Life Changes

Tammy's version:

We've had quite an eventful month. Prior to this past month we knew where we were headed and had everything lined up to make it where we wanted. Match day for Adrian's residency was on March 20th. A few days prior to finding out where we matched for residency we were to get an email stating whether we matched at all or not. We had ranked our list of possibilities. Our top 5 being in this order: Kansas City, MO; Salt Lake City, UT;  El Paso, TX; Hartford, CT; Toledo, OH. Adrian had received a letter from the Kansas City program stating they really liked him and were going to rank him highly. Legally they could not tell him what number they were going to rank him and by telling him that they were going to rank him high they hoped we would rank them high in return so we could both match together. He also received a similar letter from the Baltimore program which we really did not care to go to. We were completely expecting to match in Kansas City. We were looking at houses that we could buy and were telling everyone we would be shocked if we matched somewhere other than Kansas City. Adrian was working in Las Vegas during match week and had taken the 20th off so he could come home and celebrate his matching together.

Well, come March 16th we got the email stating whether we matched at all or not. And to our horror and complete shock, we did not match to any of our 8 possibilities. This only happens to about 10% of medical school students. Well, Adrian was applying to a position in OB/GYN. The next step was to look at all OB programs in the whole nation that did not get a spot filled. Our next big shock was that there was not a single open position in OB in the entire nation either through an MD residency or a DO residency. Basically Adrian had to choose a different field of medicine he wanted to go into or reapply next year for OB. We went through 4 scramble matches choosing other fields that Adrian would want to do and one by one we were notified that we did not match in any of those 4 scramble matches either. We were shocked. Adrian was so devastated. He was all alone in Las Vegas doing a rotation and going through one of the hardest moments of his life. All his buddies from school matched and that made feel even more disappointed.

On March19th, after all the official matches were over Adrian started turning in his application for any possible transitional year positions available. This would be his absolute last possible scenario. He had never planned for the possibility of not matching at all and if we had to do it all over again he would have applied to a transitional year right in the first round of scramble matches. A transitional year is an intern year where you rotate through all fields of medicine, then after that the training gets more specialized. On March 19th we had two choices for a transitional year. One in Brooklyn NY and another in Port St Lucie, FL. The housing market in Brooklyn is way more than we could afford, so we were basically forced into our Florida option. So, that is where our new life's road is taking us. Port St. Lucie Florida.

I had been constantly praying before the match asking for us to be placed where God wanted us and where we needed to be. Even after we found out we didn't match, but had not secured a place yet,  I still felt like God had his hand in our life and would place us where we needed to be. It was hard to not see our path going as planned. But, we must go forward in faith. I'm sure there is wisdom in this that we don't see yet.

While Adrian was in Vegas he wreaked his car. It was his fault, he turned left and got T-boned. He called me right after it happened, even before the police arrived and he sounded so composed. He was not shaken or upset in any way. He later told me he been having a feeling that he would wreak his car. And after he wreaked his car, he thought "ok, it's over now". This, on top of not matching, was really hard for Adrian. He had so many different feelings and was upset about how things in his life were going.

Not getting a residency means we have to reapply next year for a residency spot. Turning is his application, interviewing and going through the match again. There are some fields which require a transitional year and he's going to go for those now. He's basically given up on OB/GYN. The programs which require a transitional year are the specialties that have a better life style. So, maybe he didn't match in OB/GYN so his work would have a better life style?? Who knows?

So, we move in a month, then we'll move in a year for a residency, and then we'll move again after residency. That's at least 3 moves we foresee in the next 5 years. We made a bold move and instead of renting a Uhaul truck like we had planned, which will cost about $3,500 each time (minus gas, hotels, and food), we bought a big pickup truck and 20 foot trailer to move ourselves in. It's a lot of money to pay upfront, but will save us money in the long run of not renting moving trucks. We've had to downsize our belongings to be able to fit all our stuff in the trailer. It's a little hard to sell our large items we bought new and lost money on, but in the end, it's just replaceable stuff. We should be able to pay off the truck and trailer with the money we got from Adrian's car and the money we get from selling our Corolla. Adrian will have to buy a little run around car once we get to Florida and I will have to drive the large truck with the kiddos.

We've contacted the bishop in Florida and he's put us contact with someone to help us secure a house. Everything seems to be falling into place. We cannot deny that God is in control. He clearly wanted us down a different path then we were headed and now we seem to be on that different path. Not sure why, but I'm sure someday we will know. I'm handling things great. I've always just gone with the flow knowing things will work out. We've got one more month before we move. It's a bit bittersweet. It's exciting to be moving on, but I've really enjoyed living in Cedar close to family. It's all about attitude. Things are great if you view them as being great!!