Our Medical School Journey, Part IV

(Click here for Part I, Part II, and Part III for long, wordy posts lacking pictures.)

Because I think it is important to document our life and this time of our medical school journey, I have wanted to journal each year of medical school. The following entry is a summary of our third and fourth year of medical school: rotations {working along side doctors at clinics and hospitals in the major fields of medicine}.

Although there was a big adjustment at the beginning of our third year of school (because Brendon was home a lot more than I anticipated), we quickly realized how lucky we were to have Dad around so much and rather than feeling like he should be off learning, we decided to enjoy our time together. 

Our rotations (in Utah) were primarily clinic-based, meaning Brendon worked alongside doctors in a clinic whenever the doctor worked. Turns out that most doctors work four days a week and many work nice hours, starting their day around eight and finishing up around five. Dad was home for dinner every night and was able to help mix up Henry's day with "Daddy Time." It was great. Our third year of school seemed to go by so quickly with each month changing with a different job and different hours. 

Towards the end of our third year and the beginning of our fourth, Brendon had scheduled some much-needed out rotations. {An out rotation is when a student travels to work at different hospitals to gain exposure and education in a particular hospital/location. An audition rotation is working in a hospital where a student hopes to do residency. There is no formal "audition," but the student is hoping to make a good impression on fellow residents and staff members in hopes of ranking high on their match list for residency.} 

Brendon left for California in April and we experienced our first time being a part for longer than two weeks. He was away for four weeks and, despite having family around--which helped tremendously--I vowed never to be a part for longer than two weeks. It was hard on all of us. Brendon doesn't prefer it and neither do I. My Dad noticed that Henry tended to cling more to him when Brendon was away and put it well when he said, "Henry is a boy's boy." He loves and needs men around to rough house and do "boy stuff" that I just don't do.

From April to October, Brendon had four out rotations, which meant he was alternating every other month in California and Utah. In June, Henry and I traveled with him and stayed with family (Mike & Dejah). In August, Henry and I traveled with him and stayed with family (Grandpa and Grandma Holmes, Brendon's parents). In October, I surprised Brendon after two weeks by meeting him at his brother's house. The out-rotations were a great opportunity for us to be with family and we really enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do what we did. We were so grateful for our life/family situation where it was fairly easy to pack up our life and live in California for a month at a time. Everything came together perfectly and Brendon got a lot of really great experience working in hospitals. At the beginning he was a little overwhelmed, but he quickly caught on to his responsibilities.

After out rotations were over, fourth year was amazing. Maggie was born in November and, aside from a few trips for residency interviews, Brendon was home a lot. He had several easy rotations. Having him around was a huge help as we transitioned to a family of four.

When all was said and done, Brendon felt like he got the experience he needed out of rotations. For the past couple years, he has said, "Residency training is really what makes you the doctor you become," so he was never too concerned about the quality of his rotations. That's not to say he didn't work hard and put in an honest effort, but he understood that ultimately residency would be more influential in making him the doctor he wants to become. 

The clinic-based sites in Utah had several advantages, including: (1) Brendon was "first assist" and was able to perform sutures and help with other surgeries, (2) he developed great interpersonal skills with patients, and (3) he had a great schedule. There are also a few disadvantages, including: (1) a lack of familiarity with resident responsibilities (out rotations helped with this), (2) less formalized training with doctors who, sometimes, weren't experienced with teaching students, and (3) not as many opportunities to witness as many cases as would be available in a hospital. Overall, however, Brendon enjoyed his rotations and was glad things worked out the way they did. 

From my perspective, I loved having Brendon home as much as we did, especially during the latter part of fourth year and I was so, extremely grateful that we spent the two years of rotations near my family. We thoroughly enjoyed our short time in Utah and loved the opportunities to be with family in California.

The much-anticipated graduation day arrived and we were able to share the day with our parents and friends. During the white coat ceremony (when you first arrive to medical school), someone said, "Medical school is like purchasing a sail boat. There are two exciting days: the first is when you buy the sail boat and the second is when you sell the sail boat." The entrance and exit to medical school are truly two very exciting days--maybe even the best days--on the journey to becoming a doctor. I'm thinking the day we finish residency will be pretty exciting, too.

Speaking of residency, how did we end up in Texas for residency? In the fall of Brendon's fourth year, he applied to pediatric residency programs. He chose to apply to several programs in California, including those hospitals where he did rotations. Needing more places to apply, we looked at places in the west who were D.O.-friendly and in an area we were willing to live in. Texas quickly came to mind. We have never met anyone who has lived in Texas who hasn't loved it.

When interview season came, Brendon had one invitation to a Texas program along with several California programs. He had two small trips and one week-long trip in California to have all of his interviews. Every time he called me, he would say, "I love this program..." and he wanted to go every hospital for one reason or another. But he also realized several of them would be very financially difficult with a family or wouldn't be in a great location.

When the match came {a matching system where applicants and residency programs rank the order of preference for who/where they want for their residency program}, we had finalized our list after a lot of prayer and a lot of revising. We had Loma Linda ranked first in anticipation of living near Brendon's family (our plan since day one of school), with Texas Tech ranked second, Fresno ranked third, and several other California programs. We were very confident that, if not our first or second choice, we would end up with our third choice.

When match day came, we both thought we were going to Texas Tech. My dad was over at my apartment the day before we found out the results and asked, "Where do you want to go?" I replied, "I really want to go to Loma Linda, but I think we're going to Texas." And so it was. We matched with Texas Tech in Lubbock. But after many tender mercies, we felt the Lord directing us to Lubbock, which we knew would be a good place for our family during the three years of residency.

Overall, medical school got better for us during third and fourth year. It wasn't as stressful, demanding, or intense. All the while I tried to enjoy it, but I knew around the corner we would have residency, which would be stressful, demanding, and intense. We have arrived to our next chapter of medical journey.

More on residency to come in Part V, after experiencing at least a year in residency.