Congratulations are in order

You might remember me posting this a couple of weeks ago.

I had to wait until it was official, before I announced that:

The pediatric surgeons have taken Adam OUTSIDE OF THE MATCH and named him their Pediatric Fellow for UTSW beginning July 2010. We are ELATED. The reason why this is such a big deal is:

1. Pediatric surgery is a VERY competitive field. We were very optimistic that Adam would get one of the 30 spots available (there are about 60 candidates each year) , but there were no guarantees. Now there is no question.

2. A program doesn't normally go outside of the match, unless they are certain the person is the BEST candidate in the bunch. This program has NEVER gone outside of the match. IT IS HUGE that they even considered it, let alone actually did it.

3. This literally saves us a HUGE amount of money and a HUGE amount of uncertainty. And we all know how well I deal with uncertainty.

So, this means:

We WILL NOT have to go through the match process.

We WILL NOT have to pay for Adam to interview at 30 programs.

We WILL NOT have to leave it up to a complicated formula to tell us where we will be spending 2 years.

We WILL NOT have to move for a fellowship.

Instead:
Adam WILL be able a pediatric surgeon.

We WILL be able to stay here for another 4 years (this year, next year as a faculty member, and 2 years for the fellowship).

We WILL be blissfully happy here. Okay, obviously I'm stretching it here, but seriously we love where we live, and are very happy in our town, so its the perfect solution.



Don't get me wrong. I love exploring a new city and seeing different parts of the US. BUT, this takes out all the sleepless nights, pounding on our finances, and uncertainty. Oh the uncertainty- my arch nemesis. It is nice to have it settled. We both feel this is the best spot for not only our family, but also for Adam and his career.

I seriously feel like we have won the GOLDEN TICKET.