2012 Year-End Newsletter

It has been quite the year. I was ready to quit med school near the beginning of the year, but decided to stick it out and graduate. In February, soon-to-graduate DOs go through the Match, in which applicants are matched to residency programs based on applicants' and programs' ranking of each other. If the student doesn't match, he enters the scramble, in which applicants scramble to get into any open residency positions. I scrambled into a traditional internship year in Florida. An internship year takes the trainee through rotations in the main specialties, plus a lot of general medicine.

Finishing up med school gave me a bit of a boost, making me feel that I could muster the strength to get through a year of general medicine, which I have never liked, and apply to an orthopedic surgery residency, which had always been my goal. After starting internship, though, I resumed disliking what I was doing, this time to the point of becoming more and more suicidal. This came to a head, and after reevaluating my life and career, I made the hard decision to stop pursuing a medical career.

Mom was kind enough to offer to put me up until I could figure out where to go from here, so I am back home. Part of my hardship was living out of state for the first time, far from the support of any family or friends. It's good being back around loved ones and in a familiar place. I really enjoyed tutoring in the past, so I am currently picking up tutoring jobs, looking for a more formal teaching position for more stability. I am also making a pointed effort to stay in touch with friends to maintain support so I don't get so depressed again.

I am also studying topics of interest. For example, I'm looking into human trafficking and what I can do to help end it, y aprendo Español. Once I get a handle on Spanish, I would like to tackle Mandarin, Hindi, and Arabic so I am proficient in the five most popular world languages. Russian and the major Western European languages are also in my list.

Very exciting recent news is that I and a friend from college have been reconnecting recently and are headed toward starting to go out (or going steady, seeing each other, etc., if you prefer). She lives about two and a half hours north, but she regularly visits her family an hour south, so we'll have plenty of opportunities to see each other.

With the major change that's happened, it may seem like I'm going through a rough patch, which to an extent is true, but I do feel predominantly good about where my life is now. My main concern now is finding a job so I can make loan payments when they go into repayment, and eventually become financially self-sufficient.

To accommodate everyones' schedule, we moved our traditional Christmas celebration to the 28th, so Santa hasn't quite arrived here yet. For those of you who observed the typical Christmas date, I wish you a Happy New Year. For everyone coming over here on Friday, Merry early Christmas and Happy New Year.

Scott