It's Official, Kind Of

For years Adam has known that he wants to be a doctor. As a boy, he thought about it frequently. He has always known that the job he has someday needs to be one where he will be making others' lives better. So, 5 years ago he picked a major at BYU that would point him in the direction of medical school. He succeeded. It was a stressful time in our lives, trying to get into a medical school. We know a lot of people who couldn't, and Adam's MCAT scores and GPA weren't spectacular. We doubted, but we persevered. He got into 2 schools, the first in WV, which we put a $2,000 deposit down at to save him a seat for the fall of 2004. He got accepted to KCOM, so we changed our minds, ate that money (which was all of our savings) and moved to MO.

I am happy to say that we are done with the first 2 years of medical school. It was the most challenging 2 years of my life. If people think that they work hard in graduate school, Adam worked harder than you. (I don't know if that is absolutely true, but it very well possibly could be.)

But there was always the question of specialty. What is all of this for? I would ask myself often, wondering exactly how our lives would pan out and what Adam's work was really going to give him in return someday. How is he going to help people? Obviously, he is going to be a doctor.

To the general population that is enough of an explanation for 9 years of additional training after a bachelor's degree. Being engulfed in the medical community, I wanted the specifics. Doctor didn't cut it, I wanted to know what exactly our goal was. How many years will residency be? Where are we going to apply for residency? How many months of the year will you be gone next year out-rotating? Will we have to worry about paying off a quarter-million in student loans off ourselves? Big questions. A big answer came.

Adam is on a Psych rotation this month and has had some free time. In fact, he had 4 days off his first week on the rotation. We have friends in our church who are 4th year Ortho residents (notice, only the husband is a doctor, but the wife has been through just as much, so I refer to them both as residents) and he has been talking a lot to Adam about his profession. He set everything up for Adam to go to the OR and see some operations for himself.

No, a bolt of lightning didn't hit him. He didn't fall in absolute love with the surgeries. In fact, he was a little confused watching a scope-knee surgery for the first time. But it interested him, a lot.

He went back that whole week and has been in the OR meeting people and observing surgeries, scrubbing -in on some, and learning during his hours off ever since. This is such a big decision that we have made it a matter of fasting and prayer. As usual, a lightning bolt didn't strike from the heavens nor did he feel an overwhelming tingling sensation every time he saw a surgery. It was (as I observed it) a still, small voice whispering to him that he will love this. That it will be everything he hoped for in being a doctor. That was his answer.

So, Ortho it is. Granted, he still may change his mind. Honestly, I don't think that will happen. Since we started rotations in September, I just knew that this would be his choice, our choice. It really is the perfect field for him, despite the stereotypes about orthopedic surgeons that are, in his case, not true (but in many others they are.) The ortho stereotypes are actually the only things that he doesn't like about the profession.

What made him decide:
Honestly, it was by process of elimination! He didn't want to do:
Radiology: there is hardly patient-interaction.
Internal Medicine: too many problems he can't fix.
Pediatrics: he has kids of his own, would get burned out with kids.
OB/GYN: No thanks.
Family Practice: This is still a possibility, but he decided against it (for now) b/c he really doesn't like dealing with prescribing drugs to people that 1. don't need them, 2. won't ever get better, 3. refuse to change their lifestyle. He does like the continuity of care that family practice would provide. He lives his brothers practice in rural ID. We will apply to a few FP programs in the event that we can't get an ortho spot.
ER: wacky hours, he NEEDS sleep, is a crank without it!

Needless to say, I am so happy! I am happy that Adam found his niche and happy to know that our fight has not been in vain. The decision finally made actually makes me feel more optimistic about this journey of ours. I know where to look for our own, personal light at the end of so many distant tunnels. So I say to Adam:

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." ~Henry David Thoreau