Husband wants to be a dawktah

Hi, my husband has decided to bite the bullet and apply to medical school. I am totally OCD and so have joined this site to read everything I can about what it's like to live with a med student/resident.

He is 31, I am 36. We live in Kansas City, and have a son who is almost 3 and I work as a nurse doing "weekend work" = work 2 -12's and get paid for 3. Hubby has taken MCAT, did well, has a high GPA but most likely lukewarm LOR's and currently no EC's or patient experience so this year will be about gaining this type of experience working, volunteering and shadowing physicians.

I know most of you are already in this lifestyle so it's great coming here reading all of this info, seeing what is in store for the family. I am glad so many of you are already married with kids. Makes me feel not so alone.

Thanks!

Welcome! Kansas City here, too. Is your dh finishing his undergrad or working already?

Welcome! Kansas City here, too. Is your dh finishing his undergrad or working already?

He finished undergrad 2005 in genetics, and worked for a year at home on a programming project. Now he's stay at home dad gearing up for the application cycle and trying to find a research assistant job or pharm tech...anything medical related, to help cover expenses until matriculation.

He is a Kansas City native (Prairie Village), but I'm a transplant. Have you been here long? How bad was the pathology residency?

We've been here 1.5 years. Path residency is by far one of the more mild hours wise, but escapes nothing politically (ahhh, acadamia!) and so was still awful. My dh also originally planned to do general surgery, so we got to experience the joy of GS intern year (also known as hell on earth).

We've been here 1.5 years. Path residency is by far one of the more mild hours wise, but escapes nothing politically (ahhh, acadamia!) and so was still awful. My dh also originally planned to do general surgery, so we got to experience the joy of GS intern year (also known as hell on earth).

HA! I've always felt sorry for those poor sx residents who answer the phone at 3am with slurred speech from so little sleep. Definitely not fun. Thankfully, DH has no interest in surgery. It's too bad that there is so much politicking involved in Pathology. What else is involved in that work? In hospital, I only see that the path's get samples from sx to examine.

[Meenah]

Welcome, glad you are here.

[Stella]

Welcome

[Lo]

welcome!

[Bittersweet]

From one newbie to another...welcome!

It's too bad that there is so much politicking involved in Pathology. What else is involved in that work?

I think there is the opportunity for a lot of politics in ANY specialty, and it really depends on how the department is run. The department where dh works as an attending is run (for the most part) by some really good eggs, and we don't have that kind of tension.

I copied this from Wikipedia, b/c there are LOTS of different facets of Pathology and I don't do it justic in describing it.

Gross pathology: the recognition of disease based on macroscopic examination of surgical specimens generated at the time of surgery or at autopsy.
Histology: the microscopic study of tissues. Histopathology is the science of diagnosing diseases on the basis of the histological aspect of the diseased tissues.
Cytology: the study of detached cells. Cytopathology is the science of diagnosing diseases on the basis of the cytological aspects of detached cells. The most common application of this technique is the Pap smear.
Clinical chemistry: the gathering, detection, and reporting of an incredible array of chemical measures found by the analysis of collected body samples.
Immunology: the use of specific immune markers and antibodies to aid in the diagnosis of disease.
Flow cytometry:analysis of a process that allows for the identification of specific cells .
Molecular Biology techniques, like PCR and FISH are increasingly useful to diagnose diseases, especially microbiological and cancer diagnosis.

[edit] Branches of pathology

[edit] Medicine
In the United States, pathologists are medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO), that have completed a four year undergraduate program, four years of medical school training, and four to five years of postgraduate training in the form of a pathology residency. Training may be within two primary specialties, as recognized by the American Board of Pathology:

Anatomic Pathology, the science of diagnosing diseases based on the appearance, both gross and microscopic appearance of tissues.
Clinical Pathology, the science of diagnosing diseases based on the analysis of body fluids like blood, urine, etc.
Most pathologists seek a broad based training in both fields and thus require four years of postgraduate training known as residency. Board certification examination is required. Boarding requirements are set by the American Board of Pathology. Following the general training, many pathologist continue on to more specialized training within specific fields of pathology. This speciality training is termed a fellowship. Multiple fellowship oppurtunities are available within both Anatomical and Clinical Pathology. Examples of fellowhips include General Surgical Pathology, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Genitourinary pathology, Hematopathology, Dermatopathology, Microbiology, and Clinical Chemistry. These are but a few of the numerous fields within pathology. Some of the speciality areas of pathology are board certified while others are not. Pathologists, like all other medical doctors, require a medical license from the State they are working in to practice their field. This entailes meeting continuing medical education requirements to maintain liscensure.

My dh did both AP & CP residency and did a fellowship in Transfusion Medicine.

[MissCrabette]

Welcome!

Welcome! Has your dh considered volunteering in a hospice? Our med school program almost required it when dh applied. Good luck on your journey.

We talked about that today, so coming here and seeing this post reinforces that idea. Volunteering at an AIDS hospice and working as a research assistant is probably his path until matriculation.

Thank you all for welcoming me. It will be approx 8-10 years before he is practicing which is a huge chunk of time. We haven't even been together that long.