The Next 16 Months Are In God’s Hands

I cannot believe the amount of LIFE that will be lived slightly more than a year. In the next 16 months, our lives will change drastically due to some factors in our control and many of them OUT of our control. We are in the stage of researching orthopedic surgery residency programs for him to apply. All these apps are due around Thanksgiving of 2013. Most who have been through the process before say that he should apply to about 50 or more of the 80 programs nationwide. The application (like everything else these days) is not without cost. I guess they operate on a “if you apply to X many programs, the price is ____ ” and “If you apply to Y many programs, the cost is _____”.  I think this will definitely eat into our honeymoon money. Sad face. Once his apps are sent into the different programs, we wait…. and wait.. until a school calls or most likely sends an email asking for us to travel to the school for a few days. AS I have said before, some schools have a “dinner” the night prior to the “real” interview just to see how your dynamic meshes with the existing/ newbies. (This gives me about 8-10 months before I need to look like a trophy fiancé. Not joking unfortunately.) My appearance is directly proportional to his first impression. No pressure.

After all he interviews have been completed, we as a couple will literally rank in terms of #’s which program we like best, 2^nd best, and so on so forth. (Spark Curiosity Here!) Where would l be ok with spending the next 5 to 7 years of my life?

We have so many options to consider!

His main concerns:

1.   Does he fit in with the staff?
2.    Does the program have a Sports Medicine Fellowship to prevent moving again?
3.    How selective/ competitive is the school interviewed? prestigious?

My main concerns:

1. How close is it to both our hometown for future Grandparents?
2.  How is the cost of living in the area?
3. Is there a job for me? Can I easily transfer my teaching license to that state?
4. Should we rank Columbus, Ohio in the top 5 simply because I have a job I LOVE already?
5.  Would buying a house or renting be more cost effective?
6.  What are childcare costs?
7. How many hours does a typical resident work at that program?
8. When it all boils down, I struggle with only one thing:

“Is a prestigious residency program worth putting my goals aside?”

The answer 9 times out of 10 is, “YES”. Although I would love for him to create a seamless transition for me and end up at OSU in Columbus, I feel so selfish. He has a great top 15% of the country Step 1 score, potential AOA, and few research articles. As far as I know, is CV looks pretty good! What if he can get into say psh…Harvard? Is it worth the cost of living and putting off having kids? I think I’m starting to surprise myself. YES! HANDS DOWN I would go to a prestigious residency program for the bragging rights! Haha. Of course, I am likely over estimating and dreaming too big. You know what though…. It gets me through the days of long distance knowing in the end this craziness will all be worth it in the end. Sigh.

Top 10 World New Ranked Ortho Programs as of 2/5/2013:

Information found at: http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/orthopedics

National Rank	Hospital	U.S. News Score
#1	Hospital for Special Surgery New York, NY See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in New York metro area and New York	100.0/100
#2	Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Minnesota	85.6/100
#3	Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, OH See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Cleveland metro area and Ohio	76.6/100
#4	Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Boston metro area and Massachusetts	70.7/100
#5	Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Baltimore metro area and Maryland	68.7/100
#6	Hospital for Joint Diseases, NYU Langone Medical Center New York, NY See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in New York metro area and New York	67.5/100
#7	Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Philadelphia, PA See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Philadelphia metro area and Pennsylvania	67.1/100
#8	Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University Saint Louis, MO See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in St. Louis metro area and Missouri	66.7/100
#9	Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Raleigh-Durham metro area and North Carolina	65.4/100
#10	UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Pittsburgh, PA See Orthopedics scorecard Ranked in Pittsburgh metro area and Pennsylvania	63.5/100

 I need to start researching these teaching hospitals HARD in the next few months. Ultimately to keep from going insane, where we end up is the work of God. Everything happens for a reason.

This wedding video hit home:

"It feels like Home" might be the theme song of our wedding. After long distance and the process of moving together in a potentially new city for residency all that matters is you ARE my "home".

Song found at:

http://brookeannibale.com/Final/home.html