Match Day - Again

A few medical specialties, like ophthalmology, match for residency a little early.  But the majority of them match on the third Friday in March. The school held a big ceremony for all of the matched students.  They made them wait until 10:00, and then they were all given an envelope with the match results inside.  Medical students across the nation all opened their letters exactly at 10:00!  It was very dramatic and nerve-wracking for all of our friends, the room felt electric.  For us, it was a little anti-climatic since Jack had already matched for ophtho back in January.  But we did find out that we will be spending the next year in Spokane, Washington for Jack's intern year (he basically has to complete a one year residency rotating through multiple clinical disciplines such as OB, Surgery, Pediatrics, etc before specializing in ophthalmology).  


We were very happy with the news since Spokane was where we were hoping to go.  Spokane is a smaller city in the Pacific Northwest with a population around 200,000.  It is 20 miles from the Idaho border (and the beautiful lake area of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho), 110 miles from the Canadian border and about 4 hours east of Seattle. There are five ski resorts and 50 lakes within 75 miles of the city. The weather is on the cooler side and it snows a lot in the winter. So basically it is the complete opposite of Miami and is about as far away from Miami as you can get!  We are excited that we get to experience at least two very different parts of the country during residency, it is going to be an adventure.

Spokane

We are so excited for our friends that matched.  It is so nice to see everyone's hard work pay off and it feels like medical school is really coming to an end now.

Jack with his "match" envelope.

I hope I can get a better copy of this picture.  Here are a few of some of my dear friends who are also wives of Jack's classmates.  Staci Thacker, Sami Jones, Natalie DeMill, Me, Michelle Schmidt, Melinda Frandsen and Stefanie Stagg.  What would I have survived med school without these ladies?

Jack and Chris Thacker - Chris got into the Mayo Clinic for anesthesia...woohoo!

Us and the Thackers.  We will miss them when they move to Minnesota!

Some of Jack's med school friends, Tyson Jones - Pediatrics University of Utah, Jack, Cody Martin - Orthopedic Surgery Jacksonville, FL, Chris Thacker - Anesthesia Mayo Clinic

Later that night, most of the med school went to Tucci's to celebrate.  We pretty much took up the whole restaurant.  It was fun to talk to everyone about where they will be spending the next 3 - 5 years of training.  We love the friends we've made in med school and we are going to miss them so much when we leave!