-or- The man behind the, um, screen name I guess. (Whoa that was dumb)
There are a lot of great blogs here. And a lot of folks talk a lot about their lives in their blogs. Up to this point I haven't really written much about myself. But as I feel I am starting to make some online friends here and become part of a community I don't much care for the idea of hiding behind the anonymity of my screen name. So I thought I would write a little about who I actually am and what makes me tick. Arrogant of me? Perhaps, but I don't mean it to be. Actually it is an effort to expose myself a little bit.
My real name is Peter. I grew up in Utah, lived most of my life there. After I graduated from high school in 1994 I went to one year of college and then took two years off to serve a religious mission. I was fortunate enough to spend the next two years living in the marvelous Central American country of Guatemala, where I learned to love the culture and people of that great country, the Spanish language, and black beans. I made some wonderful friends, had more life changing experiences than I can count, and worked harder than I ever have in my life. It was a wonderful experience.
I arrived back in Utah in 1997 and started school again. I attended Utah State University, the same university I had previously attended. They were nice enough to pay for my education so I figured I would stick with them. In December of that year I had another life altering experience, definitely the most important and wonderful of my life. I met my (future) wife.
It was an amazing experience, we had been around each other for months but never really met, when suddenly we were talking to and running into each other every day. I knew I had to take advantage of that and asked her out. And amazing three months later we were engaged, and by July of the next year (1998) we were married. In a couple months it will be 6 years, and an amazing 6 years it has been.
We both continued going to school full time, while we worked part time. I knew medicine was my goal, so I began volunteering at the hospital as well. We were busy, but we were happy, and that is what counts. Soon we found out that we were expecting our first little one, and that was when things really got exciting.
We finished that year of school, our first little girl was born, beautiful, wonderful, and healthy, and the next day I was offered a full time position working in the OR of the hospital I had been volunteering at. School started again, I was working full time now, we were both still going to school full time and there was a new definition to busy for us. Time went on, school went well and we both graduated cum laude on the same day. It was a wonderful and memorable day for us and our families. My wife graduated with a degree in music education with an emphasis on voice, and I with a degree in cellular/molecular biology. My wife was asked to be the director for a children's choir and we both decided that a year off would be good for us.
In the meantime I was working on getting ready for medical school, taking the MCAT, jumping through all the other hoops you need to in order to make medical schools happy, and supporting a family at the same time. I continued to work at the hospital, was working in a lab in the late afternoons, and also started teaching an MCAT preparatory course some nights. Medical school applications were one of the worst experiences of my life, difficult, time consuming, and downright depressing. Oh, and expensive. So I only applied to eight schools, then only turned in six secondaries (as each is long and costly) and ended up turning down interviews at three of those six because I just didn't want to pay for the trips. Out of the three I interviewed at I was accepted at two and an alternate at one (which didn't surprise me as it was a state school in a state I wasn't a resident!).
We now had a tough decision to make. Stay in Utah and by all our family and go the University of Utah? Or trek out on our own and take the incredible opportunity of going to med school at Duke. While the U of U was the obvious logical choice, we felt ourselves being led in a different direction, much to the chagrin of our families. We made a few trips, did a lot of talking and praying, and decided to move to North Carolina. Our families were incredibly supportive even though we could tell they were a little disappointed, and continue to stand behind us despite the 2500 miles between us.
Of course, as fate would have it, after we decided to move to NC we found out we were expecting our second one. We had previously been through a miscarriage and were ecstatic about the prospect of an addition to the family. Medical school started, was incredibly tough that first year, and our second little girl joined the family the day after Christmas in 2002. She was amazing as well. Two little beautiful, wonderful girls. I couldn't ask for more. A son would be fun though. . .
Duke does things a little different. Rather than spending our first two years doing the classes, then the last two in the hospital and the clinics, we bust through all the coursework in our first year. It makes for a horrendous year, but while my friends at other schools are still sitting in class and taking tests I am in the OR, operating on people, giving physical exams, taking histories, and actually taking care of people. I didn't mind the grueling first year. Next year will be great as well. I have the amazing opportunity to work in a nationally renowned Urology lab, doing some really cool work that will continue to advance the field. And, yes, that is the type of medicine I am thinking of practicing. In addition to being a surgical specialty (and I know I need to do surgery) it is a specialty populated by amazing people, and it is a very family friendly surgical specialty (comparatively). And I cannot emphasize how important that is for me.
So there you have it, a brief story of a 27 year old (soon to be 28) medical student. Yep, I am the only one in my class of 100 with children, so they treat me a little differently, but they are great people. We love where we live, have wonderful friends and church support, and are very, very happy. Busy, but happy. And that is what matters.
It has, and continues to be, a pleasure to get to know some of you here. I hope we can continue to make friends and acquaintances.