A changing of the plans

So, you may wonder where the hell I've been lately. Or maybe nobody's really paying attention, but anyway, here goes. As you know, I've been struggling with my decision to go to med school ever since I made it. The thing is, I really want to be a primary care provider. I looked at Nurse Practitioner a while back and really decided that the nursing model is not for me. And then I looked at Physicians Assistant - essentially the same scope of practice as the NP - primary care (though PAs can have specialty areas), they can prescribe and diagnose - and I dismissed it out of hand because the UW school requires that you have 2 years full-time paid clinical experience before applying to the program.

Well, I've been rethinking my possibilities. I really love my relationship with my daughter. It completely freaks me out that I would be away from her for the better part of 7 years - or at best I would be peripherally there. I am not a peripheral parent. By the time I complete med school, Lucy would be 11 or 12. I'll be ready to hang out with her again just when she will be ready to say good bye and hang out with her friends instead. This does not suit me.

PA school lasts 2 years. It is intense, and though PAs are afforded the same scope of practice as NP's, the PA program is designed on the MD model instead of the nursing model, which suits me much better. So, what about those pesky 4000 hours (2 years) paid clinical experience? Well, I've been wrestling with that one now for a while.

One thing I realized is that we could move. I don't HAVE to go to UW for that. We could live anywhere for 2 years and if we don't like it, we'll return in 2 years. No biggie, really. There are schools that require less clinical experience (actually, they ALL require less than UW) so I'd be ready after a year of it. There are even schools that require NO clinical experience, and I'm applying now. Yes, NOW. There aren't many of those and they still recommend that you have the experience, but it's worth a shot.

While I'm applying, I've been trying to decide the best way to get the clinical experience with little or no training. Most "entry level" clinical jobs are things I'd hate, like phlebotomist, respiratory theapist, EMT, etc. And those requare training anyway. So I figure if I'm going to have to get training, I might as well find something i'd like to do for a couple years - so I'm going off to vocational school in the fall to get a certificate in Medical Assisting. It'll take a year, but then I'll have the certificate and if I haven't gotten into my first round of PA schools, I can get a job and begin getting experience.

I'll apply to the second lot of schools after my 6 - 12 months of experience and if that doesn't work, I'll keep on working as an MA until i'm eligible to apply to UW and then we'll just stay here!

I'm actually incredibly excited and relieved to have made this choice. It means I can still work towards doing what I love - working with people in a medical setting. I can still be a primary care "doc" - spending more time with patients than the MDs usually can and getting to know them a little bit better, performing procedures, etc. etc. etc. I can still get the type of education I want. But I don't have to devote my soul to becoming an MD.

Wish me luck on my new endeavor!

O Chem is going very well. I had my midterm last week, and it remains to be seen how well it's going (grades in on Tuesday) but I have a pretty good feeling about it. I really enjoy it and I'm so incredibly glad to be done with Physics forever. (Oh, didn't i mention, it's not required for PA - and neither is the MCAT!!!!)

Lucy is fabulous. She is having pooping problems lately though - she wants to learn to poop in the toilet, but she is struggling with some pretty bad constipation issues. She pooped a teeny tiny pea-sized poop in the toilet for the very first time (she cried the whole time, she is so scared for some reason, the poor thing - i had gotten her a dress she really wanted as "motivation" for pooping on the toilet so she really really wanted to do it, it was pretty hard for her). Anyway, there was much excitement over the pea-sized poop and she got her dress.

I promptly took her in her new dress to the farmer's market where she told complete strangers, "This is my new poop dress! I got it because I can poop in the toilet now!" Oh, the looks I got.