Please allow me to catch you up on my new life here in Springfield, MA.
Monday
I arrived here around 3 PM on Monday afternoon. I got some McDonalds’ fries (that’s a double possessive) with a Coke and headed to one of Baystate’s ancillary buildings to re-certify myself in Basic Life Support. There I was joined by several other new residents. I met of few of them including Hannah, Deb, and Juliana. It turns out that I interviewed with Hannah way back in November. I thought that was interesting. Deb used to be a high school science teacher and has a thick Brooklyn accent (and also went to medical school with Hannah in Vermont). Juliana is from Indianapolis, Indiana. They seem like a nice group. Be proud that I passed my BLS course and now have a new card in my wallet.
Afterwards, I drove to my new temporary housing where Jin lives. Jin is one of the current first year residents (I might sometimes use PGY1 which stands for Post Graduate Year 1). She is from Utah and also Korean. The Korean part is interesting, because one of the first things she mentioned is how much she enjoys Shaolin Soccer, which is Chinese (and the place I visited several weeks back. This provided us an instant talking point and things took off from there. Jin is very laid back and very fun. I told our residency coordinator that if the other residents are half as fun as Jin, I’m going to be extremely happy at Baystate. The best part about her is her kindness. She offered to put me up here without knowing a thing about me (well, she had mistakenly heard that I’m married with a child), who I was, or what I’m like. In addition, she’s loaned me books and given me plenty of advice for my new job which begins in six days. This is a very apprehensive time in my life, so I’m very fortunate to have some of the little pearls of wisdom she has bestowed on me in the past few days. Plus, she’s alerted the other current residents about me, which is very nice. When I begin on Friday, most of them will already know me. All that does is ease this transition even more. I really couldn’t have lucked out more in this situation. I immensely pleased that I have chosen a place where kindness is the rule instead of the exception.
Tuesday and Wednesday
I normally would have Advanced Cardiac Life Support, but I took that at UT so I had two days off. This allowed me to look for a new mortgage lender, because GMAC said no. I alluded to my hatred of this particular company a few days ago. Basically they approved the loan, but they need an official piece of paper which states my student loan monthly payment. Unfortunately, I won’t have that piece of paper until November due to the consolidation process and the fact that I’m in my grace period. Once the processing goes through, my payment will be calculated based on the outstanding interest and principle at that time. Of course, then I’ll apply for deferment which will last two years. So really I won’t even be paying anyway. The frustrating thing is that I can prove my loan principle, interest, term, and interest rate (if I were to start paying), because my application has been received and “locked-in”. So if they need to know my payment, why can’t they just plug it into their calculator and figure it out? Bank of America does it all the time. GMAC however isn’t that smart. So I started looking elsewhere. I did all the paperwork with a very nice gentleman named Lee at National City Mortgage. He talked to credit and underwriting, explained my situation, and basically told me the loan was a slam dunk (especially with my outstanding credit score). I also called Bank of America, and they seemed very positive they could also get the loan done. What an exciting two days.
Thursday and Friday
Today I started Pediatric Advanced Life Support. It’s just like ACLS but for kids. This went until Friday. In the evening, I got a call from my realtor with good news. Apparently Jewett didn’t feel very good that her own company (who she recommended to me out of convenience) rejected me while two other mortgage companies accepted me. So she called the regional vice president of GMAC Mortgage who looked at my situation and reversed the denial. So just like that I was back on the books. GMAC Mortgage is still is on my shit-list, because they had given up on me for no apparent reason, and it took my Realtor to stick her neck out and do the leg work. We’ll see how well they treat me to determine what sort of relationships I will have with them in the future.
In the 24-hours from being denied to being financed, the sellers flipped out (thinking they had lost a sale), canceled their movers, and moved their closing date for their new house. So my June 30th closing date was scrapped. In the end we settled on July 6th, so I only lost six days. I even got my movers rescheduled, and they will deliver on July 7th which is perfect. All of this has been the biggest nightmare in the history of mankind. However, it will all be over soon. And like I told Jewett, if this experience doesn’t kill me (we’re not out of the woods yet) it can only make me stronger. Thank God for Jewett Mathewson, or I’d be one lost puppy.
I ended up passing PALS. So now I’m certified in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support, and pediatric life support. In two weeks, they certify me in advanced trauma life support. There are many certifications to be had as a surgeon. More to come.
Monday
I arrived here around 3 PM on Monday afternoon. I got some McDonalds’ fries (that’s a double possessive) with a Coke and headed to one of Baystate’s ancillary buildings to re-certify myself in Basic Life Support. There I was joined by several other new residents. I met of few of them including Hannah, Deb, and Juliana. It turns out that I interviewed with Hannah way back in November. I thought that was interesting. Deb used to be a high school science teacher and has a thick Brooklyn accent (and also went to medical school with Hannah in Vermont). Juliana is from Indianapolis, Indiana. They seem like a nice group. Be proud that I passed my BLS course and now have a new card in my wallet.
Afterwards, I drove to my new temporary housing where Jin lives. Jin is one of the current first year residents (I might sometimes use PGY1 which stands for Post Graduate Year 1). She is from Utah and also Korean. The Korean part is interesting, because one of the first things she mentioned is how much she enjoys Shaolin Soccer, which is Chinese (and the place I visited several weeks back. This provided us an instant talking point and things took off from there. Jin is very laid back and very fun. I told our residency coordinator that if the other residents are half as fun as Jin, I’m going to be extremely happy at Baystate. The best part about her is her kindness. She offered to put me up here without knowing a thing about me (well, she had mistakenly heard that I’m married with a child), who I was, or what I’m like. In addition, she’s loaned me books and given me plenty of advice for my new job which begins in six days. This is a very apprehensive time in my life, so I’m very fortunate to have some of the little pearls of wisdom she has bestowed on me in the past few days. Plus, she’s alerted the other current residents about me, which is very nice. When I begin on Friday, most of them will already know me. All that does is ease this transition even more. I really couldn’t have lucked out more in this situation. I immensely pleased that I have chosen a place where kindness is the rule instead of the exception.
Tuesday and Wednesday
I normally would have Advanced Cardiac Life Support, but I took that at UT so I had two days off. This allowed me to look for a new mortgage lender, because GMAC said no. I alluded to my hatred of this particular company a few days ago. Basically they approved the loan, but they need an official piece of paper which states my student loan monthly payment. Unfortunately, I won’t have that piece of paper until November due to the consolidation process and the fact that I’m in my grace period. Once the processing goes through, my payment will be calculated based on the outstanding interest and principle at that time. Of course, then I’ll apply for deferment which will last two years. So really I won’t even be paying anyway. The frustrating thing is that I can prove my loan principle, interest, term, and interest rate (if I were to start paying), because my application has been received and “locked-in”. So if they need to know my payment, why can’t they just plug it into their calculator and figure it out? Bank of America does it all the time. GMAC however isn’t that smart. So I started looking elsewhere. I did all the paperwork with a very nice gentleman named Lee at National City Mortgage. He talked to credit and underwriting, explained my situation, and basically told me the loan was a slam dunk (especially with my outstanding credit score). I also called Bank of America, and they seemed very positive they could also get the loan done. What an exciting two days.
Thursday and Friday
Today I started Pediatric Advanced Life Support. It’s just like ACLS but for kids. This went until Friday. In the evening, I got a call from my realtor with good news. Apparently Jewett didn’t feel very good that her own company (who she recommended to me out of convenience) rejected me while two other mortgage companies accepted me. So she called the regional vice president of GMAC Mortgage who looked at my situation and reversed the denial. So just like that I was back on the books. GMAC Mortgage is still is on my shit-list, because they had given up on me for no apparent reason, and it took my Realtor to stick her neck out and do the leg work. We’ll see how well they treat me to determine what sort of relationships I will have with them in the future.
In the 24-hours from being denied to being financed, the sellers flipped out (thinking they had lost a sale), canceled their movers, and moved their closing date for their new house. So my June 30th closing date was scrapped. In the end we settled on July 6th, so I only lost six days. I even got my movers rescheduled, and they will deliver on July 7th which is perfect. All of this has been the biggest nightmare in the history of mankind. However, it will all be over soon. And like I told Jewett, if this experience doesn’t kill me (we’re not out of the woods yet) it can only make me stronger. Thank God for Jewett Mathewson, or I’d be one lost puppy.
I ended up passing PALS. So now I’m certified in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support, and pediatric life support. In two weeks, they certify me in advanced trauma life support. There are many certifications to be had as a surgeon. More to come.
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