Medical School Graduation

On April 11th Lee officially graduated from St. George's University with his MD!
His school held an official graduation ceremony in NYC in June, but we were unable to attend due to our recent move to Florida and lack of funds.
NOTE- becoming a doctor doesn't mean you automatically have money! haha! Actually this is the poorest we've ever been in our entire lives... I haven't had a job since February and Lee won't get his first paycheck until this week............ and we don't need to talk about the student loan debt again.
but back to less depressing things.

Lee graduated Magna Cum Laude which means his GPA was over 3.8 (I don't know exactly what it was and if I asked he'd tell me not to blog about it, lol)
I am so proud of him!  I know everyone says this, but he really did work extremely hard to do so well to ensure that he'd match into a great residency and be able to provide for our family.  Leo and I are so blessed.

A friend sent me this picture on graduation day of his name in the program for the Iota Epsilon Alpha Honor Society Members.   And she mailed me a copy of program!  So sweet! 

It feels so strange that medical school is now behind us and Lee is officially Dr. Coghill.
I'm apart of a Facebook group of doctor's wives and instead of referring to my DrH as MS4 (4th year medical student) I can now say PGY1 (Post Grad Year 1). 

We received our first piece of mail a couple weeks ago addressed - Dr. and Mrs. Coghill and Leo
:) :) :)

Up next, residency graduation in 3 short years! 

Clinical Placements

Today is the day we put in our choices for clinical rotations!!

Last night there was a meeting about clinicals.  I didn't get to go...  I was busy playing with orphans, cooking dinner, watching crabs race, and a gorgeous fireworks display on Grand Anse Beach, but Lee of course went.  He said it was kind of a waste of time because we have already done so much research on the clinical process he didn't learn any new information but I thought I'd share with you what we through to be important:

1.  There are 4 main "clinical centers" - New York, New Jersey, Detroit, and Bakersfield California.
Clinical Centers are places where you can do your entire 2 years of rotations in one spot.  When I say New York and New Jersey there are multiple clinical centers within these states, but only 1 in Detroit and 1 in Bakersfield.

2.  There are several other places you can do clinicals, but these require moving around from city to city or to different hospitals, not ideal for a married couple or a spouse like me who needs a job!  Other areas include: Florida, San Diego, Maryland, and others within New York and Jersey.

3.  People who did the GSP NewCastle Program cannot go to New Jersey (I also learned from Amber that you cannot pump your own gas in New Jersey.lol)

4.  There are only 16 spots in Detroit!  Yikes!  That's a lot of competition for Lee and I to get in!! He's in a class of 500some and I'm positive way more than 16 want Detroit.

5.  Only people who started in January and/or finish in December can go to Bakersfield and you must have a 3.2 GPA.

5.  Detroit and Bakersfield are the only spots that care about GPA or USMLE scores.

6.   Things they do give preference for :  married couples, kids, where you are from, job options for spouse, family close by, pets, and things like that.

7.  They may only give you a 2 week notice before you start your clinicals!  They told Lee's class they'd know by April 16th and they may start May 1st!

8.  Having all your shots and medical records up to date are important to speed up the process, so is taking the USMLE earlier than other people.  The sooner they have all your information the sooner they can place you!

9.  The average (SGU) student needs/takes 8 weeks to study for the USMLE.

10.  The average SGU student does better than the average US medical student on the USMLE.

11. Last term 26% of the class got above a 240 on the USMLE, which is awesome!!

12.  You get to put 3 places down that you'd prefer to go.  They now do it by State, not town, hospital, etc.



Lee and I's 3 choices are as follows:

#1 - Detroit, Michigan - St. John's Hospital.  Reasons - Lee is Canadian, it is close to the boarder, he could easily cross over if something is wrong medically or a Visa issue, I am from Ohio it is close to Ohio, Lee's family is close by in Toronto,  Lee has a cousin in Windsor, I have lots of family nearby in Northern Ohio, we are very financially strapped and Detroit has a much lower cost of living than say New York.
My reasons for wanting Detroit - I really want to work in an underprivileged area and I think that Detroit is the perfect place

#2 - Bakersfield, California - Kern Medical Center.  Reasons - we really don't want to go to New Jersey or New York (ok that's not really what we're going to tell SGU but that's the real reason)

#3 - Any Clinical Center, meaning anywhere we can do the full 2 years without moving - SGU please don't  send us to New Jersey... but if you do, at least we'll be with lots of friends...

Here is the list of hospitals available to us for Spring 2012

Spring 2012 Hospitals for present 5^th Term students:

Location	Cores	Comments
New York
Brooklyn Hospital Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P –Metropolitan Hospital Center FM
Coney Island Hospital	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P - Maimonides Medical Center EM
Flushing Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Jamaica Hospital & Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center/Brooklyn Hospital Center/Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center	IM, OB, PD, P, S	S – Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Mount Vernon Hospital	IM
Richmond University Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Sound  Shore Medical Center of Westchester	IM, PD	FM
New Jersey
Jersey City Medical Center	IM, OB, S	ATYR
Monmouth Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S	ATYR
St. Barnabas Medical Center/Newark Beth Israel Medical Center/Bergen Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	Students should expect to complete rotations at all 3 locations. ATYR
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM
St. Michael’s Medical Center/Trinitas Regional Medical Center/St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, P	P – Trinitas Regional Medical Center Ob & PD – St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center
Michigan
St. John Hospital & Medical Center/Providence Hospital	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P – Providence Hospital ( limited availability ) FM
California
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center	S	FM
Kern Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	PD – Under FM residency umbrella.
San Joaquin General Hospital	IM, S	FM (limited availability)
Florida
Cleveland Clinic/Miami Children’s Hospital/Queens Hospital Center/Lutheran Medical Center	IM, PD, OB, S, P	PD – Miami Children’s Hospital OB & P – Queens Hospital Center S – Lutheran Medical Center
Maryland
Spring Grove Hospital/Holy Cross Hospital	P, OB
UK Start Dates
January 30, 2012

KEY:                                                                              

IM  Medicine                                              FM – Family Medicine                                                    

OB  Ob/Gyn                                   EM – Emergency Medicine                              

PD  Pediatrics                                ATYR – Additional Third Year Requirement 

P     Psychiatry                          

S     Surgery                                  Some hospitals require a 6 week ATYR for both educational and scheduling purposes.                            

Say a prayer for us that we are sent to Detroit!

Grenada on a budget

it's no secret that Lee and I are tight with our money (or lack of?)
and I'm beginning to find myself being much more cheap than him.
shocked? me too!

I think its the pressure of having to get a job as soon as I get back to the states and knowing that we'll be depending heavily on me to "provide" for the family.
It honestly makes me not want to ever spend another dollar.

While I often complain about how expensive things are in Grenada, it is possible to get by on a small budget.

1st - forget about all the things you're used to at home.

• Air Conditioning - the electric bill will be insane and even though some say "it's worth it to not be hot" it's not to me.  If I can sit in front of a fan and save myself literally hundreds of US dollars a month, I will.
• Clothes Dryer - another drain on the electricity.  Use that hot sun and hang them outside. 
• Socializing with friends at restaurants -  this is something I do all the time at home.  If I'm meeting friends it's typically at a restaurant.  Here you can go to the beach or pool and not have to spend money.
• Shopping - this is an easy one because there is no where to shop really. 

2nd - save $$$ at the grocery store.

• Brand names - we're lucky to have an IGA here and IGA has lots of great store brands, especially cereal.  You can save several dollars by buying IGA brand instead. 
• Ice cream, pop, chips - so. much. money.  We rarely buy it and it is a "treat" as much as I hate that word. 
• Eat less. haha serious, have you seen how much weight my husband has lost and how amazing he looks?  We eat WAY too much at home!! too many snacks and extras. 
• Cook-  I cook every single day.   I learn how to make the stuff we see on tv and online and its fun and cheaper.  I also bake a lot.  bread, cookies, donuts, pretzels, etc.  Because if there is one thing that is cheap it's sugar and flour.

3rd -  Don't give into the pressure of others.

• Medical school is a weird environment.  A lot of people already think they are doctors and begin spending money as if they are.
• You don't have to go $300,000 in debt.  It is possible to do it.  Save what money you do have, don't spend foolishly, and remember that you have to pay that back whether you pass 4th term or not. 

4th - travel expenses

•  Lee and I stayed over summer break, saved a lot of money and had the time of our lives.  Because we didn't pay to fly home we were able to visit some other islands and have a mini-vacation.  
• When we do fly we search for the very.best.deal.  You won't catch me paying $1000 to get here.  So what if you have to fly a different rate or route than you wanted to?  We saved $800 last August by coming the day after Lee's classes started. serious.
• We didn't ship stuff down. The apartments are furnished, you live in tiny summer clothing, and you can buy what you do need off someone who did pay to ship it all down here really cheap.

Lee and I's budget breakdown.  I have no shame in talking about money, mostly because its not really our money.  It's some bank in Canada's. and they will only give us $150,000.  So we don't really have much wiggle room in this "budget"

•  Rent - $650US per month - includes water, gas, cable, and internet. Came completely furnished, washer and dryer, AC, and the nicest landlord you will ever meet.  And it was brand new. We were the first people to live here, sleep in this bed, use the bathroom...
  So it's small. 1 bedroom, 1 bath.  My only complaint is something I never even thought about and that's seating.  It's a little tough to have people over because there are only 4 chairs in the whole house, but that hasn't stopped me from having a few little parties or what not.
  But I can assure you that this is not the norm.  Most people I know pay over $1000 a month.
  
• Electric - $80US per month - we are so good with the electric.  Like I said no AC, no dryer, and I am always flipping switches. The only thing that is ever switched on for very long in our house is the computers.  I don't even leave the microwave or TV plugged in. maybe a little excessive. 
• Groceries - $225US per month - roughly.  There are only  two of us and we don't eat a ton and like I said I homemake stuff and we don't eat expensive brands. rice and beans for Lee! haha jk.
• Other - minimal.  Sometimes we go on trips with the SOs, rarely we go out to eat, and whatever else comes up.
• Tuition - ready for this?? $50,000ish a year. sigh. did you do the math?? isn't that more than $150,000 if medical school is 4 years? yep. luckily there is a scholarship, a little Canadian govt. loan, and my hardworking husband worked his whole life and saved every penny he ever made, and I work enough here in Grenada to pay for groceries and the little extras.

Sometimes I wish we could just spend whatever we want because someday we'll have money to pay all this off... but I try to remind myself that the sooner we are out of debt the sooner we can start to provide a proper future for our family (and start a family) and give to all the "causes" I want so badly to help.
oh and a house. I really want a house.

Operation get out of debt in 10 years starts January 1st.  When I get a job.
someone please give me a job!

updates in Grenada

just thought I'd do a little blurb about some of the things that are new since I've been in Grenada...

• There's a pharmacy in Spiceland Mall now. super convenient
• Subway, New York Bagel, and Nathan's Hotdogs on campus! 
• New York Bagel being in Grand Anse
• Umbrella's Restaurant is new 
• They finally fixed that grate on True Blue road (after making everyone drive around it in the grass for a good 3 weeks) 
• Texaco grew by about 5 feet.  I think they tore down a wall or something.  They have a little bit more stuff now and a 2nd register 
• The smoothie place in St. George's moved from the mall to close to the market. a poor decision on their part I think, but rent is probably cheaper.
• SGU got 3 brand new buses!  superb AC, automatic doors and all.
• They've also been building... Science Lecture Hall, new super dorm up by the married housing, and new bus stop building by the first roundabout on campus. 
• and the ice cream store across from our house put up a fence this week. 

4th term

the dreaded 4th term.
if you are affiliated with SGU at all you'll hear about it.

we are currently right in the thick of it.
no breaks, no end in sight.
everyone else is packing up and getting excited about summer break
not us.

why is 4th term so bad you ask?

well here it is from the wife's perspective...
4th term sucks so terribly because it started immediately following term 3, which started in January... and term 4 lasts until the end of June.
6 consecutive months of intense studying.

term 4 sucks because of the courses.
Pathology, Microbiology, and CPD.
Path (as all the kids call it) is 13 credit hours. 13.
and you have this crazy "path group" that you spend a lot of time with and depend on and there are 13 members. it's hard to pick a 13 member group that will all get along and pull their weight. (so far so good for Lee, except for the one guy who dropped out of school...)
and while you're busy spending all your time trying to keep up with Path, there is this class called Micro, which no one really talks about but it is super super hard and you may have to decide to take a lower grade in Micro just so you can keep up with Path and not get a bad grade in a 13 hr credit course.  that could really hurt the old gpa.
and there is CPD, I don't know what it stands for some type of clinical skills course... and you learn lots of cool real doctor stuff and your wife will want you to test her every day for new illnesses but you will never have time to.

speaking of time. there is none. you won't have a life outside of school at all and if you do you'll  possibly decellerate and have to do this all over again, so it's not worth it. skip life and pass 4th term.

make your wife get a life though.
tell her to go volunteer and go exploring. She'll be happier and feel more useful and not be sitting at home complaining about the husband that is never home. because he won't be.

it won't be unusual for him to be gone before you wake up and come home after you're in bed.
if you want to see him you'll go to campus to take him dinner.
you'll stock up on cup of soup and fill his locker with them so when he gets hungry he can just microwave one.
he might lose weight and be stressed out and have dark purple circles under his eyes.
he will forget things you tell him because his head is so full of information.
give him a break.

you will probably either fight way way less or way way more.
less if he's never home and you don't have the chance
more if he likes to study at home and he's always telling you to be quiet

get used to talking more on skype and facebook than you do in real life.

remind yourselves often that this will all be worth it in the end!
and take full advantage of those precious 30 minutes you do get together each day
and try to get him to talk about something other than school.

Hi Dr. Rao!

Yesterday I got the surprise of a lifetime....
we had lunch with the SO Board at the University Club with the dean of students, Dr. Rao... and he told me that he has read my blog!!!!
I was shocked. 
so just in case he ever comes back I wanted to say hi!!! :)
and thank you for such a delicious lunch! it was great to get to know you!

Lee was floored when I told him....
He said "it's not like knowing the President of MVNU, this is like a real school. with lots of students"

I wonder if Lee or I will ever be important enough that people are shocked when we know who they are. haha...... doubt it.
but if I'm ever Dean of Students at a University I hope I will be as nice and friendly and down to earth as he is!

Term 1 Complete!

On Friday Lee took his last final of term 1.... hallelujah!!!
Medical school finals were about to be the end of us both... I've never witnessed such a crazy amount of studying & stress.  I can honestly say I've never really seen Lee too stressed out before... he just doesn't, but this past week was close.  I would have been a lot worse than him. 
and he has to do this 4 more times and then take the USMLE. ugh.
Tomorrow hopefully we'll find out all his final grades!

When he got home from his exam we took a nap because it was raining... and we had both been up since 6 & 6:30am.... and it continued to rain most of the day, which I've heard is really rare in Grenada, usually it rains for a bit & then is sunny again.  But we made it out to get smoothies, took a walk on the beach,  and came home and watched some movies, because we hadn't for months.... and I've got Lee hooked on Dexter too! even though I've already seen them all, I'm re-watching them with him.

usually we can see the ocean and the mountains from this window.... but not during this crazy rain storm!

yesterday it got nice out & we went to the beach for a little bit :)

Yard Sale!

I was so excited to hear that the vet school was having a yard sale! I went exactly on time and there were already hundreds of people there!! Mostly Grenadians too... I think people who work at the school heard about the sale & decided to check it out for some good cheap stuff too.... and most of the stuff is from the States so it was probably pretty cool for them.  I saw lots of teenage girls looking through the clothes.  I actually resisted the clothing.... especially since the other day I bought 5 dresses, 2 necklaces, and a pair of earrings off the post!! 5 awesome dresses!! I should take a picture of them soon... and they were so cheap!! less than $20US for all of it!  Lee and I decided I deserved it for babysitting so much the past few weeks... lol and it's been a LONG time for me to go without shopping...
But today I got some necessities at the sale... I was so loaded down I could barely make it back up the hill to our apartment... and guess what, tomorrow there is ANOTHER sale! the med school is having one too :) and not to be mean... but a lot of the vet students stuff smelled like dogs. because they all have a dog or cat or some kind of pet. but I found some nice stuff from non-pet owners!

 1US = 2.67EC  or 1EC = .37cents US
Swiffer with refill pads - 10EC
Fan - 35EC
Toaster - 10EC
Big sheet I'm going to use to cover our chairs in our apartment next term - 10EC
Rugs - 10EC & they're pretty & in excellent condition
Ice cube trays - 4EC
Cups - 5EC - we only have 4 cups we use over and over and over and these were pretty...
and... Sunglasses - 3EC! they were too cute to pass up.

I can't wait for tomorrow's sale!! I'm on the lookout for some cookie sheets, maybe a casserole dish, and computer speakers.

Visitors!!!!

Lee's parents came to visit us!!
They got here Friday night.... we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog....

Friday we went to meet them at their hotel around 8 & went to the grocery so they could get some things for breakfast and snack... and then went to find somewhere to eat dinner, but everything was closed! on a Friday night! I'm a little bit embarrassed to say that Lee and I had not been further than the movie theater after dark! ha! and that was only once! We just don't go places at night... he studies and I blog :)
So I didn't really know when places would close, but apparently early.
We ended up at a little restaurant and I introduced Lee's Dad to LLB (Lemon, Lime, and Bitters) it's a non-alcoholic soda.... it's soooo good, it's not bitter, it's sweet.  I had a hamburger and fries (surprised?) Lee and his dad had Club sandwiches, and his mom had pumpkin soup.

Saturday morning we went to their hotel, The Flamboyant, to meet them to take them downtown St. George's shopping and site seeing.  and to my surprise they gave me an early Birthday present.... an UNDERWATER digital camera! yesssssssssssssss :) They had seen on my facebook that I wanted one and bought me one!  How awesome is that!? and Lee had told them that I wanted a blender... so that is what he expected them to bring me for my b-day, but they brought BOTH! :) yippie!
I cannot wait till after Lent to make smoothies every single day!!!!!
and they brought us sliverware! yay! we had really cheap silverware & a knife had just broke & a couple forks were loose..... now we have 8 sets of each! I never knew I'd be so happy over silverware
It was like Christmas.... they also brought clippers to cut Lee's hair, zip lock baggies, peanut butter, Caesar salad dressing, sunscreen, stuff for the orphans and Limes kids.... :) :) :)

So we took a reggae bus downtown and walked around.... I'll post pictures to document the trip.  It was fun and hot..... and so afterward we went down to Grand Anse Beach & cooled of... we had a beach day with the Limes kids scheduled, so I rushed to go to that... and then we relaxed a little and came to campus so we could get them passes for the buses and show them around campus a bit so they would know where to go.  We watched the sunset out on the peninsula and ate dinner... it was a good day!

explaining the spices...

sad fish market... 

 spices, spices, spices 

smoooooothies!

up the hill to Fort George

Carenage

later in the evening we walked out on the peninsula at the end of campus to watch the sunset

 

Don't jump!

Yesterday I went on a walk... out of boredom and our house is freezing, so I went out to get warm too.  and I ended up on the very end of the tip of campus, on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  It's so beautiful out there. and scary.
It is mostly rock and cacti out there.  I LOVE that there are cactus here.  That was one of my favorite things about San Antonio was the pretty cacti... and here there is the best of both worlds, cactus AND flowers and trees and bushes and rainforest. Grenada is perfect. :)
I was by myself so I made use of my self timer...

SGU campus

I'm going to research how to get a start of a cactus and grow one at our apartment.....

Class tomorrow

Lee is starting classes tomorrow and I'm not excited about it.
I just love having him around and him being free to do whatever, whenever. we've been spoiled these past few months... but soon I will have lots and lots and lots of time to blog! I will recap our first week soon. I don't want to forget anything.
I'm so happy for Lee. He's worked so hard and he's finally starting medical school!! His white coat ceremony is tomorrow too! I can't wait. I'm going to take lots of pictures and probably video it. I feel like a mom.

We've only just begun....

So, we just found out yesterday that Lee was officially accepted in St. George's University in Grenada! Perfect timing, considering we are getting married in 2 weeks & had no clue about what we were doing about life!
All in God's time.... he makes everything beautiful in his time. I keep reminding myself this.
I wanted to start a blog, because I know I will want to blog about all of our experiences in Grenada... but I thought I'd start it today so I'd always remember the emotions I was feeling and compare it to how I feel when we're there & when our time there is done and we're back in North America somewhere...
Lee and I are both so relieved to finally know where we're going and we've got to start making decisions and plans now!! I can hardly focus on all of the wedding things I have to do.... I am getting married in 2 weeks!!!! eeeek! and now I'm moving to tropical island for 2 years.. geeez.
And I haven't seen Lee in weeks, which doesn't help. I cannot believe that in 10 days we will be together forever & never have to say goodbye for a long period of time or live in different countries!!! I'm secretly kind of happy that we will be living in a neutral country for a couple years.... haha. by then I will probably appreciate America or Canada!
We had our first fight tonight about Grenada..... over fish. I told Lee I had been researching the food and everything & that I didn't know what I'd eat because I cannot eat fish... I didn't mean that they have no other food there but fish, but it is cheap and they do have a lot of it because it is an island.... there is no medical reason I can't eat fish, I just HATE it and he was not happy with this response... he hates it when I say I can't do something or just refuse to do something, but I will refuse fish.
Lee thinks that I am going to get to Grenada and starve to death or force him to have special food shipped in and waste all of our money on food.... haha. so finally I agreed that if I had absolutely nothing else to eat I would eat fish.... but only if I had been without food for several days. My plan is to take lots of vitamins and skip food. I'll stick lots of peanut butter in my suitcase because supposedly you can't get it there ? I'll be checking into this....

I am sooo excited to start our new life together!! Even if it means that for the first 4 months of marriage we will be living in my sister's basement... and then fighting over food & Lee studying non-stop for 2 years in Grenada & being in a tremendous amount of debt! Atleast I'll come out of this with a tan and some awesome pictures right?