Costs of Applying to Residency/Interviews

I plan on keeping track of the costs associated with applying to residency. I will keep an accumulating total of costs over in the right hand column of my blog.

The first cost associated with applying is the cost of submitting applications through ERAS.
We submitted applications to 42 programs at a total cost of $655.00.

Wish Us Luck!

Tonight/tomorrow is Drew's FIRST residency interview! I'm heading there this afternoon so that I can join for this evenings dinner. I'm hoping I don't say anything silly/stupid!
If your wondering how Drew is doing an interview while he is still on his Third Away Rotation it is because it is at that program. It makes it particularly convenient because 1) it saves him an extra trip there and 2) I think it will be "easier"/less nerve wracking for Drew to have his first interview at a program with which he rotated (since he is already comfortable with the staff).
I'm both nervous and excited! Say or prayer or send us good luck!

Prayer Requests update

If you have a moment please check out my prayer requests in the right hand column. A few of the new requests are for my best friend's mother Linda who recently suffered a stroke last night. A family friend, Lana is undergoing treatment for cancer. And Joe is young man who was recently diagnosed with leukemia and will be undergoing some very serious treatment. Thank you and God Bless.

We are going to be fine.

Just fine. I realized this today as I was driving home from my weekend visit to see Drew. As we are currently five months out from Match day - the day that we will find out what and where we will be going/staying for the next 6-9 years. And six to nine years is a serious amount of time. This whole process is a big one, because I will have to live with whatever it brings. But after spending this weekend with Drew at Away Rotation #3, it made me realize that home, will be home because I am with Drew. And although I may have a hard time with the future, and I may have adjustment issues and I may have meltdowns in the process; I will adjust. And we will be okay. Spending this weekend in the new town with Drew, there were moments when I could see myself living in that town, and being happy. And I know that it is not the only place I will be able to be happy. Each town and city will have things that make it feel like home. And most importantly, wherever I go, will be with Drew, and that alone will make everything okay. It made me realize that I just have to continue to have faith in God. And he will take care of us. And we will be just fine.

Crazy busy

Work is keeping me quite busy this week. I have two new clients who have rather pressing matters as well as a number of other deadlines. So unfortunately I don't have time to update on my amazing weekend and show you some of the great pictures I took of my wonderful nephews. But I suppose it is good to be busy.
Right now we have 9 and a half weeks down and 2 and a half weeks left to go (as far as Drew being gone on away rotations.) I am also looking forward to visiting Drew this weekend. He went in on both Saturday and Sunday last weekend and is planning on at least one day off this weekend off. Believe it or not, last week they told Drew "You know you don't have to come in on the weekends." I almost fell over at this comment. But then again it isn't that surprising considering how laid back this program seems to be.
And that's all I've got time for right now. I'm trying to get to bed early because almost everyone at my office has been sick this week and the last so I am trying to remain one of the few healthy ones!

Odds and Ends

This week has gone pretty well, we've had a few more interview invitations come in, putting us in the double digits. So far it looks like 40 of the 99 Neurosurgery programs are offering interviews. Based on looking at the list of programs that have offered interviews so far (not the most reliable source - a chat board) more than half the programs we applied to still haven't extended invitations. Although we think that this week is the start of things picking up. Most programs have interviews in November (if not earlier) so they need to start extending invitations so that people can plan to attend. As for right now we aren't getting our hopes up but we aren't worried either. The one thing we are realizing is that this is going to be a very expensive process. We knew it before but I guess it is finally becoming a realization. I'm thinking we may have to borrow some additionally money because the scheduling is not going as well as planned. For example Drew may have to take more than one trip to some states like Texas that have several programs. But at least that means we are getting interviews, I suppose we'll keep accepting them and figure out how we are going to pay for them later.

So far Drew seems to be enjoying his second away rotation, although I really haven't spoken with him much since he got off early on Tuesday. He worked yesterday until a little after eight, and by the time he got home he ate and went to bed. At this rotation Drew is staying with one of his friends from college. His friends house is about 20 minutes from the hospital so he does have a short commute. Although it is no longer than his commute at his first two away rotations, he does not have public transportation here. This worries me a bit because I know how sleep deprived he was the past two months. But Drew has assured me he will just stay at the hospital or take a cab if he every feels too tired to drive.

This weekend I am heading home to my parents house. I will have a weekend packed: of seeing an old friend I haven't seen in a while and meeting her new baby, seeing my Goddaughter (and her parents), possibly seeing a law school friend, and going apple picking with my sisters and nephews. My Martha-Stewart-sister has plans to make all kinds of candied applies and apple desserts! And I am also looking forward to taking lots of pictures with my new camera, so you'll get to see those next week. Wishing you all a wonderful fall weekend!

Dr. McDreamy

So I did finally hear from Drew a little after ten last night. Turns out he was taking call. He seemed okay with it even though he wasn't exactly prepared for it. And although he didn't have his toothbrush he did have some of those new Colgate wisps on him. He said that he did get some time in the O.R. both yesterday and today.
Drew said everyone seems friendly and he feels comfortable there already. So far from just from my perceptions of yesterday and today this program is a little different from his last two away rotations. It seems a little more laid back and less intense. For example he usually stayed until at least 6 or 7 p.m. when he was post call at the first two programs. Today when he was post call people kept asking him "What are you still doing here?" Since they were encouraging him to leave Drew decided to leave at little before 2 p.m! He figured he would take advantage of the free time to work out and get some rest since there wasn't anything exciting going on in the O.R.
Another thing is that he actually got four and a half hours of sleep last night which is more than he is used to from the other two rotations.
Oh and get this... they gave him food vouchers for the cafeteria! How awesome is that! I'm very excited about this since a large chunk of our most recent credit card statement can be attributed to chicken caesar wraps from away rotation #2. I've already told Drew that I expect him to at least try and not spend much more than the food vouchers he was given. After all he still has quite a bit of food, snacks and granola bars that I bought for him.
And in case you are wondering about the title of this post... I have a little story. Early this morning while Drew was going to get some coffee he passed a few young women standing in the hall (what they were doing there at such early hours he doesn't know) but after he passed them he overheard them say "ooooh, Dr. McDreamy....." Drew told me this story to remind me how lucky I am. So just so you all know, apparently I am married to (sigh/swoon) "Dr. McDreamy" Oh man as if I don't have a hard enough time humbling him already!

Away Rotation #3

It's 10:00 p.m. and I still haven't heard from Drew (other than 1 text message) today. At his last two away rotations he may have had long nights, but his first day was usually a short one. So I am a bit surprised that he is still working!
I'm sure he doesn't mind though - he is actually probably happy about it. Drew doesn't have much tolerance for administrative tasks and usually that is what the majority of the first day involves. So being that he isn't off yet I imagine he is in the O.R. and glad to already be getting his hands dirty.
I'm not going to stay up because who knows how late he'll be, so I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about his first day!

I'm back!

(to blogging that is).... but my husband is gone.

We had a wonderful week at home together. Drew hadn't been back to Springfield in two months, so he was happy to be at home (and I was happy to have him home!) He said that although he felt comfortable at his sister's place it wasn't "home." So this week he finally got to relax and feel at home. He got plenty of rest and also was a great help around the apartment. In the last few weeks I had allowed our apartment to become a complete mess, so it was in need of a thorough cleaning. And even though he didn't help create the mess he was a doll and helped me clean it up.
While he was home for the week I wanted more than anything to stay home and relax with him all day, but unfortunately I had to be a grown-up and do that "working" thing. In order to spend as much time together as possible Drew came to work everyday and picked me up and took me out to lunch. Although it wasn't in the budget, we were able to use gift certificates most of the days, and we considered it a worth while splurge.
It was simply wonderful to come home to my sweetheart everyday, and to roll over and see his precious face every morning when my alarm went off.
But this afternoon he left again for Away Rotation #3. Although I am going to miss him over the next four weeks, I will be able to visit him and this time there is a light at the end of the tunnel. When he left for his first away rotation, the thought of him being gone for three months seemed so long, and so daunting. Right now with eight weeks apart under our belt, four weeks seems like nothing. I'm hoping it will fly by.
As far as the residency application process, things are moving along. We have heard from 9 programs so far and have 8 interview offers and 1 rejection. Although eight seems like a large number, for neurosurgery it isn't. With a 60% match rate we are hoping for at least 18 interviews in order to better increase Drew's chances of matching.

Two. More. Days.

Until I get seven, yes seven, consecutive days under the same roof as my husband! I can't wait!

Thursday morning I have my ultrasound. No. I'm not pregnant. But with all my stomach troubles lately my doctor just wants to make sure its not my gall bladder. I just have to remember not to eat in the morning. I have been so flightly lately that I have been forgetting everything. For example I actually had the ultra sound scheduled for Tuesday and I completely forgot. Ooops! So hopefully tomorrow morning I won't eat without thinking... that could be problematic. I am hoping by writing about it now it will help me remember.
Then Thursday night I am picking up Kaiden from his Grandparent's (out of town) and watching him for the night so that his Mommy and Daddy can see him as soon as they get home from their vacation Friday (rather than driving to pick him up.) His mommy doesn't know it but Kaiden will be subject to my very first photo shoot. That is if he cooperates! He is usually such a happy baby, so as long as he doesn't mind I hope to play around with my new camera and take some pictures of the cutie!
Nothing planned for Friday (other than working out and packing). And Saturday. Saturday, I am heading up to see my love! I am meeting him, his sister, and my parents at his parents house and we are all going out to dinner. And then Sunday I am bringing my darling back home to Springfield. He hasn't been back here in 8 weeks. So I may be MIA next week so that I can spend every free moment with my sweet heart. I. Can't. Wait!

My weekend

Friday night I drove up to my parents house and got to spend some time with my parents, my sister and sweet little Gaston.

He kept sneaking into "Papa Lou's office" to try and play with the computer and Papa Lou!

Saturday afternoon I headed to my (college) friend Jessie's house. I got to spend the afternoon and evening with Abbie, Jessie, their husbands and little Campbell Grace. Isn't she beautiful?

Abbie and Jessie are two of my best college friends and we only get to see each other a few times a year so it was great to catch up.

Saturday afternoon Drew was post call and he decided to take Sunday off since he has not taken a single day off at this second away rotation. Drew took the train out to my parents so we were able to spend Sunday with my parents, sisters and my neighbors.

I have been researching SLRs (digital cameras) for about six months now and while I was hanging out with Abbie she informed me that Nikon D40s were on clearance at Target. I had been originally looking at Canons but they are significantly more expensive and after talking to Conrad (Abbie's husband) I realized that as an amateur photographer I wouldn't be able to notice/appreciate the additional features (of the Canon I was looking at).

Sunday morning I started calling around to all the local Targets. They had one Nikon D40 several towns over. So Drew and I hopped in the car to go buy it. When I got there I saw that they also had a package deal in which an extra (55-200mm) lens was only $80 more - this lens is $200 when sold separately. Unfortunately the Target we were at did not have the package deal in stock. The Target we were at told us that another store 15 miles away had it in stock. We drove there only to find out they didn't. Luckily they called a third store and had them confirm that they did in fact have the package deal in stock. Finally after driving around 30 miles we found the package deal and purchased it. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me! Although the camera wasn't exactly in the budget it was such a good deal we couldn't pass it up. The package deal was $499 (for the Nikon D40; 5-55mm lens; 55-200mm lens; camera case and 2GB memory card). It would have cost me nearly a thousand dollars to get the canon camera and two lenses.

(Below is a picture with the new camera - compare the lighting and clarity to the photos above).

After playing with it, I must say I am very happy with my big purchase. Below are some of the photos I took on my walk tonight.

My precious nephew Gaston is now 18 months old and isn't walking. He was a little slow with the whole crawling thing but is otherwise developmentally normal (actually advanced for his speech) so we weren't worried. Although my sister has been wondering when he was going to start walking. For the past month or two the little cutie has been pulling himself up and moving from one piece of furniture to another and would walk with the help of holding someone's hand. He hasn't been able to walk on his own though... or so we thought.
On Friday we let him play with my mom's little vacuum (it was a shark or dust buster) and he seemed to be able to walk while pushing it. We also noticed that he could stand still and lift it up (without holding on to anything).
So Saturday morning my Dad tried a little experiment with Gaston. Here it is documented on tape.....

Turns out the little stinker can walk (he just has been too stubborn to try/learn). Also notice how he realizes that we are tricking him into walking!

I hope to post more about my wonderful weekend tomorrow!

So these last few days/weeks have been rough. So tonight I thought I would bring back Thankful Thursday... because I do have a lot to be thankful for:

• My family and friends are in good health
• Tomorrow night I get to see my precious frenchy nephew who I haven't seen in several months, and he is now talking up a storm (both french and english) and I cannot wait to hear him babble!
• This weekend I get to see two of my best friends from college and their hubbies (and one very precious little baby girl!)
• So far Drew has gotten 5 interviews and only 1 rejection
• Only 8 more days then I will get A FULL WEEK with Drew (before he heads to his third and final away rotation)
• My wonderful Mom - she took a list of all 42 programs and the potential interview dates and is trying to make a calendar so that we can maximize the number of interviews we are offered (if we are given a choice of dates).
• My great job
• 8 more days.... that seriously needs to be mentioned twice

Thank you all for all your support, encouragement and prayers, it means so much!

My shelf

Do you have a shelf, box, case, or bookshelf where you put things that are important to you? I do. I have a shelf that I put my most precious items on. In fact they go in a box, and I tie that box with a bow, and then I put them on the shelf. This shelf is very important in my life and it is necessary for my sanity. I know that my most precious items are safe when they are on that shelf. But I have some what of a problem. I take my stuff off the shelf and take them out of the box and I lose them (and my head).
This has been a big issue lately. Our future is one of those precious things that belongs in the box. With all of this applying to residency programs my mind has been consumed with the match process. Its something that I have no control over. But I cannot control myself, my mind is constantly drifting to the what-ifs of our future. And all this worrying has led to no good. I have had stomach problems in the past but they seem to have resurfaced. But part of me believes they are somewhat self-inflicted (or worsened) by the fact that I have become consumed by this whole process. But as I've already said, it is all out of my control. And it is no use worrying over things that may never happen. So tonight I am again putting all my worries, and thoughts about our future back in that precious box. I am tying it with a bow. And then I am placing it up on that high shelf. On that shelf it is in God's hands. I will let go, and trust in Him. All things are safe in His hands.
It is only a matter of time before I take it off the shelf again, but I suppose that is only part of being human. Thank goodness I have family and friends to constantly remind me to refocus, reevaluate, re-anchor and put the box where it belongs. On my shelf. Because I don't have control. And worrying won't help me gain any control.

Two more!

Drew was offered another interview invitation today. For family and friends who would like to know where, please email me and I will send you an invitation to view our Private Match Blog.

So far we have three interviews scheduled, but I've heard that there are a total of 7 programs offering interviews right now (6 of which we applied to) ... hopefully this is only the beginning of the interview offers because based on statistics we need to interview at at least 15 programs to have a change at matching!

Days 8 and 9

As Monday was Labor Day, the hospital did rounds later at 7 a.m. like they do on Saturdays (and possibly Sundays?) - this meant Drew got to "sleep in." He got there a little after six, and being that there were no surgeries there wasn't much to do. Much to my surprise he was done by 1:30 p.m. allowing for an afternoon off for Drew. He took some time to go running - something he hasn't had much time to do - and get to bed early.
Day 8 = 7 hours

On Tuesday the hospital resumed their 6 a.m. rounds. As far as I know Drew got to see a few surgeries and was off by 6:30 p.m.
Day 9 = 13 hours

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to ask Drew what he is doing or what types of surgeries he has seen. Most of the time we talk our conversations are brief and have been limited to "how is your day going" and talking about bills and or his ERAS application. Hopefully I can find out more about this program and give you slightly more interesting posts next week. For an update on yesterday's vent see below.

My "S" List

Is short. And right now, Drew's school is on it.

Last week Drew submitted his portion of his residency application through ERAS. There are various parts of this application. These parts include:

• Photo of applicant
• Profile
• CAF (which I think stands for "Candidate Application Form")
• Personal statement
• Four letters of recommendation
• USMLE transcript (test scores)
• MSPE ("Medical Student's Performance Evaluation" aka Dean's letter)
• School transcript

As the student Drew is responsible for the profile, the CAF, and personal statement. The USMLE transcript is uploaded by the USMLE and the remaining parts of the application must be uploaded by the applicant's school. So far Drew's school has only uploaded one of his four letters of recommendation... nothing else. Granted they cannot upload the letters they don't have (and they may not have all four yet) and none of the schools can upload the MSPE until October, but they still should be able to upload his transcript, his photo and his school transcript! Neurosurgery used to be part of early match (meaning match occurred in January rather March and therefore everything happened much earlier), and many of the schools are still on an early schedule. Four programs have already started offering interviews (we applied to three of those, but have only heard from one). And, I know I am being a little neurotic, considering it is only September 8th, but I know part of me is a little justified considering that I have spoken to people at other programs where their schools have submitted all the the parts to their application. Drew emailed the school last week to see if there is anything we could do to get them to upload the necessary parts and we still haven't heard back.

Okay, and that is only the half of it.

Today, I got home from work and went to check the mail. What do I find? A letter from a collection agency. Saying that we owe over $300 dollars for Drew's medical bills. I find this pretty interesting considering that we haven't even gotten a single bill, prior to this collection agency notice. Back in June when Drew was on his away rotation we did get a notice saying that he needed to fill out a claim form for insurance coverage and while he did not do it on time initially (because he was gone) he did call the school, filled out the form and got it cleared up. Or so we thought. When he had spoken to the person from student insurance they said that we would receive a bill for whatever wasn't covered by insurance. But, no bill ever came. Just a notice from collections today. And from what I understand, I don't think medical companies are allowed to even submit a bill to collections if insurance is still pending. So needless to say the collection agency is going to get a nice response "disputing the debt in writing" as the letter requests. And Drew's school and/or the hospital where the medical bill came from may also be getting an earful tomorrow!

Update as of September 9, 2009 - a friend of Drew's told us that student transcripts are not scheduled to be uploaded until mid-October so that the school can add elective grades but that if he wanted we could request to have it uploaded sooner. Drew emailed the appropriate person and his school transcript was uploaded by this afternoon!

In reference to the medical bill I drafted a letter to the collection agency (and cc'd the medical center and student insurance) letting them know that we never received a bill or a notice of coverage or denial of coverage.

Sub-Internship II - Week 1

So last Monday Drew started his second sub-Internship. He has a much longer commute for this one, and has already expressed the importance of living close to the hospital once we are in residency. His current commute is about 45 minutes (even at 4:30 a.m.) which means he wakes up at 3:30 every morning!
On his first day he didn't start until 8:00 a.m. and was done by 5:00 p.m.
Day 1 = 9 hours
A big difference between this sub-Internship and his sub-Internship last month is that he does not see patients prior to rounds in the morning. As I explained in a post last month, at the last program he was assigned to several patients and went to see them each morning (by himself) and then went with the residents and chiefs to see the patients and he would explain the status of the patients he saw. Well at this program he doesn't see any of his patients on his own. He simply does rounds with the residents. Since he doesn't have to see patients prior to rounds his day technically starts a little later with rounds at 6:00 a.m. (At the last program he tried to arrive by at least 5:00 a.m. so that he was done seeing his patients prior to rounds at 5:45 a.m.). Although Drew doesn't have to be there prior to rounds, he said that he has still been arriving closer to 5:00 or 5:15 a.m. so that he can see if the residents need any help with anything. On Tuesday Drew was done by 8:30 p.m.
Day 2 = 15.5 hours
On Wednesday, Drew took call so he was at the hospital until 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night.
Days 3 and 4 = 39.5 hours
On Friday Drew was done by 7:30 p.m.
Day 5 = 14.5 hours
On Saturday, rounds are later (7:00 a.m.) and that night Drew took call. Fortunately, it was a very quiet night and Drew had time to work on a case report that he is putting together for a doctor from his last sub-Intership and he even had time to get plenty of sleep. He was done by 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Days 6 and 7 = 28.5
The pace is a little different at this second program, and it is a little more laid back. Drew seems to really like the residents at this second program as well. He is also working with two other medical students on this rotation. Both of them are women - which are fairly rare among neurosurgery (I want to say that more than 90% of neurosurgeons are male). One of the women was on her fourth week last week, but the other woman started at the same time as Drew and will be there for the same four weeks. He seems to get along with both of them pretty well. Thank goodness these women (like the student he worked with at the last program) seem to be serious, but not so competitive that they would throw Drew under the bus. Some medical students (and even residents) are trying to make such a good impression that they are willing (or even hoping) to burn the competition in the process.
This first week Drew didn't get to do too much (mostly observed) but we'll see if that changes at all being that he didn't do much his first week last month either.

First Interview Invitation!

I could hardly believe it when my phone started buzzing and ringing today. I looked to Drew's email and it said that he had an email from ERAS. My hands were shaking as I went to check the email and try to reply and accept the invitation!
Although we were hoping for an interview from this program (because Drew is doing a sub-I there next month) we were not expecting an invitation already. I replied to the program coordinator and asked if it would be possible to interview during his sub-Internship - and if not his first choice would be to interview in November. I got a prompt response letting me know that he could interview in October while he was there. Although Drew has housing while he is there they still offered to book him a hotel - this program is one of the few that actually arranges and pays for your hotel accommodations!
I should also explain that I have Drew's school email forwarded to my phone so that I can respond to any interview invitations. This is because with his sub-Is this month and next month he will most likely be in surgery when the invitations come in via email. Some programs send out (for example) 15 invites when they really only have 10 time slots. This means that only the first ten to respond will actually get the interview.
Luckily neurosurgery is one of the more organized programs and 95% of the programs have actually posted their interview dates (this is not the case with all specialties). With this information I used Google Calendar to enter all of the potential interview dates... then we will use the calendar to try and schedule the interviews as they come in. Right now many of the interviews conflict with each other but I imagine things will manage to work out as we would be lucky to be invited to half the programs we applied to; therefore I imagine by process of elimination it will be pretty easy to schedule interviews.
I hope this is just the first of many more interview invitations... but we'll just have to wait and see!

Brief Update

Okay this will have to be brief because I am tired and would like to get some rest but its been a while so I thought I would try and update.

Last week Drew finished up the last week of his first sub-Inter ship. It was pretty similar to his third week other than the fact that he was done on Friday at 4:00p.m.

Since he was in between sub-Is, I went to visit him this weekend and we finalized his personal statement and worked on the application. (I will update about the weekend later). Overall I feel really good about his personal statement. I owe that mostly to the help of another surgeon's wife who has been an absolute angel - she has given us so much advice! I cannot even imagine how much more difficult this process would have been without her words of experience and help.

The way residency applications work is that you submit all your information (personal info, experience, letters of recommendation, transcripts, test scores, personal statement etc.) through ERAS and they submit your application to the programs you wish to apply to. Yesterday was September 1st; the first day to submit your application (you have ERAS send it to the programs). Although most program applications are not due until October 1 or November 1, but with more competitive programs (ENT, radiology, derm, plastics, neurosurgery) it is very important to submit your application as soon as possible. So yesterday we did It. We submitted over 40 applications to programs in the following states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Florida, Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, District of Columbia, and Kentucky. The number of programs is so high because 1) most programs only accept 1-2 residents a year and 2) neurosurgery has a 60% match rate. For now I am just going to sit back and wait to see if interview invitations start rolling in, in the next few weeks/months.

I'll try to update on Drew's second sub-Internship later this week!