Hey everyone, it’s just another Medicine Monday — wish it was Sunday. I don’t have all that much to talk about today, except to reflect a bit. So this should be a short post.

[Spoilers: It’s not a short post.]

Stock Photo from: Pexels

Just Another Medicine Monday…

Let’s reflect a bit on the past.

2007

It’s 2007, I just matched into my prelim medicine intern year and my radiology advanced years. My immediate future is pretty much set and at this point in my life I’m trying to get my thoughts together for living in Staten Island, NY and Albany, NY — both places I’ve never lived in before. For many of the current 4 year medical students, they are probably doing the same thing right now and I’ve written about the thought process before, the most recent (and comprehensive) of which is The Match is Over, now what? From that post, you can get a general sense of how I approached internship.

2008

Let’s move on to 2008. I’ve managed to survive intern year. I even managed to secure some vacation at the end of my intern year to give me more of a buffer to move to Albany for my residency. Around this time, during one of my golden weekends of intern year, I drove up to Albany and secured an apartment to live in for my time in Albany. As I’ve said before, I really recommend finding a place reasonably close to the hospital (maybe not too close), as well as good vehicle to drive, depending on your climate.

In Albany, they’re pretty used to snow, so the snow plows are generally good about getting things ready for the morning commute. However, just remember your AWD or 4WD won’t help you if you don’t have the ground clearance. The excuse of “I can’t come in because of snow” doesn’t fly in the medical field. It’s your responsibility to find your way in — your have a duty to your patients.

2011

I was a 3rd year radiology resident. She was a 3rd year psychiatry resident. We’d spent the last 5 or so years in a long distance relationship, but we got married in May of 2011. Then I went back to my residency in Albany, and she moved on to her fellowship in Baltimore — to continue our long distance relationship.

2012

It’s 2012 and I’ve spent the majority of the year preparing for the radiology oral boards. This no longer exists and has been replaced with computer testing, part of which happens during residency and part of which happens after residency. For me, this was probably one of the single most important hurdles of my career. Passing the boards and becoming a diplomate of the American Board of Radiology cemented my membership into a very exclusive group. Of course, this is the same for all the other medical boards. Now it was time to find a place to live in Baltimore, where I would be doing my fellowship.As I said above, my wife was already there doing her fellowship. However, we opted to move out of her place into a new place — as we would be living together for the first time in a long time.

2013

My wife and I learned a lot in our respective fellowships. We are truly grateful to our attendings who shaped how we would practice. Our time together in Baltimore as fellows has many fond memories. However, all of these memories pale in comparison to the birth of my daughter, who joined us in May. But life comes at you fast, just a few months after she was born we moved on to Rhode Island to continue our adventure as young attendings.

2014

Then life comes at to you even faster. As fast as settled into Rhode Island and thought it would be home did we learn that I wouldn’t have a job starting April 2014, and we would be moving again. I moved to Hawaii April 2014 to settle in and test the waters. The mean time my wife and my daughter went to stay with my inlaws in New Jersey.

I missed my daughter’s first birthday. 

However, they joined me in June and we tentatively declared Hawaii as our new home.

2015

My daughter loves Hawaii and loves her preschool. She amazes me everyday with how smart and independent she is. My wife and I have settled into our jobs. Life seems more stable again. We then welcomed my son, Lucas into the family September 2015. He’s like his sister in some ways, but then not like her in others. Same, but different, but still same.

2016

We close on our first house. This was a very scary time for me since I am very risk adverse and don’t like the idea of a big mortgage. However, with our jobs being relatively stable and my want for my children to have good public school education; my pragmatic side won out. So far things have been good. The house still needs work, and probably will for years to come. However, the location is good and I think we’re happy with our decision. Part of me does wonder if I should have just bought a condo when I first got to Hawaii. Then maybe I could have just bought the house later. However, hindsight is 20/20 and my cautious side wonders: “what if I couldn’t sell the condo in time to buy the house I wanted?”

2017

2017 has been a normal evolution of 2016. My in-laws came to live with us and have been helping out with the kids a lot, which we are very thankful for. My wife and I still have stable jobs. Kylie and Lucas continue to grow up and amaze me. They’re so similar in certain respects, but so different in others. Same, but different, but still same.

Now that the kids are older, I do want to start setting more money aside in their 529s and then also set aside money for yearly (reasonable) vacations.

2018

2018 saw the California Family Trip of 2018 (1, 2, and 3) which went well. In retrospect, we probably overspent a bit… but hindsight is always 20/20.

This trip was mainly just a test to see how well Kylie and Lucas handled the travel and the long days. Overall, I think they did great. I think we’ll return to Disneyland in 2-3 years time, so Luke is tall enough to go on the rides. However, the next thing on the list is to try to do some smaller trips to the surrounding islands like Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. Maybe Lanai and Molokai eventually too.

This post wasn’t very “Medicine Mondays” ish…

You’re right… but bare with me.

The main reason for this post was to put things into perspective for those who are medical students or are still in training. The Match, internship, residency, etc. These are all just small parts of your career and relatively short periods in your lifetime. Try to keep things in perspective and keep your goal in sight. It’s a marathon, not a race.

Here’s a meme from The Simpsons to keep things in perspective.

To flip things a little… This could also be:

“This is a best day of my life.” —> “The best day of your life, so far.” 

It’s all perspective.

Life is short, be happy.

TL;DR

Medical school, internship, residency will feel like they consume you sometimes.

Try to keep perspective, step back and look long term on where you want to be.

I’ve chronicled my life here to kind of show you where I’ve been and where I want to go from here.

It’s all about perspective.

Life is short. Be happy.

-Sensei

Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

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