Match Day

Match Day turned out to be very different than I thought it would be. Kip and I ended up matching in Milwaukee, WI. I'm really happy that we matched together, but I wanted to either go to Phoenix or stay in Columbus and definitely didn't want to go anywhere colder that Ohio. I feel really bad that I had 4 years to make that happen and I failed and that I let Kip down. I really did enjoy the program when I visited so I am glad about that, although I honestly didn't learn that much about it because I didn't think there was any way I would end up there. I'm getting more used to the idea now and I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end. We'll enjoy buying our first house together and exploring a new city. Milwaukee is only a cheap Skybus flight away from Columbus so that'll be good. I'll miss Columbus!

My comment on a post on a fellow gay med student's blog

I've recently found a blog that I find very interesting and well written and today I posted the following comment on one of his posts so I include here for you to read:

"I always enjoy reading your blog and this post especially hit very close to home for me as I too am going through the application/interview process for residency(Radiology) and happen to be gay. I am couples matching with my boyfriend and it got very tiring explaining that Kip was in fact a boy, not a girl like everyone assumed(has anyone ever heard of a girl named Kip anyway?) and eventually I just stopped correcting the interviewers because I got tired of them not understanding(with one interviewer I had to say it three different ways before he finally got it). If I could do it all again I would have been more clear expressing myself and not letting them make me feel uncomfortable for being gay but at the time I just let it slide because I didn't want them to look upon me negatively."

I think one of the main reasons most of the interviewers assumed that I was straight was because they all knew that I was Mormon-being from Utah, going on a mission and graduating from BYU-so that made them assume that Kip would have to be a girl. I found it rather impossible to let people know that I am no longer a Mormon so it was very frustrating to have to carry that misconception around just because I'm from Utah. I will find out on March 20th where I matched so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out especially since the program director at my #1 choice is Mormon.

Done with residency interviews

Now that it's February I can relax for a couple of days. I did 30 residency interviews in 12 different states over the past few months. I did have some fun times-going to the driving range in Scottsdale and going to the beach in Charleston stand out right now but traveling and interviewing is a tiring process so I'm glad it's over. I can't wait for Match Day.

I went home for about 5 days over the Christmas holiday. I had a pretty good time hanging out mostly with my Mom and Dad as my brothers and sisters all have their own families now. I think I would have had a great time if I hadn't been missing Kip so much. I am relatively lucky to have the parents that I do. My mom seems to be doing a lot better handling the fact that I'm gay and even said that she'd be ok with Kip staying at our house if we came to visit. I'm definitely proud of the fact that my parents are Democrats and it was nice to have a couple of people on my side when the conversation of politics came up. I'm considering going back over the summer so we'll see.

Up next for me is my last clinical rotation working with homeless people so it will definitely be interesting.

November update

This month I've been doing a month of radiology at the Cleveland Clinic. I've been staying with Julie's parents while I'm up there. I'm up in Cleveland during the week and in Columbus on the weekends. It's been fun learning about radiology again and the Clinic is huge. It's cool to be at such a world-renowned hospital. Being away from Kip for up to a week at a time has made me realize how much I love him and miss him when I'm not around him. It definitely makes me want to be able to match in the same place for both my prelim year and radiology residencies because I don't know how I'd handle living apart from him for that long.

Interview season is in full swing. I have 15 radiology interviews lined up so that's a good number. I've had my interviews at Case Western and OSU so far. I'll find out on March 20th where I'll end up for residency.

After this week I only have 3 months of rotations left so graduation is rapidly approaching! It will be sad to say goodbye to my roommates and other friends that I've made since I've been here.

What AMSA thinks of the surgeon general nomination

I read this in an American Medical Student Association(AMSA) newsletter and it reminded me why I'm proud to be a member.

As the nation's largest, independent medical student organization, AMSA felt the need to stand up and oppose the United States Senate's nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be the next U.S. Surgeon General. A report, "The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," prepared by Dr. Holsinger in January 1991, regards the sexual practices of homosexual men as biologically pathological that inherently lead to, "a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma." The paper continues to state that men and women have a sexual "complementarity" that speaks for itself, comparing male and female reproductive organs to pipe fittings.

"It is unacceptable to permit a physician who furthers a position that runs so contrary to contemporary medical practice to serve as Surgeon General," says Daniel Murphy, AMSA legislative affairs director. "Even in 1991, Dr. Holsinger's paper was unscientific and decades out of date."

My Birthday Week 2007

This week my birthday was on a Wednesday and also happened to be opening day for the latest Harry Potter movie, which is exciting because I am a big Harry Potter fan. I only have to work 4 days a week on my rotation, so the day I didn't go in this week was Wednesday. It was nice not having to work on my birthday. I didn't do much during the day except run some errands. I did meet with the researcher I'm going to do research with in September, though, and it was great to meet him and hear some ideas of what I might be working on. I'll be doing abdominal MRI studies which is awesome because that's one of my areas of interest. It sounds like I'll at least have an abstract done by the time I'm done which would be awesome. I went to 7/11 to get a free Slurpee. Also of note, I went to Giant Eagle and my bill came to 7 dollars and 11 cents, so that was exciting. Kip, Lindsey, Ryan, Julie, Chris and I went to Pesto for dinner and then to see Harry Potter. The movie was good but the third one is still my favorite. Afterwards we went home and ate yellow cake and ice cream.

My family was again good with wishing me a happy birthday. My Dad called and sent me a card with some money. Tom and Emily emailed me. Andy called and sent a gift card to Best Buy which is nice of him. Amy and Katie called. Matt sent a package with Winger's sauce and some other stuff. So the only ones that didn't acknowledge me was Brad and Darla(like last year). I do miss my family, and it looks like I'll go a full year without seeing them since I don't really have a chance to until November/December.

Dave forgot my birthday but he's not the best at remembering stuff like that. I did talk to him the day before though and he moved to New York so I'm going to try to go see him in August.

On Saturday I went to Union with Chris and Julie to celebrate my birthday. It was good times. Then Chris and I went to his friend Ben's housewarming party.

Tonight Kip is taking me to Barcelona for my birthday dinner. Kip gave me my presents after dinner. He gave me a book of pictures of Columbus, a scented oil thing from Pottery Barn and some clothes from Ruehl. They were very thoughtful.

Marion, OH

This month for my first rotation of 4th year I am in an internal medicine outpatient clinic in the small town of Marion, OH. My preceptor is an awesome lady who reminds me of my mom(they even share the same birthday, weird). I don't love the 2-hour round trip commute, though. One cool thing though is that the 29th President of the Unites States, Warren G. Harding lived in Marion and there's a nice memorial there. An since I love history I visited it one morning and was surprised by how beautiful it is. Here's some pics:

I'm now a Med 4

Well it's hard to believe but I am done with my third year of med school. It was a really tough year and I'm glad it's over. We only had 3 weeks off the whole year. I never missed a day of a rotation! I even went the day that school was cancelled because of the snow storm! There were rotations with long hours and some rotations with easy schedules. I did OB/Gyn at OSU, I did two busy inpatient months at Children's and I did two hard services at OSU in medicine. I can't really complain about my surgery services though waking up at 4:15 AM every day for a month wasn't my favorite thing to do. I am proud of my accomplishments this year and proud of what I've learned about myself and about medicine over the past year. I learned for certain that I want to be a radiologist. I entertained the thought of maybe being an anesthesiologist or a pediatrician but I just enjoyed radiology more than anything else. Now to start the application process all over again!

Mitt "Romney's Disappointing Campaign"-article from Time

I came across this article in Time magazine today and I thought it was a great description of Mitt Romney, so I wanted to post it on my blog.

Here it is:Romney

My surgery rotation

Just wanted to post something really quick about my last rotation of third year-surgery. Last month I was on cardiothoracic surgery so i saw a lot of cool surgeries like CABG's, valve replacements, VAD placements, aneurysn repairs and even a cardiac tumor excision. The hours weren't bad at all for a surgery service.

Now I'm on Surg 2 which is a lot of colorectal, anal and bariatric surgeries. I have a lot more responsibilities on this service now so I'm a little stressed but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I have to wake up at 4:40 AM tomorrow to get to the hospital in time to round onmy patients and be ready for rounding with my residents. Really the only thing keeping me going is the fact that 3 weeks from tomorrow is my last day!

Well it's 8:30 PM which means it's bedtime for me. Wish me luck that I'll survive these next 3 weeks.

Easter

I had a good Easter this year. I woke up to find that Kip had left me an Easter basket to find with candy, a stuffed animal and a cute card so that was really nice of him. It reminded me of when I was back home and the "Easter bunny" would hide easter baskets for all of us kids to find on Easter morning.

I went to Kip's church which is the United Methodist church on King Avenue for their Easter service. I had been to that church once before around Christmas and I told Kip I'd go back with him on Easter. The first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was. There were greeters at all the doors to welcome everyone and ushers to help you find a seat. The whole church smelled really good with the Easter flowers that everyone had bought. The opening hymn was "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" which is also a hymn that Mormons sing so it was good that I knew it and was able to sing along. They had an opening prayer and had the new babies be brought up by the parents for the congregation to see. There were two baptisms and it was interesting to see how they were done. They brought the kids up to the front where there was a basin of water and the pastor and assistant pastor(a woman) each baptized one child with a few drops of water. Then the pastors took the children around the room to introduce them to the congregation. The pastor gave a short talk on the resurrection and then there was a closing prayer.

I'll have to say I did like it especially the feeling of inclusiveness that exists in that church. There are a lot of gay people that go to the church and one in front of us had his arm around his partner and whispered periodically in his ear. It's nice to know that Kip and I wouldn't be judged there as we would be in the Mormon church. Also men and women have equal rights in the Methodist church as proven by the fact that women can be pastors as well as men. In church I always loked the songs the best and always "felt the Spirit" when I listened to Church music. Well the Methodist church has a lot of the same hymns as in the Mormon church with a lot more as well and I felt the same good feeling when I sang them there. They also had a band playing with the music which was nice to listen to. One thing I did feel a little uncomfortable about was when the collection plate came around but still when you think about it that's a lot better to have a voluntary collection plate than requiring everyone to pay 10% of their earnings.

I have to admit I think I could get used to going to a Methodist church and raising my child(ren) in that church because I think it would be a good way to teach them about God while at the same time teaching them to love and accept all kinds of people no matter their race, sexual orientation, etc.

Back to blogging

Sorry for not posting for such a long time. One deterrent to blogging is the fact that one of my administrators reads this blog, but maybe he's forgotten about it by now and if he hasn't, I won't be writing anything too personal on here anyways so it'll be fine.

So to update you all on my life, I am about to start my fifth rotation of third year which is my ambulatory rotation. I have one month in a family practice clinic and one month of radiology. I'm excited for ambulatory because the hours are a lot better than my last rotation and I finally get to do radiology which is what I'm planning on specializing in. After ambulatory I only have one more rotation which is surgery. Third year has been going well and I've learned a lot. One of the most exciting things of the year happened to me on the last rotation-I got to do my first chest compressions. It was a very touching experience.

Things are going well in my personal life as well. I'm still dating Kip, so it's been close to a year and a half that we've been dating. My family is doing well and I have 15 nieces and nephews with two more on the way. I haven't really been keeping in touch with them too much but I have talked to my Dad a couple of times since Christmas as well as a couple of my siblings. My brother called me last week to talk about one of his friends who recently had brain surgery to remove a tangerine-shaped tumor. I told my brother that the prognosis depended a lot on what type of tumor it was and where it was located but I didn't really have that much to offer him since he didn't know the specifics of the case. It makes me a little overwhelmed that my older brother is calling me for medical advice but it feels good that I could help him a little to talk out what he was going through.

We're soon scheduling for fourth year and things are a little nervous among my fellow classmates regarding matching next year and what needs to be done to make sure everyone matches in what they want to do. I'm definitely feeling nervous about that as well. I have a lot to worry about because I want to match in a competitive specialty and because I also want to do couples match with Kip. I have to worry about interviews for radiology and transition year and ending up at the same place for both so that I won't be without Kip for a year while he's doing his residency somewhere else while I'm doing my transition year. I'm also worried because I haven't gotten honors in any of my rotations despite doing well on some of the exams, so I won't be loking very good as an applicant. Well we'll see how this all works out.

I will try to post more often so stay tuned for more....

Countries I've been to

create your own visited country map

States I've been to

My sister and I used to talk about who between us had been to the most states. Now I have an easy way to see which states I've been to(not counting layovers):



create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

My first overnight call

I thought I should mark this milestone by writing a post. Tonight is my first overnight call ever. I got to the hospital this morning at 5:20 AM and I won't be leaving until tomorrow morning, probably around 9 or 10 AM. So that's a long time. I am on ob/gyn right in Labor and Delivery. Things are going well and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's really amazing being there to help deliver a baby. I'm not saying I want to be an ob but it has opened my eyes a little to being something other than a radiologist. I've especially had my interest piqued in anesthesiology because they do get to see patients and talk to them and be in surgeries, but don't have to deal with clinics or stressful procedures.

Nothing's going on right now but I'm hoping to see some deliveries tonight. I'll have to wait and see.

Shakira concert

I've waited for six years to finally Shakira in concert and it was amazing! Our seats were on the floor right in the center, 19 rows back. I can' believe how close I got to her. At one point she came into the audience, down the right side and she was probably within 10-15 seats of me. She sang mostly in Spanish and sang most of my favorite songs from all of her albums. Her part lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. These are the songs she sang:

Estoy Aqui
Te Dejo Madrid
Don’t Bother
Hey You
Antalogia
Inevitable
La Tortura
Si Te Vas
No
Ciega, Sordomuda
Para Obtener Un Si
Whenever, Wherever
Underneath Your Clothes
La Pared
Pies Descalzos
Ojos Asi
Hips Don’t Lie

My birthday week

Last Tuesday was my birthday so I celebrated with different activities all week long. It was nice to celebrate in Columbus for the first time.

On Tuesday I was supposed to shadow a physician at the MS clinic, but the program coordinator forgot to tell me that the physician was in India. So I had the morning off and in the afternoon I arranged to shadow a radiologist which was fun. I got some pointers on applying for resideny and stuff. I still like radiology a lot. I had lunch with Julie and Lindsey before heading over to the radiologist. After Kip got done with work he picked me up and we went to Chili's for my birthday. I wanted something fast and had been craving Chili's for a while, so it was good. We met Julie at Graeter's and got delicious sundaes. Kip gave me a lot of thoughtful gifts-a massage gift certificate, a CD, a Pound Puppy and a shirt from Abercrombie. I was really impressed. I was impressed with my family. Everyone except the oldest remembered my birthday by emailing, calling or sending a card.

On Wednesday I got my board scores back and was pleasantly surprised by how well I did. I'll be able to do radiology now, so I'm really excited about that.

On Thursday night I joined the boys for their weekly Union Station night. We started at Aaron's and had a fun time playing kings and quarters. They got me a birthday cookie so that was fun to blow out the candles. We went to Union Station where Julie requested Hips Don't Lie so I got really excited and started dancing on a chair. They told me to get down so I went up to the stage and started dancing. Some lesbians started putting dollar bills down my pants so I took my shirt off for them and ended up making five dollars. We didn't stay too late because Kip, Julie and I had to work the next day.

On Saturday I had a birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo with Erika and all of our med school friends. Erika's birthday is next week so we decided to share our birthday dinner. The food was really good and we got a big jug of wine to share. Kip's friend made me a delicious rasberry filled cake with this cream cheese frosting. Everyone loved it. After dinner we went to Gasworks, but they wouldn't let Sean in because he was wearing a jersey so we went to Novak's. Julie and Lindsey bought us all two shots and then a tequila shot for our birthday. It was really hot in there so we went outside to the patio for a while. We left there and went to Lodge Bar. We sat at a table for a while then they started playing good music so we went to dance for about a half an hour. It was really fun. The highlight was Julie and I dancing dirty to "Hang On Sloopy." Everytime the said O-H-I-O we would grind into each other and then bust up laughing. It was nice to get to dance with everyone and it was a good way to cap off a great week.

Sorry for my long absence

Sorry to all my readers who've been anxiously awaiting another post. Things have been crazy around here while finishing up my second year of med school, taking the boards and starting Med 3.

We were to start Med 3 on Monday but when I showed up at my assigned Neurology clinic the nurses told me that the doctor I was supposed to be working with wasn't seeing patients that day so they told me I could go home and they'd call me. I went home and called the coordinator of the program and she told me that I could take the day off and start on Wednesday. Monday also made nine months since our first date, so Kip and I went out to eat and then to see the big fireworks show that Columbus puts on.

On the Fourth of July we went to two barbecues. One was with my med school friends at Brad's house where we ate hamburgers, brats and I made strawberry daquiris. We shot off some fireworks. At night we went to another barbecue at Sanjida's apartment. We grilled chicken and had mojitos. We went back to Kip's apartment and watched more fireworks from his window.

On Wednesday morning I went to shadow a neuro-oncologist which was interesting. We saw a good number of patients with brain tumors. I did more at my first preceptorship last year than I did with this doctor so that's not what I expected from third year. He gave me a packet of articles that he wrote to read. Thursday I was in the neurology clinic but I only saw one patient all day and it was with a resident. Friday was better, I saw three patients with memory loss with an attending and got to see a full neuro exam for the first time. I've had every afternoon off except for Wednesday when we had a lecture, so it was a pretty easy week to start off my third year.

LDS church encourages members to support the marriage amendment

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I'm studying for Step 1 of the boards right now so that's all I've been doing.

I had to post today though because I came across this article and it literally brought tears to my eyes, I don't know why it hit me like it did, I know the LDS church doesn't support gay marriage, but maybe it's because I just went to my sister's wedding and thinking that my family belongs to a church like this, it makes me really sad. I'm considering emailing them all and telling them my feelings, but part of me just says leave them alone. We'll see.

The article says,

"Voice your support for a federal marriage amendment, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urges in a letter to be read in LDS sacrament meetings Sunday.
The letter, sent to priesthood leaders in the United States, calls on Latter-day Saints to contact their senators to support a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment that would limit lawful marriages to those between a man and a woman."

The church is actually encouraging all of its members to actively support the marriage amendment and they're announcing that during the Sunday services. Words can't express how upsetting that is to me.

Protestors arrested at BYU

The Soulforce Equality Riders visited BYU's campus this week. They are visiting conservative colleges across the country to protest the treatment of gays. Here's an article about the visit from today's Salt Lake newspaper.

Five BYU students participated in the demonstration and were arrested for trespassing(I guess). I don't really understand how they were trespassing at their own school, but I don't really know the legalities of it all. I thought it was interesting how the Honor Code deals with homosexuality, I don't remember ever reading it before. The Honor Code says, "Brigham Young University will respond to student behavior rather than to feelings or orientation. Students can be enrolled at the University and remain in good Honor Code standing if they maintain a current ecclesiastical endorsement and conduct their lives in a manner consistent with gospel principles and the Honor Code. Advocacy of a homosexual lifestyle (whether implied or explicit) or any behaviors that indicate homosexual conduct, including those not sexual in nature, are inappropriate and violate the Honor Code." So I would have gotten in trouble for even saying that it's ok to be gay. No wonder I lived in fear of getting kicked out while I was there.

This story appeared in the Utah County section of the newspaper on Tuesday. It deals more with the aspects of being gay and a BYU student. It quotes a story recounted by a gay student that after an accident his mother told him, "it would have been better if God had taken [you] from the Earth rather than leave [you] here to be gay." This is the kind of thing gay Mormons have to deal with. Luckily my mom would never say that to me, but she definitely isn't ok with it. But I'm glad that Soulforce brought attention to BYU's discriminatory treatment of gays.