GOD! The Revisions Never Stop!!!

Okay. I am SO sick of making freakin' revisions to this damn plan! It never stops! My last post I was SURE that I was going to go into Nursing first and then pursue a 4-year degree in biology. Well, THAT changed in a bloody heartbeat. After talking to a few people who's opinion I respect, and talking with my wife, we decided that Nursing was an unwise field to go into if I wanted to go into medical school. The primary reasoning behind this decision is the amount of pressure I'll be applying to myself as a nurse and a part time student. Got to be on point on both, or I might as well just give up. I don't want to take that chance.

So, instead we've decided to pursue another plan. It's a slight revision of my original plan. I will pursue a B.S. in biology. My wife will concurrently pursue a B.A. in accounting. Hopefully, she will be finished before me so that by the time I'm ready to apply and matriculate into medical school she'll have some sort of an established career.

It seems like a solid-enough plan, but there are definitly some concerns regarding time constraints and just timing in general. I've yet to tell anyone in my immediate family other than my wife that I'm doing this. My wife had a bit of a loose tongue, however, and she told her mother. Her mother subsequently told her husband. So, two more people than I would have preferred know about this. As long as my father doesn't know about it, I'm happy. He can be a pain about this stuff. He means well, but his sarcasm and general negativity can really drag you down. And, I'm so deep into the infancy of this process that even I doubt its legitimacy...

On a brighter note, I took my first exam in several years today. It was for my Sociology class. I believe that I did very well. It wasn't difficult, though. I finished about 15-20 minutes before anybody else in the class, and I felt kind of embarrassed. I just sat at my desk for awhile. Then, I decided to go over my answers to the test again. The professor wasn't in the room, and I wasn't sure where she wanted us to leave the completed tests. So, she finally came in and I gave her the test and left. We'll see how well I really did next Saturday.

-Merlin

Revisions, revisions, revisions

I took a bit of a hiatus from this blog, not that I've got too many people who read it. Anyway, as the title suggests I've made some revisions to my initial plan. Before I get into the changes, let me explain what has happened. I believe my last entry was some time in October. That was AGES ago! I'm such a bad recorder-of-thoughts. However, I digress. For a time I had strayed from the concept of medical school. My wife and I had discussed it, and I was afraid that this would end up stretching us too thin. We're at a point right now, financially, where we can't afford to make any missteps. So with that in mind I was very cautious of the concept of medical school. I had thought about going into IT for awhile. But my heart just wasn't in it. I did some researching to find out where I'd like to be, and it was so DRY. All technology and business. Yuck!

I began contemplating medicine again. I researched more about my overall options, trying to determine what my best course of action would be if I decided to do it. Well, I realized that it might not be a bad idea to go into nursing first. Nursing would serve several very important purposes:

• Give me exposure to the medical field, and professional relations with physicians.
• Professional experience in the medical field.
• $$$$$ (punctuation omitted)
• The possibility of tuition reimbursement for my futher endeavors into undergrad work.

That's the first modification to my plan. My second modification is really just taking my original plan of pursuing a B.S. in Biology after I have gained a position in the nursing field. It's definitly a tough road I've selected for myself, but I don't see much of a choice if I want to pursue medicine as an eventual career. It will probably take me a few years to secure an A.S. in Nursing. Hopefully no more than three. Then, I have to work at the hospital for a bit. Get adjusted to the job, do my rotations and try to select a position that will be advantageous to school work. Within a year of attaining a nursing position, I'd like to be back in school for my B.S. in Biology. It will take me a long time to complete this. Probably six years to get it completed. But, that includes my prerequisites. Then, I've got the application process (including the MCAT). All in all, I believe that's another year of work. So far, I'm up to ten years from now. I think I might be entombed in a freakin' mausoleum by the time I've got this process finished!

I look forward to the challenges, though. I look at this as a competition with myself, and a challenge. I want to see what I'm really made of when the dust settles; test my mettle and find out if I can push myself mentally and physically to do something that I once thought was an impossibility. The more I think about becoming a physician, the more I begin to realize that I was built for this. I've got a gregarious personality, I'm very empathetic, I love science, and I love to learn; I want to help people and improve their quality of life, and contribute something to society that not everybody has the opportunity to contribute.

Anyway, OPM has been an inspirational community for me. I'm so happy I was able to stumble across that support group early on in my little journey. They've taught me a lot in a short period of time, and I don't think I could express how much I appreciate the wealth of knowledge and the support structure they've provided so selflessly.

-Merlin