Family Death

Nothing new to say in regards to medical school.  Still waiting out my last half-year at my current job, looking forward to starting and hoping I am prepared.  My entire family had a huge shock, however, in the new year.

My older brother, Mathew, died suddenly some time before going to work on 1/3.  He would have been 33 years old next month.

He stopped by my parents' home on Monday night and dropped off some money for my younger brother, and was supposed to return to work after the holiday break on Tuesday morning.  My parents, who live 2 blocks from his house, noticed his car was still in front of his house Tuesday morning, but figured he was going to go into work late.  When it was still there Wednesday morning, they tried to call him and when there was no answer, my father went to check on him.  He found Matt in his bathtub with the shower still running.  The coroner's report won't be available for at least a month and he had no medical conditions or other problems we were aware of.

Mathew was a difficult person to live with, very introverted and a loner.  He was extremely intelligent, however, and had just returned to school to begin working toward a degree, having attended four years of college after high school but failing to graduate.  He was also my son's godfather, had been getting his life back on track, and was becoming much more personable in the past couple years.  His death was truly a loss to our family and everyone who knew him; as private and introverted as he was, he was a very friendly person and had lively discussions and debates with those he worked with.  Everyone at his former employer expressed their shock and sadness, and made it clear he would be missed.

Please keep him and my family, especially our parents, in your prayers.  Not everything that happens will make sense.  Life is not always fair or just.  You never know how many more tomorrows you have, so carpe diem.  Most of all, reach out to those who love you.  They will help you with your demons and problems, no matter how difficult they may be, or how much you fear their reaction.

RIP 

Mathew Sean Owens

2/8/1979 - 1/4/2012

A Wild Fall

Well it has certainly been a wild Fall so far.  I have only recently gotten over a major sinus infection that turned into an ear infection, then into bad bronchitis.  A course of Augmenten and a Z-Pak later, I am actually feeling well again.  My wife is finally over the same infections herself, and our son, while still getting regular nebulizer treatments, seems better than he has been since September.

There is an interesting cycle that I am going through following acceptance to medical school.  First there was the initial excitement and elation with being accepted.  The fact that I expected to have to re-apply next year made my admission offer that much more exciting.  Shortly after the high wore off, however, doubt began to creep in.  I even, in typical neurotic fashion, wondered if the e-mailed notification of acceptance was a mistake, and they meant to notify me that I was put on-hold.  This was laid to rest upon receipt of the official offer letter in the mail, and their acceptance of my deposit reserving my place.  Now, I am in the "I have nothing to do, and nothing to worry about until next August" phase.  I have little motivation to work, no desire to continue volunteering, and am basically counting down the days until I can give notice at work and really prepare for medical school.

The next big step I am waiting on is filling out the FAFSA, which I hope to do as soon as I can this Winter.  I do not think anything will prevent me from taking out the necessary loans, but since getting the full cost of attendance plus the allowed increase for child care is the only way I can afford to go to medical school, any problems with receiving the full amount may prevent me from matriculating.  My credit is good, and I am not under a crushing debt burden, so I don't think it will be a problem, but if there is something to worry about, I can find it.

I am debating pre-studying anatomy before beginning classes.  I believe some familiarity with anatomy and physiology will help me get a handle on the first few weeks of classes more easily, but the consensus on SDN seems to be that pre-studying is useless and a waste of time.  I will probably cave in and read the text I have a bit, but not put in any serious pre-studying hours.

Other than that, I am looking forward to Christmas, looking forward to quitting my job, and knowing that I will wish for the freedom I currently have once I am actually in the thick of classes.  Updates will probably be pretty sparse for a while, considering I am not actually actively pursuing anything toward medical school, as I have an acceptance in hand.  When I have something to add, I will do so.

Accepted!

It has been a crazy week.  I was told that I would be informed of the decision of the Admission committee on Friday, October 30th before 2:00 PM.  At 2:05 I still didn't have an e-mail, so I called the admissions office.  The lady who had the decisions for the EDP applicants was still at lunch, so I was told to check back later, I would know that day.  There was a meeting at work at 3:00 and the e-mail had not arrived by then, so I sat through the meeting still not knowing.

At 4:10 or so I was finally let out of the meeting, and checked my e-mail.  The decision was there, in the form of a PDF without any indication of the answer before the file was opened.  I was able to open the file, read enough to see I was accepted, and then it was out the door to head home.

I of course called my wife and told her the answer, and called and talked to my parents.  We all went out to dinner to celebrate.  That was the first indication that something was wrong with our son.  I fed him while we were waiting to be seated at the restaurant, which usually makes him content and sleepy.  One of us had to hold him the entire time we were at dinner, which is very unusual for him.  Luckily he went to sleep alright that night.

The next day, Saturday, our son seemed fine, but my wife was gone most of the day at a "mom-to-mom" sale and shopping for the dinner we were having that night with friends.  I stayed home, watched our son and cleaned the house.  The dinner went fine, and he didn't seem too fussy that night; in fact, he was loving the attention of all my wife's childless friends!

That night was bad.  For the first time since he was around 3 months old, he didn't sleep through the night.  He woke up crying, and refused to be comforted.  The next day was worse, where he would cry for hours only settling down occasionally, to eat and when he was napping.  He also developed a mild fever and was congested.  All day, he was very fussy and upset.  I also could feel I was developing a cold.

To make a long story short, my wife stayed home to watch our son and I ended up calling in sick to work because of my inability to sleep while being unable to breathe.  The next day, my wife went to work and I stayed home with the baby since he still seemed sick, but appeared to be getting better.  He hadn't had a fever since Sunday, so we sent him to daycare on Wednesday.  Wednesday evening he had a fever again, so my wife took him to the doctor this morning and was told he was wheezing and had an ear infection. She just picked up his breathing treatments, steroids and antibiotics.

In other words, a lot has been going on that prevented me from immediately posting my success on here.  While all of this was going on I completed the information required for my background check and it came back clean, so I am simply awaiting the official offer letter in the mail so I can send my deposit to the school and reserve my spot.  I am very glad that I was accepted this cycle, as I expected to have to apply again next cycle to multiple schools, but thought the chance was worth the cost and effort.  The moral here is, just because someone tells you it is a bad idea to, for example, apply to just one school, risk applying multiple cycles, or apply with a lack of clinical experience, only you can decide if the money and effort required is worth the chance that you will be accepted.  I took the gamble, and for me, it paid off royally since I will not only be attending my top-choice school, but I will be starting a year earlier than I expected to.  Good luck to everyone else applying this cycle, especially my soon-to-be classmates at my medical school!