Career update

In the midst of deciding to get married and planning a wedding I have had a major shift in career focus. It is not because I am getting married that my plans are changing but simply due to the timing of the rotations I have been on and several ways God has been hitting me over the head with the obvious.



For the past year and a half I have been pursuing transplant surgery and have been incredibly excited about the opportunities in that field. Due to my interest in transplant surgery I scheduled as many vascular surgery rotations this year as possible since they have a lot of similar surgical technique. As a result, for the past 18 weeks I have been immersed in as much vascular surgery as possible.



Little did I know how much I would enjoy vascular surgery and that it is actually an area I excel in. During my rotations as I got to know the staff and gained their trust I was doing larger and larger portions of surgeries to the point that prior to completing the 18 weeks I did as much or more than most chief residents do. The feedback I received from staff was unanimously complimentary but escalated to the point that they were discussing why I should become a vascular surgeon and all the many reasons I shouldn't go into transplant surgery nearly every day with me. At first I thought they were just being funny and then I realized how serious they were. It all culminated on the last day of my vascular surgery rotations when a staff gave me even more independence and when he saw how well I did with it he sighed and said, "There is room for you in vascular surgery. There isn't room for you in transplant. When you decide that you want to be a vascular surgeon you just let us know and we will make it happen."

I have received a lot of positive feedback throughout residency that I was progressing well and ahead of my expected level technically, but I've never had so many staff absolutely insist that I have an exceptional talent for their field. I love vascular surgery. It is insanely fun. One staff told me, "It's the most fun you'll ever have with your pants on."

Yesterday I met with one of the head vascular surgeons to talk about my future. It was an incredibly affirming meeting and has left no doubt that vascular surgery will not only be a great career but it is a dynamic field where I can practice anywhere in the world and have a great lifestyle (for a surgeon). I will complete my general surgery residency as planned with 1 year of transplant research beginning this July 1st. Seriously it is going to be the best year of my life up to this point. Wedding, honeymoon, complete flexibility with a job I will do from home... what more can I ask for?

After the research year I will have 3 more clinical years until I can become board certified as a general surgeon. From there I will do a 2 year vascular surgery fellowship. This could be at IU but likely will happen elsewhere. From there the sky is the limit. They have made it clear that I could likely have a job on staff at IU if I want to or I can go to any small or large city in the country or head overseas depending on where God leads Kerwyn and I.

While I won't be doing tummy tucks and face lifts like several relatives have hoped and I won't be putting new kidneys into patients on dialysis I will be involved in emergency life-or-death ruptured aneurysm repairs, restoring bloodflow to extremities that will otherwise become gangrenous, preventing debilitating strokes, providing access for patients who need dialysis and amputating limbs when a diseased limb is actually limiting the quality of one's life.


I am so excited about all that is to come with my surgical career.

In the meantime I'm off to Puerto Vallarta for a wonderful week with my fiance and parents. God is good!

Curling

Last night (thanks to my moms recommendation) I took Kerwyn curling. It was a blast. Neither of us fell but we are both a little tired from the constant effort to stay vertical. We went from minimal understanding of the game to throwing out phrases like, "hog line" and "hurry hard" within 2 hours. I would highly recommend it as a "sport" to try. Even if I never play again I now understand how it really works. I see visions of curling with my house church, other surgery residents and anyone else crazy enough to join us in the future. Sorry for the last picture Kerwyn, but it was too hilarious to not post.