Heme/Onc: After the Match

This morning I brought the TCOM 2009 residency list that Dr. D sent out for Dr. RP to see. He seemed concerned by the low number of IM applicants (about 15), whereas we had about 8 psych and 16 ER, among others. I think our class has a lot of specialty representation this year, including one psych/neuro (Matt) and one FP/psych (unknown). Only Clark matched at JPS for family medicine, which was a big surprise since I know a lot of FP classmates had interviewed there and ranked it pretty high. Dr. RP then voiced his opinion that JPS was not DO friendly. I definitely got that impression from the surgeons, but not so much in FP and ob-gyn. I wouldn't know about psych since I didn't do my rotation there, but Jacob and Aaron matched so there should be less discrimination psych-wise. Dr. RP said that when he first came to work at Harris, the people up there tried everything in their power to get him kicked out b/c he was a DO, never mind that he was a former chief fellow at MD Anderson with excellent credentials. *sigh* I hope I don't have that problem in the future.

The last day at this clinic was fairly uneventful until our last patient was seen (SCLC patient with 3 sons with her; at least she has a good support system) and Dr. RP reminded me that I had to play my violin for the clinic in order to get an A (joking). So I played a few tunes from "Canon in D," "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and "West Side Story." Dr. RP also found some sheet music from "Schindler's List" that I was able to sightread, and he said there was something nice about hearing music live. I think so too =)

After work I stopped by the Poly Clinic to see Dr. RR, my family medicine preceptor who'd written one of my LORs. I hadn't seen him in almost a year, and he looked like he had more white hairs than before, but he recognized me almost immediately. I told him where I matched and he said I deserved to go where I wanted to go. I said, "I have to thank you as well. The school said your letter was the best of the bunch." (which was true). Dr. RR brushed it off, saying that I was a good student who worked hard. He said that when he started his internship at JPS, he was paged almost as soon as he walked into the door b/c his team was on call that night. Wow. I hope my first day of work isn't like that =P