Our Plan of Attack

I think people wonder what we are doing. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing. Like is Ryan a resident or a medical student or what? So, this post is just to clarify and vivdly express my undying love and support to my husband- I mean look what he has put me through :) And, for my records. (it's boring)


PART 1: THE PART I KNOW
Ryan went to BYU and then finished at UCSD in San Diego (the La Jolla school, not to be confused with San Diego State.) He finished up in MicroBiology. We had just had Tanner and were in process of applying to medical schools. Ryan did okay on his MCAT (pre-entrance exam). Yet we just didn't know how competitive medical school was. We were jaded. Most things have come easy for Ryan. We thought he would get in. He tests very well. But, not well enough and we got wait listed and options for podiatry programs and DO schools and if "you go here for our Master of Public Health program, we will possibly take you into our MD program" offers. All good options, but not where Ryan's interests or timeline were. Also, we had application issues. One professors car was broken into and Ryan's application was stolen from his car and then 9/11 happened and mail was stalled. We just did not have things going in our direction. We missed deadlines.


So, Ryan started researching Foreign Medical School options. He went to some open houses. He talked to doctors. I networked and had a poignant experience. Tanner was born with a minor heart defect and was under the care of a TOP pediatric cardiologist. I took Tanner in for a follow up exam and the Doctor Fellow (in his specialty training) who saw Tanner and worked under this top cardiologist was a graduate of St. Georges University (the Grenada Caribbean school). It is a very clear memory to me, here was someone in a competitive specialty and a foreign graduate. From that point on I was supportive of whatever decision Ryan made. And so he decided on St. George's University. There was no delay- we got accepted and moved.

We lived on 2 islands in the Caribbean. That is a post in itself. The program works you there for 2 years and then integrates you into the states for the last 2 years of medical school, known as the Clinical Training portion. That was how we ended up in Bakersfield California. He took the same board exams as US Medical Students took and went through the same application process for residency. We ended up here at University of Louisville for his internal medicine residency- actually his first choice.

Ryan's currently a second year resident. He has about 18 months to go until he will be a board certified doctor. His residency will total 3 years. He could possibly stop training and just work as internist (doctor for 18 and up) at a hospital or practice or something. More likely a hospital. He doesn't like clinic work. But it is never that easy. He wants to specialize (ie- get a fellowship)


PART 2: THE PART I DON'T KNOW
We signed with the Air Force this past January. There salary contracts for doctors are quite competitive. There were several reasons why we did this. As a foreign grad when Ryan applies for a competitive specialty spot he will not be as competitive as a "stateside" applicant. We knew he might have to sit out a year or 2 to get that Allergy spot or GI spot and inside the Air Force the game is not played like that. He will most likely get into a specialty spot faster. Hopefully. We also needed the financial assistance they could give us now and a commitment with them did not scare us. Ryan could possibly get deployed and we can't control that. But it seemed to be a fit for us. We are just getting ready to put a placement request in for where we would like to be stationed- maybe Italy or Germany. I like adventure you know? (not really) When specializing within the Air Force they pay at least 3 times as much as compared to the non-military route. We will owe them more time but, there is compensation in pay. So where we go next and what Ryan settles his specialty on is still up in the air.

That's the plan. 4 years of undergrad. 4 years of medical school. 3 years of residency. 3 more years for fellowship. Possibly 6 military years. Almost 10 years of training down and 4 more until he is working as the doctor he wants to be.

And yet what stay at home Mom could really complain about seeing the world while her husband persues his passion? I would say I have had it almost perfect. Okay, minus the colicky babies. And moving is a pain. And poverty isn't fun either, but the Caribbean put that into perspective for me. But still, doesn't Europe sound fun while our kids are young? Okay, even Texas ;) we could go there too.