It has been ONE WHOLE YEAR since Match Day 2011. This is incredible to me. It feels like both a day and a decade ago Brad and I hovered over that little letter and stared at each other in (unfounded) shock after reading "Johns Hopkins- Pediatrics".
Reflecting on it now there is actually some nice symmetry or similarity to the oddness of how the match results are presented, on a single white piece of paper folded into thirds so you have to clamor for the result with the text laid bare in the center with no cushion or introductory information, and how bar exam results are presented, online in a small chart with your ID number and in tiny subscript at the bottom of the chart "your name appears on the pass list". Small simple presentation of a few words that have a profound and massive impact.
Tangential musings aside, it has been a rough and tumble journey since Brad matched at Hopkins. Our first move was to visit Baltimore and consider buying a place near the hospital. Yes, indeed, Brad and I visited Baltimore in April of 2011 and in one weekend found and made an offer on a place to call our own. We looked at about 15-20 places over the weekend and the place we chose in Canton was the clear favorite. You can check out some info on Baltimore neighborhoods here: http://www.livebaltimore.com/neighborhoods/
We fell in love with our new old rowhouse. The prior owners were also Hopkins folks. They were selling because the husband was moving on to a fellowship in Florida. This was one of the many early indications we got of the very tight and pervasive, in a good way, relationship in Baltimore between the city and Hopkins. Here, Scrubs are like Uggs in L.A.-- ain't no thing to see people wearing them in every and any situation imaginable.
We prepared for the worst case scenario where Brad would move to Baltimore and I would stay behind for a year, take the MD bar and then relocate if I passed. As I mentioned before, with a big dose of luck and a bit of "quit being a chicken and just tell them/ask for a transfer!" I was able to get a position in our DC office. I moved into Project Finance, which deals with the financing of big projects in a way that limits recourse to one company, the project company (are you already bored?) so that innovative or risky projects, such a solar energy or infrastructure in politically unstable countries, can go through. (Very recently I was asked to switch into our Financial Services group. So now I am working on banking regulations, credit card services and other finance or credit related activities companies desire to do.) The first week of June we packed up our Los Feliz abode and ventured on out to the great unknown, with our heavily sedated cats in tow (they did great on the 6 hour flight but it was sad to see them so out of it).
The little guys don't seem to hold a grudge and have adjusted nicely to east coast living. Here they are out and about in our place (some of you may recognize yourselves in the pics on the table--we miss you and need to look at your faces, lest we forget what you look like)
When we first got to Bmore, we got cooked like crabs. It was about 100 degrees and we didn't have any air conditioning going. I think we probably slept an hour each that first night and I'm not sure who had it worse--me on the blazing wood floor or Brad on the sticky leather couch. Either way, we made it to another day and since getting air conditioning, haven't had any complaint with the house (parking is a whole other issue- don'tgetmestarted)
After the sun came the rain! It poured and poured but you know what, we kinda liked it. Here's a view of the rain from our front door:
BEING A RESIDENT-- on to the good stuff!
Brad started his first year of residency, they call them R1s or interns I believe, in late June. From the get go the rotations have been intense. Brad is nearing the end of his intern year and he has rotated through two rounds in the ER (this is when he has 2-4 weeks of nights!), two rounds through the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit ("the NICU" pronounced "the nick-you"), rounds through a local affiliated catholic hospital that is about a ten minute drive away, rounds through the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit ("the PICU" pronounced, you guessed it "the pick-you"), rounds through a clinical setting of care and rounds in general pediatrics.
From my observations of Brad's general mood and excitement over these different areas I can tell you that ER is not in his future. One main part of this is probably that when he is on ER rotations about half of the time he's on nights and during nights rotations he goes to work at 5-7pm and comes home at 8-10am. I leave for work 6-6:45am and come home 8:00-10:00pm. So we do not see each other, not even for a little hug or high five, during the weeks he's on nights. I think it also that in the ER there isn't the continuity of care that Brad really enjoys.
The large majority of the people Brad has worked with are amazing. They are kind, patient and very smart. He has encountered a couple of people who aren't malicious necessarily (no Dr. Houses) but that lack communication skills, bed side manner as it were. I've been really impressed with how Brad has been able to grow from experiences with difficult or anti-social personalities. He's been true to himself and his personality, which as I am sure many of you know is very level-headed and non-judgemental, and he has been able to open up to those "difficult" people. I've very proud.
AMAZING PATIENT CASES
Brad has the opportunity to work on some really interesting cases. He worked with one kid who is 14 and last year he was struck by lightening, directly in the heart, at his grandmother's funeral, while standing over her grave. !!! The kid is from Indiana but is getting care at Hopkins because it is great with the more bizarre or serious cases. He is recovering pretty well but the next few months are crucial. If he is able to show marked improvement with language and motor functioning that holds real promise for a more complete recovery. In any event, I think it is amazing that he survived considering the lightening strike stopped his heart.
In the delivery room Brad has seen some shocking and tragic births. One baby, a twin, was born with his stomach outside of his body. I guess his stomach didn't form completely so there was a whole where his belly skin should be and the intestines were just kinda out. Brad was handed the baby and (I am not kidding) had to put the intestines/stomach in a separate bag and carry the bag and the baby to the operating room. Remarkably, the baby is totally fine. With some surgery and medicine the baby is on its way to a completely normal life. Wow.
Brad had a really tough day recently where towards the end of his shift a baby was born that unexpectedly was showing signs of severe trauma. The baby was not premature or a high risk case and so it was pretty surprising when he was born not responding and then started seizing. I simply can't imagine the kind of anguish the family was going through. The prospects of survival for the little boy were not good and I know Brad must have felt that reality and the overwhelming sadness of the situation. That is a tough day at the office, especially at then end of a ten or eleven hour shift when he was already worn out and a little raw. I am glad though that the good outcomes seem to outweigh the bad outcomes and most of the time Brad is in high (although tired) spirits when he comes home.
NEW INTERNS
Before we knew it, interview season was upon us and a new crop of hopeful Hopkinsons were making the rounds through the Pediatrics department. I accompanied Brad to a few dinners and shared some of our experiences with the city and with moving across the country. I was surprised by how many couples were like us and making (or at least being willing to make) big moves together.
I was REALLY surprised though when one of the interviewees came and stayed with us for the night before his interview and he recognized us FROM THIS BLOG!!! How awesome is that? Basically, I'm famous.
Here is the interviewee with Brad in our living room.
I'm not sure what his rank list looks like but it would be fabulous if he matched here. He was nice and hilarious--he told a great story about Elvis impersonators that I will never forget. He shared that he had similar impressions to the programs as expressed in this blog. I thought that was pretty fascinating. The residency process is a unique and stressful pilgrimage. I hope that reading our experiences helped out our guest, even if just to commiserate. Look at those guys! Good lookin Docs in my opinion.
And so the year continues on.... I'm not going to lie. It has not been an easy year. In fact, I think it's been the most difficult one so far for me personally. But we have had some really great moments
spent with some really great people
and for now we're still standing, we're still strong.
Good Luck Match Day for all the people who will find out their big life adventure destination tomorrow and to all of their loved ones who are in the midst of their own March Madness I am sure.
Until next time, which hopefully will be sooner than six months from now.
Cheers,
Mrs. McMack
Reflecting on it now there is actually some nice symmetry or similarity to the oddness of how the match results are presented, on a single white piece of paper folded into thirds so you have to clamor for the result with the text laid bare in the center with no cushion or introductory information, and how bar exam results are presented, online in a small chart with your ID number and in tiny subscript at the bottom of the chart "your name appears on the pass list". Small simple presentation of a few words that have a profound and massive impact.
Tangential musings aside, it has been a rough and tumble journey since Brad matched at Hopkins. Our first move was to visit Baltimore and consider buying a place near the hospital. Yes, indeed, Brad and I visited Baltimore in April of 2011 and in one weekend found and made an offer on a place to call our own. We looked at about 15-20 places over the weekend and the place we chose in Canton was the clear favorite. You can check out some info on Baltimore neighborhoods here: http://www.livebaltimore.com/neighborhoods/
We fell in love with our new old rowhouse. The prior owners were also Hopkins folks. They were selling because the husband was moving on to a fellowship in Florida. This was one of the many early indications we got of the very tight and pervasive, in a good way, relationship in Baltimore between the city and Hopkins. Here, Scrubs are like Uggs in L.A.-- ain't no thing to see people wearing them in every and any situation imaginable.
We prepared for the worst case scenario where Brad would move to Baltimore and I would stay behind for a year, take the MD bar and then relocate if I passed. As I mentioned before, with a big dose of luck and a bit of "quit being a chicken and just tell them/ask for a transfer!" I was able to get a position in our DC office. I moved into Project Finance, which deals with the financing of big projects in a way that limits recourse to one company, the project company (are you already bored?) so that innovative or risky projects, such a solar energy or infrastructure in politically unstable countries, can go through. (Very recently I was asked to switch into our Financial Services group. So now I am working on banking regulations, credit card services and other finance or credit related activities companies desire to do.) The first week of June we packed up our Los Feliz abode and ventured on out to the great unknown, with our heavily sedated cats in tow (they did great on the 6 hour flight but it was sad to see them so out of it).
The little guys don't seem to hold a grudge and have adjusted nicely to east coast living. Here they are out and about in our place (some of you may recognize yourselves in the pics on the table--we miss you and need to look at your faces, lest we forget what you look like)
When we first got to Bmore, we got cooked like crabs. It was about 100 degrees and we didn't have any air conditioning going. I think we probably slept an hour each that first night and I'm not sure who had it worse--me on the blazing wood floor or Brad on the sticky leather couch. Either way, we made it to another day and since getting air conditioning, haven't had any complaint with the house (parking is a whole other issue- don'tgetmestarted)
After the sun came the rain! It poured and poured but you know what, we kinda liked it. Here's a view of the rain from our front door:
BEING A RESIDENT-- on to the good stuff!
Brad started his first year of residency, they call them R1s or interns I believe, in late June. From the get go the rotations have been intense. Brad is nearing the end of his intern year and he has rotated through two rounds in the ER (this is when he has 2-4 weeks of nights!), two rounds through the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit ("the NICU" pronounced "the nick-you"), rounds through a local affiliated catholic hospital that is about a ten minute drive away, rounds through the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit ("the PICU" pronounced, you guessed it "the pick-you"), rounds through a clinical setting of care and rounds in general pediatrics.
From my observations of Brad's general mood and excitement over these different areas I can tell you that ER is not in his future. One main part of this is probably that when he is on ER rotations about half of the time he's on nights and during nights rotations he goes to work at 5-7pm and comes home at 8-10am. I leave for work 6-6:45am and come home 8:00-10:00pm. So we do not see each other, not even for a little hug or high five, during the weeks he's on nights. I think it also that in the ER there isn't the continuity of care that Brad really enjoys.
The large majority of the people Brad has worked with are amazing. They are kind, patient and very smart. He has encountered a couple of people who aren't malicious necessarily (no Dr. Houses) but that lack communication skills, bed side manner as it were. I've been really impressed with how Brad has been able to grow from experiences with difficult or anti-social personalities. He's been true to himself and his personality, which as I am sure many of you know is very level-headed and non-judgemental, and he has been able to open up to those "difficult" people. I've very proud.
AMAZING PATIENT CASES
Brad has the opportunity to work on some really interesting cases. He worked with one kid who is 14 and last year he was struck by lightening, directly in the heart, at his grandmother's funeral, while standing over her grave. !!! The kid is from Indiana but is getting care at Hopkins because it is great with the more bizarre or serious cases. He is recovering pretty well but the next few months are crucial. If he is able to show marked improvement with language and motor functioning that holds real promise for a more complete recovery. In any event, I think it is amazing that he survived considering the lightening strike stopped his heart.
In the delivery room Brad has seen some shocking and tragic births. One baby, a twin, was born with his stomach outside of his body. I guess his stomach didn't form completely so there was a whole where his belly skin should be and the intestines were just kinda out. Brad was handed the baby and (I am not kidding) had to put the intestines/stomach in a separate bag and carry the bag and the baby to the operating room. Remarkably, the baby is totally fine. With some surgery and medicine the baby is on its way to a completely normal life. Wow.
Brad had a really tough day recently where towards the end of his shift a baby was born that unexpectedly was showing signs of severe trauma. The baby was not premature or a high risk case and so it was pretty surprising when he was born not responding and then started seizing. I simply can't imagine the kind of anguish the family was going through. The prospects of survival for the little boy were not good and I know Brad must have felt that reality and the overwhelming sadness of the situation. That is a tough day at the office, especially at then end of a ten or eleven hour shift when he was already worn out and a little raw. I am glad though that the good outcomes seem to outweigh the bad outcomes and most of the time Brad is in high (although tired) spirits when he comes home.
NEW INTERNS
Before we knew it, interview season was upon us and a new crop of hopeful Hopkinsons were making the rounds through the Pediatrics department. I accompanied Brad to a few dinners and shared some of our experiences with the city and with moving across the country. I was surprised by how many couples were like us and making (or at least being willing to make) big moves together.
I was REALLY surprised though when one of the interviewees came and stayed with us for the night before his interview and he recognized us FROM THIS BLOG!!! How awesome is that? Basically, I'm famous.
Here is the interviewee with Brad in our living room.
I'm not sure what his rank list looks like but it would be fabulous if he matched here. He was nice and hilarious--he told a great story about Elvis impersonators that I will never forget. He shared that he had similar impressions to the programs as expressed in this blog. I thought that was pretty fascinating. The residency process is a unique and stressful pilgrimage. I hope that reading our experiences helped out our guest, even if just to commiserate. Look at those guys! Good lookin Docs in my opinion.
And so the year continues on.... I'm not going to lie. It has not been an easy year. In fact, I think it's been the most difficult one so far for me personally. But we have had some really great moments
spent with some really great people
Good Luck Match Day for all the people who will find out their big life adventure destination tomorrow and to all of their loved ones who are in the midst of their own March Madness I am sure.
Until next time, which hopefully will be sooner than six months from now.
Cheers,
Mrs. McMack
awwww i love the people you hang out with.
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