one slot to a fellow. There are upwards of a thousand or so applicants for those spots. So....the odds aren't great.
Addie stress break from that thought:
So I've got my work cut out for me, and let me tell you I wasn't feeling like I was up to the challenge prior to December 15th. I was feeling run down, beat up and thinking to myself that I wanted to coast into graduation and "how can I possible gear up for more intense work when all I want to do is ride downhill?". So what happened December 15th? Well, only the best vacation I've had in YEARS.
But, before we get to that, let me recap some other very very good times in between the madness. We had a lovely cabin weekend over Veteren's Day with our RI/Mass family (Chi, Karen, and Ali).
It was our first blustery winter-like trip so we got to bust out the puffy coat and beanie!
It's a good thing we brought it
We took our kiddos on a hike in the 20 degree weather and learned that hand warmers would have been a good plan (turns out that a 2 year old and a 10 month old can get kind of cold...)
Addie got several opportunities to see all kinds of animals this month.
And Tom now gets to sport some new Hawks gear for the playoffs, also thanks to Grantie Ann.
Before the vacation we snuck in a holiday Christmas party.
For those of you who missed it on Facebook, our lives have changed just slightly
since the previous year’s party hosted by one of the attending physicians at
the hospital:
Now, on to that vacation I was talking about earlier. We joined the family for an AMAZING trip to Grand Cayman Island for 10 glorious days over Christmas. Adler started out with amazing fun by getting to great some dogs at the Providence Airport before we took off:
Once on board it finally hit us--we were in for an incredible escape from reality
Adler is getting good at airplane travel (which is a good thing because in March she'll be making a much LONGER journey with us to Hawaii for a gyn-onc conference)
When we first
arrived, it was like a Christmas miracle to watch us fit all 6 adults (Tom x2,
Nancy, Kristi, Deanna, and Katie in addition to Lawson and Adler) into a single
vehicle with all of our many, many suitcases.
But we made it work and we got there in one piece as a group.
And once we did, we stocked up at the grocery store and were
set to rest, relax, and enjoy for the duration of the trip.
We ate two meals out while we were there, but the rest of the
time we ate exclusively at the condo unit. We were happy as clams. And, in fact,
that might be one of the only things we didn’t
eat while we were there đŸ˜‰
We spent our first day touring the island by car, then settled in for the remainder of the trip.
It was truly a vacation where I can call it true R&R. We
got up each morning when Adler got up (sometime between 6-7 AM) and ate a group
breakfast, and our toughest decisions were whether or not to go to the pool, to
the beach, or sit on our lovely patio and play cards together while overlooking
the ocean.
I read a book for fun,
not for learning, or assignments, or teaching, just for pure enjoyment. I slept
more than I have in a long time (and not because we don’t have a good baby,
because we do!).
We are so incredibly grateful to have had the time together
as a family.
So many fun memories for us all!
When we did get home to Rhode Island, it was back to daycare (also known as "school" in our house) so that mom and dad could get back to doing some work. As soon as she got there the first thing she did was reach out and hug baby Jake, one of the two residency babies that share the infant room with her (baby Jack is also in the photo, covered up by Adler's big head).
One more HUGE event in our lives that popped up this month. Tom got accepted to Georgetown Law School for an LLM in financial crime. This is like a sub-specialty degree within the field of law, sort of like how I'm pursuing a fellowship in gyn-onc. So, he'll be a Hoya, working and completely course work part time at Georgetown. I'm consistently impressed and inspired by Tom and his hard work. Not only did he get accepted to this prestigious program, he also earned a new job title -- but only while also gaining a second interview for a different job, and he's waiting to accept the first new job title until he finishes the interviews for the second. This man is employable, and a huge asset to his employer. John had always wanted to go to Georgetown and I know if he were still with us, he wouldn't let anyone in the grocery store or on the street go by with out telling them about how proud he is of Tom's accomplishment.
Suffice it to say, we're busy, we're happy, and life is constantly changing for us. Merriest of Christmases to you all!
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