Tuesday, January 3, 2012

what's next for my favorite doc


we enjoyed a fairly quiet advent season...maybe i'll post some pictures later if i get to it. i posted on here a while back to pray for our future decisions about adam's career. thank you for those of you who prayed for us to have wisdom. we now know what adam will be doing for at least the next 2 years and we feel excited, peaceful, and thankful that we have been led to this path.

so GUESS WHAT?



at the end of adam's residency in internal medicine (hereafter referred to as IM) in july, he will start another residency in emergency medicine (EM).

are you shocked? don't worry, it took me an entire week to be able to discuss this in earnest. it wasn't really fair that he sprung it on me the week of my sister's wedding. i think i said something like: WHAT?! I CAN'TTALKABOUTTHISRIGHTNOW. i didn't really yell...my style is to just leave the room and bury myself in something much less important. you see, residency has been hard. it has been sweet too and there has been sufficient grace for every difficult, exhausting month, but there have been moments where i have just felt this tremendous and lonely burden for everything. of course, the Lord has taught me much about my need for Him and my idolatry of particular circumstances (such as some mythological situation in which my husband does not have to put in much time at work, or when med-school debt magically disappears). anyway, i prayed and prayed for the Lord to change my heart and give me an excitement for what He called adam to or for Him to redirect adam. well, adam has remained steadfast and i have warmed up to the idea. the Lord has given me a real joy to see adam take hold of something he feels called to and go with it even if it seems a bit strange or means those med-school loans won't get paid off as quickly.


ok, so why EM? during his emergency month this summer, adam came home every day so excited about all the things he had learned to do. he loves IM and is glad he did it, but he began to see a vision for how useful IM and EM could be together. EM offers a very broad type of training: from pregnant women, sick kids, broken bones, wounds, trauma...and these are things adam wants to know how to treat. we do not know what the Lord is preparing us for ultimately, but EM is so useful overseas for example or in clinic settings. he will be set up to be very versatile and with healthcare changing so much these days, that seems wise.

we are thankful for:
*a position being offered to adam outside the match here in our city so we don't have to move...paperwork turned in today! this is a unique opportunity and adam is very grateful.
*save a couple rotations (trauma and ob), adam will mostly be doing humane 9-12 hr shifts in the ED with a reasonable number of days off so it is a fairly family-friendly program. no more 24 hr call!
*adam will go ahead and take his IM boards so he can moonlight a little here and there so we can very slowly start chipping away at this med-school debt
*i am so thankful to see the spark in adam to learn and grow as a doctor. he is beyond excited. what wife doesn't want her husband to enjoy his job? and for us to be unified and peaceful...we have had some agonizing conversations about what to do in recent months.

thank you for your faithful prayers!

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