One of the Biggest Days in Our Life

So much has happened because of a few little words on a single sheet of paper I pulled out of a frustratingly-difficult-to-open A9 envelope. Thursday was “Match Day” and for those of you who I have not explained it to, here’s how it goes down. I apply to a billion programs and get the unique privilege of paying for each checkbox I clicked. Then, interview invites come and you accept or not. I applied to 55 programs, got 11 interview offers, and went to the 6 that I would realistically entertain as places I might live for the next 5 years during orthopaedic surgery residency training (plus Case Western, which is falsely named, since it is nowhere near the west in freezing, industrial, flat and otherwise boring Cleveland, no offense to those who live there). Then, I create a rank list of those 7 programs in order of preference. The programs do the same and a computer program crunches it all and spits out the deviously sealed envelopes.

On Thursday, UCI continued its tradition of having each student go up individually and open the envelope and read it in front of classmates, family, friends and anyone who wanted to show up to the outdoor festivities. I was the 4^th one to go up of the 100 and it seemed like it was all happening too fast. I was pretty dang nervous since my first choice, Utah, is a very difficult program to get into. However, I was lucky enough to have been told by my second choice that I had a spot, which basically means they had ranked me in their top 5 (number of spots they have). We wanted Utah to be close to family and so many friends we have in Utah, on top of Utah Ortho being such a top notch program. New Mexico was a great backup to have since I had enjoyed it so much during my month-long elective rotation there. The residents are super close-knit and everyone is so nice and friendly. Very different atmosphere from Utah.

I think the personality of the program comes from two sources. First, the state is just that way. Both times I went there, I couldn’t help but think to myself how everyone was so nice and happy. I told Bri many times, it just felt like home when I was there. The second reason for the program being that way is that the program director, Dr. Quinn, is awesome. He makes teamwork and having a life a priority in his life and that leadership filters to all aspects of the program. I totally agree with his philosophy and the way he does things. The ultimate program would have been UNM’s ortho program, but in Utah for all of the social reasons. So, really it was between two places with many positives each.

Getting back to Match Day. I finally coaxed the envelope open (I lied about it being well-sealed, I was just so nervous that I decided to open it on the side even though they had left the flap open and just put a simple piece of tape on it – no comments about surgeon’s hands, please). Then I unfolded the page and read it. Orthopaedic Surgery. University of New Mexico. I didn’t hoot and holler like some people, or cry in sadness like others. I’m actually still trying to figure out what exactly I felt. The picture tells more than I can succinctly here. However, I can say that I did feel sad. I think I have realized that I mostly felt that way because I felt rejected by my top choice. One of my classmates, Michael Habicht said later, when we were biking, that he was amazed I didn’t get my top choice.

I had done everything “right.” Everything looked to be pointed in the Utah direction. However, days before Match Day, we began to feel confirmation that it was going to be UNM. Sometimes it’s possible to know something before it happens. I think that Heavenly Father does that for us so that we can be prepared for big events. I was leaning toward UNM most of the last few months anyway and had actually considered for a few weeks putting it as my top choice. Bri convinced me that was wrong since we have so many friends and family in Utah. Jeremy and Coreen Gililland , our good friends from a year ahead of us at UCI are just in their first year of ortho at Utah and we were looking forward to going through this whole thing with them, just like he had helped me with great heads-ups and advice for the last 4 years. So, mostly I was sad to not be up there with them and everyone else we knew. I was sad for Bri that she would be far away from family for another 5 years. Luckily, she had received premonitions and confirmation from the Spirit that it wasn’t going to be Utah, and had gone through her own kind of grieving before the envelope, so she could be happy for the actual moment.

Since this is such a bigger deal than graduation, which holds no surprises whatsoever, I had all my family come that wanted to. So we had Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Ron (with Holland), Jon (all the way from Connecticut!) , and Bri’s parents Jim and Starla. It meant a lot to me to have so many family members come from so far away and take time out of their schedules to share in this huge event. Funny thing, I’ll drive back alone for the day of graduation since Bri will be 8 months pregnant then. Graduation is a bit anticlimactic, so it was great to have so many here for this big event and then talk to everyone else in the family by phone that wasn’t there.

Cool thing I found out is that one of my good friends from growing up, Jared West, ended up with his second choice for Internal Medicine and is going to be at UNM! Now, we’re going to work on Carl and Amber Smith, our friends from UCI (who are staying an extra year to do an MBA) to convince them to go to UNM for Emergency Medicine. Hey, if we can’t go to where our friends are in Utah, we’ll just import them to New Mexico!

Each day we grow more and more excited about UNM and realize how much it is where we are supposed to be. I will have more time to spend with Bri and Caleb and the other kids that will be coming over the next 5 years. I’ll also be able to get more hands-on experience since UNM doesn’t have fellowship training and focuses purely on good, solid resident training. So, from what I’ve heard, I might get better hands-on experience in fewer hours since I won’t have to do as much scut work. Another thing I love about UNM is that there is no pre-rounding. Everyone gets there at 6:30 (which is super-late for ortho!), looks at the night’s films, goes to do rounds, then meets back up in the cafeteria for breakfast and before going to surgery. Then, when some get out early from surgery, they begin converging back on clinic (which can have 100 patients a day!) to clean up and get everyone out at a reasonable hour. It’s an amazing team-work atmosphere and everyone seems very happy. I’ll have to write more later, but if you’re reading this, don’t be sad I didn’t get my first choice. We’re happy about UNM, have realized that it is where we’re SUPPOSED to be. We’re excitedly looking for a house. A HOUSE! We’re stoked to finally be leaving the apartment scene, hopefully permanently. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support. Read Bri’s blog for an intelligent, beautiful, emotive woman’s perspective on this whole deal (and a video clip of actually reading the letter). Later.