The Light At The End Of The Tunnel by Crystal Fowler
The journey has been long and hard through 4 years of medical school and now 4 years of residency. When my husband, Matt, graduated from medical school we had a couple of graduating residents tell us that the light at the end of the tunnel would be here before you know it. I remember thinking to myself: Yeah, right. I am going to be stuck in this everlasting black vortex of sheer hell. Light?! There is a light at the end? The realization that my husband, Matt, would be finishing soon came one day at the end of his third year of residency. Matt told me advice he had received from a fellow anesthesia resident: contact hospitals and send out r�sum�s at the start of your senior year. I was shocked. I thought this can’t be possible. It’s only June! Matt began contacting practices in a couple of places we liked- Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. The most frequent answer Matt would receive was “Contact us again in December. We might be looking for the summer by then.” We learned quickly that anesthesiologists fill their positions last minute. Matt decided to take some time and do a couple of “cold call” interviews. He would show up and say, “Hey, I am in the area, and I am interested in your group.” He did two interviews in Boise, ID and one in Logan, UT. After that trip, we were pretty depressed about the outlook. Neither place was looking to hire for another two years. The desirable locations in Colorado did not have anesthesia groups that appealed to Matt. So, we went back to the drawing board and sat down to research other cities.
Deciding that living near our families would have to wait, we used the website www.city-data.com to find locations that fit our criteria. Matt was drawn to California for their medical liability reforms and great weather, and we found a couple of other locations in Idaho. He applied for jobs he found through a recruiter as well as through www.gaswork.com. Matt received five interviews. During the month of November, we made a whirlwind tour of Modesto and Redding, CA and Lewiston and Twin Falls, ID. It helped a great deal that the five different groups paid for airfares, rental car, babysitting and dinners. We fell in love with what the group in Redding had to offer and thought it would be a great place to raise a family. Upon returning home, we tried to narrow down our options. Matt had the great idea to keep a journal of sorts. After each interview, we would have a “download session” where we would write everything we could remember about a certain local- population, housing prices, and specifics on the job: pay, benefits, etc. Anything and everything we could write, we did. We then went through the notebook and brought up any concerns regardless of importance and discussed them.
The beginning of December brought two job offers and two more possibilities. However, none of our prospects were where are hearts truly desired to be- closer to family. They were all still a good plane ride to both sets of parents. We felt we needed to make a decision and have something lined up before the start of the New Year. For me, it was so I could have a good 6 months to start looking for housing and schools; for Matt, he wanted to have his credentialing and licensing in place to start as soon as he graduated. (Word to the wise: Look into the time requirements for getting state licenses, each state has it’s own set of “rules.” For example it takes about 6-9 months to get licensed in the State of California, and one usually has to get their fingerprints done twice.) We made the decision to go with a group in California, but could not bring ourselves to sign the contract.
Right before Christmas, Matt called from the hospital and told me he planned to call an anesthesia group in Boise, ID. He wanted to see if their needs had changed. This being the days of all days- car battery dies, planning an activity for our church, kids are sick and need antibiotics, and I have no car! Matt called to let me know he was coming home and would take the car in to get the battery changed. He gave me the bad news that the anesthesia group in Boise did not need anyone and wished him luck. He said “I guess it’s meant to be that we spend some time in California. I will sign the contract tonight, and mail it off first thing in the morning.” While getting the battery changed, Matt received a page from some number in Idaho. Matt did not think much of it. He had interviewed with a few groups in various locations in the state. He thought possibly it was another job offer. Much to his surprise, it was the group president of the Boise group. Matt was told that the group’s needs had changed! Their University of Washington alumni group members would be contacting Matt’s residency program for more insight on him. Within the week, Matt was offered a great position in Boise, ID. One would have thought we would have jumped on the opportunity immediately, but we considered it carefully. We wanted to make sure that we made the right decision for our family- spiritually and financially – and that the location would truly meet our needs and desires. Even though Matt would have made more money in California versus the group in Idaho, factors such as benefits and cost of living showed that we would be happier in Idaho. Not to mention we would be closer to our extended families and allow our children form and build relationships with these people.
We thought that once the contract was signed, it would be a piece of cake from there. Boy, was I wrong! There was applying for a state medical license- which required a pre-application to just the actual application, a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) license, a state pharmacy license (which wouldn’t be granted unless a state medical license and DEA license were in hand), and let’s not forget hospital credentialing- yet another pre-application to get the actual application. Luckily, the various departments in the state of Idaho were rather efficient and Matt received some bonus money to help defray these costs.
As we begin to exit this life and moving on to a newer (and hopefully brighter) life, I realize that I am no longer thinking of the issues that plagued me at the beginning of internship: how will our child and I do with Matt being gone so much? How will Matt do being so sleep deprived? How can I carve a life out for myself? Instead, I find myself thinking of the changes that will be occurring in our lives- a new house, a new baby due in December, more time off. I have been so accustomed to Matt being gone and hearing our oldest say “Daddy lives at the hospital” that as crazy as this sounds, I almost don’t want to change my apartment-dwelling crazy-hour self-sufficient mother of two life. To be quite frank, I am scared out of my wits to have a larger income than barely minimum wage, to own a home, and to see my husband more. Thankfully, I am setting goals for my family and myself to keep us grounded and to give a start to improving the relationships that were put on hold four years ago. Maybe these changes won’t be so bad. I can say now – as I am ending and some people are just beginning -there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is starting to look mighty good.
Crystal Fowler currently lives in Boise, Idaho. She is the spouse of an anesthesiologist trained at the University of Washington in Seattle. They have two children, and are expecting another child in December 2005.
