Surgery
Application process part 2 has caused us some soul searching with Jared's career choice. Is surgery really "it" for us or is there another field of medicine that he could be happy with or even more happy with?
What does "a good lifestyle" mean anyway? A job where you work less hours? A job that fulfills you? At the end of all of this training, at retirement, 15 years down the road, at the end of residency....I hope to have a husband that is happy with the career he has chosen. My husband often says "happy wife, happy life". There must be an equivalent...happy husband, happy wife and children. I also want to have a husband that is there for his family: me and his kids! We are hoping for both.
When Jared decided to go into surgery most of our friends tried to talk him out of it. Well, I can't think of any of our med school friends who didn't try to talk him out of it...so basically everyone tried to talk him out of it. ( You know who you are.) :) All intentions were good. Every medical student must go through a surgical rotation and I believe most found surgery to have long hours and an undesireable "lifestyle". Jared is busier than a lot of other residents I'm sure, but this year has definitely solidified that we made the right decision.
What does "a good lifestyle" mean anyway? A job where you work less hours? A job that fulfills you? At the end of all of this training, at retirement, 15 years down the road, at the end of residency....I hope to have a husband that is happy with the career he has chosen. My husband often says "happy wife, happy life". There must be an equivalent...happy husband, happy wife and children. I also want to have a husband that is there for his family: me and his kids! We are hoping for both.
When Jared decided to go into surgery most of our friends tried to talk him out of it. Well, I can't think of any of our med school friends who didn't try to talk him out of it...so basically everyone tried to talk him out of it. ( You know who you are.) :) All intentions were good. Every medical student must go through a surgical rotation and I believe most found surgery to have long hours and an undesireable "lifestyle". Jared is busier than a lot of other residents I'm sure, but this year has definitely solidified that we made the right decision.
Not only does he enjoy what he does everyday, but he also works with doctors from many other disciplines. I think this has only reaffirmed that he is glad he is the surgeon and not the emergency room doctor, not the urologist, not the internal medicine doctor, not the anethesiologist, etc.
Last week he brought home a card that one of his patients had given him to thank him for being his doctor. It was quite lengthy and as I read it I wondered if this man knew that Jared had only been out of medical school for months. The patient was impressed by Jared's confidence, passion, and for how well he preformed the surgery.
Granted, the rewards of Jared practicing surgery do not always come in the form of formal thank you cards but he does love what he's doing. I think especially down the road, he will be glad for going into something he enjoys.
We are very happy that Jared has chosen a field he enjoys so much! And I think that everyone in the family has to be happy to have a happy family, so good for you guys!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, who would ever try to talk you out of going into surgery?:)
ReplyDeleteYou really do have to go in to (residency wise) what will make you happy, no matter what the length of training. It seemed like Alan and I had many of these talks. It's good to hear that Jared is really liking surgery. Jared is probably going to be exausted after interviewing and now in his first year working a lot of hours. You will probably be very busy with Marley too if he's gone a lot. Good luck and keep us updated!
ReplyDeleteI am there with you on the Happy Husband=Happy wife and family, but it does go both ways! It's hard to find that happy medium sometimes. It's good that Jared chose something he loves, so he doesn't regret it down the road. That's how I have to look at it with Gary who is in the process of starting his own business and being self employed. It is hard though when they choose something that has long hours. You gotta be a strong loving wife and mommy to be okay with that!
ReplyDeleteIt is great to hear the both you and Jared agree he made the right decision to be a surgeon!
ReplyDeleteEverything you said sounds really familiar. We had reservations too, but are this far into and don't have any regrets. I am glad you're both happy.
ReplyDeleteSurgery rules!
ReplyDeleteWe are glad that you chose to do what you like despite the harrassment of "friends". I think that those friends had just hoped that you could be equally happy without having to work for those long hours. Oh well we think you should do what you love. We are just feeling sympathy for you now as we are going through a little taste of what your life is like.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great entry. All those same discussions happen constantly at our house as well. Even though Clint has another year of deciding, he loves surgery. I must say at the present moment I cringe at the idea, and we too constantly are told "chose something else". Anyways nice to hear it from a different perspective!
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