are you kidding me? god I hate medicine.

[Flynn]

So my DH is in his first year of a two year CT fellowship. He is officially a PGY 8 with one more year to go.

Since the market for Cardiac surgeons is almost DEAD (no jobs anywhere) for a variety of reasons, we naturally have turned our heads towards Thorasic. The problem -- so is everybody else. So to avoid getting crappy job you need to distinguish yourself.

We are seriously considering MORE TRAINING after the two year CT fellowship. Give me strength. It would only be one more year but we would have to move more than likely.

The pros are that we would most likely get to choose where we live since DH would be in demand after the extra year of training. The cons are OBVIOUS.

I am so crabby right now it's not funny.

I hate surgery, I hate medicine and I hate all of our career choices!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRHG!!!!

DH is going to talk to a few more people and we are going to make a decision one way or another soon. It looks like for what DH wants to do, Pitsburg is where we should be. (Insert a BIG FAT SIGH here.)

Another year? If I were you, I'd be a wee bit crabby too.

Pittsburgh for a year for as a final destination?

[Flynn]

Pittsburgh would ONLY be for a year.

[DCJenn]

Actually Pittsburgh (PA) has turned itself around and is a really cool town. There's a fantastic childrens' museum and the Andy Warhol museum is great. There's a bunch of really fun and historic neighborhoods and the people are great. and the cost of living is still good considering that you're on the East Coast.

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

Oh my.

Sounds like one of my nightmares when DH was PGY7--somehow he'd spring MORE TRAINING on me. I don't know what to say except that's really crappy news. Pittsburgh was on our job list; it had a very good GYN/ONC division. I don't know much about it though. A one year move is awful too. Yikes. I'm not helping am I? Why is the job market so rough? When would you be looking if you didn't do more training? Next year? Is there any way he could network his way into something permanent with additional training as part of the gig? At least then you could plan your life a little-and maybe stay in one area. I'm grasping at straws......DH did threaten more training with one of his job opportunities. At least with that they were going to hire him and then send him for more training--in EUROPE no less, so it was tempting. Still, I balked. I feel for you.

[HeartRN]

Flynn....I'm right there with you. We're starting our "fellowship on a fellowship" in 2006, for our FINAL (I refuse to do any more) training year, in CA. I dread moving for one year only....the upside is that we're going to a beautiful place where Keelin and I can play outside all of the time. The downside is we can barely scrape by $$ wise here and CA is way more expensive. Sorry to hijack........but I really do feel your pain!

*Note....we have 2 CT fellows right now who are getting more training before they go out for real jobs, too. One said she just didn't get enough case experience and wanted more...I'm guessing to make herself more marketable? In any event, it does seem to be the norm lately, unfortunately.

Huge sympathies - and agreement. At this point I feel like ANY other profession would have been an improvement.

I will tell you, though, that good friends of mine are finishing a cardiology fellow in Pittsburgh (UPMC) and have gotten a job for $275K, with a buy in to the practice after 1 year for $5K! Pittsburgh is truly now a great town, I really love it (and I'm from CLEVELAND - we're supposed to hate them).

I know you're surgery rather than straight cardiology - I just figured that I would share a happy tale from the general area.

Best of luck!

Good Lord, Flynn! That sounds awful. Hang in there; it has to end someday, right? In theory?

[SueC]

That really sucks!!! That does sound like your options are limited if the job market is that tight.

Re: are you kidding me? god I hate medicine.

It looks like for what DH wants to do, Pitsburg is where we should be. (Insert a BIG FAT SIGH here.)

Oh, so sorry! Only one more year.....

One of my best friends lives in Pittsburgh. If you need any information....

[migirl]

Ugh, that sucks. We're not at that point yet (only PGY-3), but my DH has started thinking/talking about fellowship and there's the possibility that he'll want to do three fellowships on top of the regular 6-year residency and on top of the extra year he's taking next year to do a Master's degree in health care policy. If he does everything he wants to he'll be PGY-10 when he finally finishes training! :thud: I told him that he'd better make some damned good money for all of the time he's going to invest in his training. Anyway, I feel for you.

Just putting a plug in for Pittsburgh. We lived there for 8 years for DH's med school and residency. Pittsburgh is a GREAT city. Just in the 8 years we lived there (1995-2003), it had changed so much for the better. Great restaurants. Lots of things for kids to do. Visually beautiful. Great parks. I really miss Pittsburgh. I doubt we'll move back just because we have no family there. But, I wouldn't be dissappointed if we end up there.

Re: are you kidding me? god I hate medicine.

I hate surgery, I hate medicine and I hate all of our career choices!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRHG!!!!
(Insert a BIG FAT SIGH here.)

Girlfriend, I feel your pain and frustration. I am sorry to hear that you might have to endure yet 1 more year. It's sad to think that all the training thus far isn't enough. It scares me!
1 year is no big deal but when you add it on to years and years of surgery training, I can imagine it makes you feel like screaming! Enough already!

If I could I would give you a big hug and take you to the Spa for an entire day!!!! :@
Keep us updated.

[BonBon]

Oh, Flynn

I am so sorry to hear that. Can your DH do vascular surgery without any additional training? That might be worth thinking about. (The only vascular surgeon here suffered a stroke and could no longer work and the CT surgeons took over for him until they recruited a new guy.)

[houseelf]

Group hug.

My deepest condolences.

I would offer words of commiseration or sympathy, but they would just seem so impotent.

The universe has to have some good breaks coming your way. Keep your chin up.

Kelly