Prayer Request

Hi Everyone, I'll keep this short and sweet tonight or at least I'll try. I debated on even posting this, but I have a prayer request and thought you all could join me in it. As I've said in previous posts, I'm trying to get rotations at the University of Washington. First let me say that when this first came up they weren't sure we would have enough time to get through registration let alone find electives that I was interested in. That said, although every step of the process has had a few added hurdles, I am currently a registered student at the UW and I was able to get both of the electives that I was interested in: Emergency Medicine at Harborview and Pediatric Genetics at Seattle Children's Hospital!!

As exciting as that is, I've recently come upon another hurdle...I don't think after this that there will even be an option of other hurdles. At least I REALLY hope not! Anyway now they are questioning my Washington State resident status since I have been away at school. I've contacted the residency department and they gave me an application to fill out, which includes a RIDICULOUS amount of documents to be submitted with it, and have told me that the process will take 4-6 weeks. Well friends, that's where your prayers come in. My electives are supposed to start in 3 weeks and in order to start them I am supposed to have my tuition paid in full.

As it stands right now, with "out of state" tuition the bill is over $8600. Obviously I cannot afford that, so I contacted every department I've worked with during the application process so far and let them know about the speed bump I've run into. Today they called the residency department who said there's really no way to speed up my application as there are over a 1,000 applications to be processed and only 2 people doing it. They said MAYBE 3 weeks will be enough time but they won't make any promises. The only suggestion they could offer was that I not have to pay tuition before I start my electives until this is all taken care of, but in order to do that I have to get approval from the Vice Dean of the school because I would not be covered by the UW's malpractice insurance. Can you believe I'm already having to deal with malpractice insurance??? The thing is my school covers me for it, but it's the policy at the UW that students must be covered under theirs.

I should be hearing back from them early next week, so please be praying about this. It is completely out of my hands now; I've done absolutely everything I can. I just don't want everything I've been working towards these last 3 months to fall through just because I've been going to school outside of Washington for the last two years. I really don't think there is any way (crossing my fingers) that they could deny my residency, but I am concerned about the timeline and that there might be a late fee if they agree to let me delay paying the tuition. I honestly can't afford to pay more than I already will be. Alright well I think you get the picture. Thank you for reading and for the prayers I know you'll be sending my way. I love you all!!

Tired

I feel like being tired is a constant state of mind now. No matter how much sleep I get, it's never enough. I guess that's just life in medical school.



Anyway, it's been quite awhile since I updated, so here goes. I am now in Santa Barbara, CA doing a sub-I in Internal Medicine at Cottage Hospital. A sub-I is basically like any other elective, but you have more responsibility...like getting to write notes! That may not seem like a big deal, but considering next year I'll be writing multiple notes a day, I definitely need the practice. My goal from this rotation is to be able to write an admit and progress note along with the assessment and plan completely on my own. Here's a huge jellyfish we saw the other day while walking along the pier.



I've also had some luck with getting electives back home. It LOOKS like I'll be able to do an emergency medicine and pediatric elective at the University of Washington. I'm so excited! Thank you Andersen family! I'll definitely keep everyone posted about that.



Last but not least in August, while I was in NYC and Boston, I found out that I PASSED my boards!! Yay!! Thank you, Jesus and everyone who continually prays for me. I truly appreciate all of your support. I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate this accomplishment with some of my family in Boston and they threw a little party for me complete with a present :o)



They also took me up to Newport Rhode Island and we went through a couple of the mansions there. Absolutely breathtaking!



That means it's now time for me to apply for residency programs. I've deciced to apply for Emergency medicine and combined Med-Peds programs. I also decided to apply for a couple Family medicine programs in WA. I sent in my application and I'm pretty nervous about it. I just hope that I make the right decision as to what God wants me to do and where He wants me to go for the next few years. Hope you're all doing well and that I see you soon! Love, Nicole