Residency Graduation

Richard had his residency graduation the week before we left Wisconsin.  It was wonderful to have an evening out to celebrate all that he has accomplished during residency, and even the last nine years, and it has certainly been an accomplishment.

Richard and the other seven residents he has spent the last four years with.  Petar and Zach also did medical school with Richard and did their intern year together at St. Joe's so they did all nine years together.  What a journey!

Basically, for the last four years, Richard spent his days waking up before 6:00 and leaving for work at 7:00.  He had lecture every day from 7:30-8:30 and then he started working.  He had a different rotation every single month:  mammography, neuro, chest, bone, ultrasound, fluro, body, interventional...to name a few.  He spent most of his time at Froedtert, but also had rotations at the childrens' hospital and at the VA.  

We were lucky and usually had Richard home for dinner with us if he wasn't working overnight.  However, he had some rotations where we just knew his hours would be longer and we wouldn't see him until later.  

Before he took boards in June 2015, he also tacked on studying in the morning and at night for a solid year.  That meant he woke up at 5:15, left the house at 5:45 and studied at the hospital before lecture.  When he got home, we had dinner, he played with the kids for a bit, we would put them to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and he would study again until 9:00 pm.  He did this for months and it was grueling.

During residency, Richard also served on multiple academic committees.  This meant extra meetings, usually after 5:00 pm.  Overall, he enjoyed these committees, but he also had frustrating times as he saw how a large academic institution functions.  He did gain a lot though, and it gave him great insight into academic medicine.  

In addition to the daily work grind, studying, and committee meetings, Richard also gave multiple presentations on all sorts of radiology topics throughout his residency.  I spent a lot of evenings on the couch next to him while he worked on powerpoint presentations.  

This is Carla, the radiology program coordinator for 40 years.  She is one of the kindest, sweetest women we know.  She will be retiring in September, so Richard's class was the last one she saw all the way through their residency.  Richard was able to pay her a special tribute that night, on behalf of all the residents.  She is extraordinary and Richard is glad he was able to finish out his time at MCW with Carla around.  She made everything better.  

Richard also did more traveling during residency than I thought he would do.  Besides traveling two summers in a row for fellowship interviews, he traveled to radiology meetings and review sessions across the country.  This included spending four weeks in Washington D.C.  and two week-long review sessions right before the boards.  

The schedule of residency can be grueling.  We were lucky and had Richard around more than other residents in different areas of medicine, but he was still scarce and we got used to operating without him at times.  There were so many times he worked Monday through Friday, worked the weekend, and then worked the next Monday through Friday before getting a break.  Starting in July 2013 until February 2015 he took a lot of overnight call.  For part of the time he left at 7:00 am and other days he left at noon, worked a regular day, and then worked overnight as one of two radiology residents for the entire hospital, including the VA.  He would get home the next morning, usually around 9:00 am after having staffed out all of his cases with the attending radiologist.  

During his four years of residency, he read over 16,734 studies and took over 100 overnight calls at the hospital.  

This is Dr. Carrera.  He is the longest standing radiology program director in the country.  He is also an MSK radiologist.  He has been so influential during Richard's time here.  All the way back in medical school Richard asked him to his mentor and his help has been invaluable.  He has seen us through residency applications and two rounds of fellowship applications.  He is a remarkable man and has done so much for both of us.  

It has been quite the journey, that is for sure.  Richard and I both agree that if we could do it all over again we would, but we will talk our kids out of medicine!  In all seriousness though, this is not a journey that I would trade.  We have both grown so much as individuals, as a couple, and as a family because of this path we chose.  Richard has grown so much, learned so much, and honestly I am astounded at what he has accomplished over these last years.  He is remarkable and I love him!