The Journey of 1,000 Miles Begins With…

…flying over 17,000 miles to 18 cities in nine months living in hospitals and hotels as an aspiring surgeon. Since this blog is our family journal, I thought I should map out Trent’s adventures now that he is finally done with them. 

Trent made this map of where he’s been for his rotations and interviews. His rotations were 1-2 weeks while he worked in hospitals. Mostly, he worked in operating rooms and emergency rooms. Sometimes he would send me pictures of unrecognizable masses of flesh he called cancer, and sometimes it would be of a victim of a car accident or bar fight he was sewing back together in the ER. I didn’t care for the pictures, but I’m glad he had fun doing it. On his second tour of the country he was interviewing for residency. Those trips were shorter—and we didn’t complain (other than getting him out the door every other weekend)!

Trent is the cute one on the left with his hand on the table.

He would tell me about how they took out someone’s jugular vein (isn't that kind of important?), or how they removed egg-sized tumors from the skull. He got so excited about seeing someone’s brain after a car wreck (as they fixed it in the operating room), or someone’s lungs breathing in and out for some procedure. His stories of car wrecks, near-decapitations, fights, and people falling on their face are almost endless. All of this in a day in the life of an oral surgeon--who would have thought?

Some of his accommodations were a little sketchy. Others, especially the hospital rooms, weren’t so bad (other than every ambulance and helicopter going in and out of the hospital keeping him awake at night).

He had to use the ironing board for a study table.

Cockroaches in the shower

Full kitchen set up.

He saw some interesting places, like Walden Pond, the Longfellow House, softball-sized hail, his first tornado (or three), the Mississippi River, Niagara Falls, the Smokey Mountains, and one of Phoenix’s “famous” dust storms (from the air). Living in the heart of major ‘infamous’ cities he found himself in some compromising neighborhoods and situations (he was glad his dash to safety was short). But by and large he enjoyed himself and learned a lot.

Walden Pond

Old North Bridge

Longfellow House

Hail from the tornado (the picture of his rental car is impressive)

Trent's hideout during the tornados

Haboob (Phoenix dust storm)

Mississippi River in Memphis

Spending so much time in airports and on airplanes was not a trial for this aviation enthusiast. He took lots of pictures of the airplanes, and even convinced one of the pilots to let him into the cockpit for a photo shoot (for his kids, he said).

He found a flight museum in Dallas.

See that big smile sitting at the helm?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I kept the home fires burning, making occasional jaunts north to visit grandparents. Boy, we sure did miss him! We loved talking to him on the phone or Skype, even with the 3-hour time difference. 

We are glad his rotations and interviews are over, and HOPE we don’t have to repeat it next year!