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It feels like it's been a very long time since I have read or posted on this website.....maybe a year or so. I hope some of you may remember me. My husband first did a surgical residency in Buffalo and during my 3rd high risk pregnancy, he took a family medical leave to help me manage during my 10 weeks of bedrest. He decided after 3 years of surgery then, that he didn't want to return. That was in May 2001. He decided to look into post match radiology spots back then but couldn't find one. Instead, he found a wonderful opportunity for a fellowship in nuclear medicine at PENN. So, we picked up and moved our growing family to the Philadelphia area. He finished the nuclear medicine fellowship in 2003 and passed his nuclear medicine boards and began looking for an attending job. It was impossible to find one. He went on unemployment for a few months and then his former supervisor at PENN hired him as an "advanced trainee" to help ease the load in the nuclear medicine dept. and allow us to pay the rent. After a few months, he found a part-time job as an attending physician doing nuclear medicine with a large radiology practice at a few different area hospitals. He has been working 3 half days there ever since, all the while searching endlessly for a full-time solely nuclear medicine position. Some of you may remember that he came very close to getting a job in Denver and Ann Arbor and a few other places, after being wined and dined after interviews and hopeful phone and email contacts. Over and over........things just never panned out......and it has been pretty depressing for both of us.
It was around that time that reading this board became more painful to me because it seemed like everyone was progressing except for us. I received wonderful support and felt very comfortable here........but kept feeling worse reading here as NOTHING was working out professionally for my guy. I needed to take a break from here, I guess. There were times I wanted to come and check in or see how everyone was doing, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Now that I think about it, I remember being concerned most about one of the guys here whose baby was having seizures or something. I hope that baby and family are well now. I feel badly that I never followed up with anyone here and that I just sort of disappeared for a while.
Well, I guess I am back......and I may be staying for a while. My husband, Alan, decided that the only way to make himself more marketable would be to dive into the radiology match process. He had wanted to do that before...but then didn't for a variety of reasons. He is much older now and it would cost more for a program to pay him as a result of his previous training........his board scores were not amazing...but he passed each step the first time---he knew he had a lot going against him in this EXTREMELY competitive field, but that it would be worth a big last chance effort to just go for it.
So he.....we.....did. He applied to 45 radiology residency programs this season. He received 0 interviews which was quite depressing after all of the effort he...we....put into this whole process and following up, etc. His letters of rec. are outstanding, as are his many publications and research, etc.,-----we knew it was the old (good but not excellent--each taken during a different family crisis, such as when a child was in the ICU) board scores and his being a more expensive and older candidate that were going against him.
So, we went ahead and did the rank order thing and new it was hopeless.....but needed in order to be eligible for the scramble. On this past Monday we received the "Sorry, you didn't match anywhere" email.
On Tuesday, we arranged for the kids to all stay late at school and we had a major game plan to deal with the scramble. At noon, the email arrived, just as promised, with the list of unfilled residency positions across the country. We were shocked to find 39 radiology spots---in 25 programs and across 13 states. They each had different rules about communicating: fax only, email only, ERAS website only, call only, etc. Alan and I systematically went through each and every one of those 25 programs as fast as possible getting the application/CV/etc. to them however they wanted it......praying for a last chance dream to come true. I went to 2 fax places and paid people to stand and feed the machine over and over and over until they went through, as the fax lines were busy for hours as they were being flooded with applications, we assume. We were in a frenzy...getting everything out ASAP during this scramble time......knowing that success was highly unlikely. On Wednesday morning, he called each and every program to make sure they received all of his data....by then, he was informed that most of the scramble spots had already been filled. He went to work that afternoon, feeling that it was all a huge waste of time, energy, and money because there were no indications otherwise.
Well, at 1:30pm yesterday, the phone rang at home asking for him. It was someone from Wayne State University. I gave her his cell phone number, barely believing that anyone was calling having anything to do with this match.....not wanting to get my hopes up. I then ran to my highlighted, scribbled upon, checkmarked list to find out where the heck Wayne State University was anyway, not able to keep track of all the applications in my head. 10 minutes later, Alan called and asked me what I thought of Detroit. I told him that it didn't thrill me but if he had a chance there we should go for it!!!!! He said, "Good, because I just accepted their offer!!!!"
So........he now will go from being a part-time attending in nuclear medicine to being a full-time radiology resident. I was surprised that he did not need to have an actual in-person interview for this to be formalized.......but that's just the way it worked out. One other detail to point out-----this residency does not start until July 2006. So that gives us a nice leisurely amount of time to plan and travel there and figure out housing and schooling, etc. Oh, and also, the director did mention to him that it might be possible for him to get credit for his nuclear medicine training and cut out a significant amount of his residency time.
So------we are in shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we are having a blast learning everything possible about the suburbs of Detroit. It's also been fun calling everyone we know who has supported us through this whole seemingly endless process, to share the news. I still almost can't believe that this is happening!!!!!! We are downright giddy and terrified all at the same time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was around that time that reading this board became more painful to me because it seemed like everyone was progressing except for us. I received wonderful support and felt very comfortable here........but kept feeling worse reading here as NOTHING was working out professionally for my guy. I needed to take a break from here, I guess. There were times I wanted to come and check in or see how everyone was doing, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Now that I think about it, I remember being concerned most about one of the guys here whose baby was having seizures or something. I hope that baby and family are well now. I feel badly that I never followed up with anyone here and that I just sort of disappeared for a while.
Well, I guess I am back......and I may be staying for a while. My husband, Alan, decided that the only way to make himself more marketable would be to dive into the radiology match process. He had wanted to do that before...but then didn't for a variety of reasons. He is much older now and it would cost more for a program to pay him as a result of his previous training........his board scores were not amazing...but he passed each step the first time---he knew he had a lot going against him in this EXTREMELY competitive field, but that it would be worth a big last chance effort to just go for it.
So he.....we.....did. He applied to 45 radiology residency programs this season. He received 0 interviews which was quite depressing after all of the effort he...we....put into this whole process and following up, etc. His letters of rec. are outstanding, as are his many publications and research, etc.,-----we knew it was the old (good but not excellent--each taken during a different family crisis, such as when a child was in the ICU) board scores and his being a more expensive and older candidate that were going against him.
So, we went ahead and did the rank order thing and new it was hopeless.....but needed in order to be eligible for the scramble. On this past Monday we received the "Sorry, you didn't match anywhere" email.
On Tuesday, we arranged for the kids to all stay late at school and we had a major game plan to deal with the scramble. At noon, the email arrived, just as promised, with the list of unfilled residency positions across the country. We were shocked to find 39 radiology spots---in 25 programs and across 13 states. They each had different rules about communicating: fax only, email only, ERAS website only, call only, etc. Alan and I systematically went through each and every one of those 25 programs as fast as possible getting the application/CV/etc. to them however they wanted it......praying for a last chance dream to come true. I went to 2 fax places and paid people to stand and feed the machine over and over and over until they went through, as the fax lines were busy for hours as they were being flooded with applications, we assume. We were in a frenzy...getting everything out ASAP during this scramble time......knowing that success was highly unlikely. On Wednesday morning, he called each and every program to make sure they received all of his data....by then, he was informed that most of the scramble spots had already been filled. He went to work that afternoon, feeling that it was all a huge waste of time, energy, and money because there were no indications otherwise.
Well, at 1:30pm yesterday, the phone rang at home asking for him. It was someone from Wayne State University. I gave her his cell phone number, barely believing that anyone was calling having anything to do with this match.....not wanting to get my hopes up. I then ran to my highlighted, scribbled upon, checkmarked list to find out where the heck Wayne State University was anyway, not able to keep track of all the applications in my head. 10 minutes later, Alan called and asked me what I thought of Detroit. I told him that it didn't thrill me but if he had a chance there we should go for it!!!!! He said, "Good, because I just accepted their offer!!!!"
So........he now will go from being a part-time attending in nuclear medicine to being a full-time radiology resident. I was surprised that he did not need to have an actual in-person interview for this to be formalized.......but that's just the way it worked out. One other detail to point out-----this residency does not start until July 2006. So that gives us a nice leisurely amount of time to plan and travel there and figure out housing and schooling, etc. Oh, and also, the director did mention to him that it might be possible for him to get credit for his nuclear medicine training and cut out a significant amount of his residency time.
So------we are in shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we are having a blast learning everything possible about the suburbs of Detroit. It's also been fun calling everyone we know who has supported us through this whole seemingly endless process, to share the news. I still almost can't believe that this is happening!!!!!! We are downright giddy and terrified all at the same time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer
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