<catching up> A defense

I may have complained to (everyone) a couple people once or twice during the past six months as I’ve written my doctoral dissertation.  I had a somewhat bad attitude since… well… nobody is ever going to read it again, and it took up a great deal of my time.

My project has really been three projects, which means three chapters, three lengthy introductions, three very distinct discussion sections.  I tried to get away with doing the bare minimum, but my advisor (to her credit) made me put forth an effort and do a good job.  And now, I have to say, I’m pretty proud of it.

Screen shot from the introduction to Chapter 3 of my dissertation.

At last I turned it in and presented my work to a room full of tomato-throwing, hateful, skeptics.  They went easy on me (because actually they were mostly really nice people with whom I have good relationships, and none of them actually brought tomatoes). 

Tim flew back from Utah (where he has been doing a visiting pathology rotation at ARUP laboratories, and Erin flew back from Rochester, NY (where she took a post-doc position and now studies RSV in a funny twist of fate).  It was so, so, nice to have both of them there, along my sister Cami, my brother Lance, and my good friends Daniele, Chadene, and Nora, and other departmental or medical school friends.  Lots of friendly faces to look for in the audience.

I gave my talk:

And then spent an hour and a half being grilled by my dissertation committee, during which I had a hard time remembering the functional significance of lungs (i.e. that they are useful in obtaining oxygen from the air).  I was a little frazzled at first, but recovered, at least enough to convince the committee that I should graduate.  They asked me to leave the room, and then finally called me back in.  My department chair stood up, shook my hand, and said, “Congratulations, Doctor Dickey.”    I (barely) held back tears of relief as I shook everybody’s hands.

When I came home, Tim’s mom and Amelia surprised me with a lovely cake  from White’s bakery that had a lot of icing from which a certain toddler could not help herself from snitching pinches.

I had a nice talk with my advisor, during which she promised me a solemn promise that nothing in my career would ever be as stressful or time-consuming as the process of writing a doctoral dissertation.  I have to say it was ever so much more painful than I imagined.

In a nutshell: 5 tables, 61 figures, 277 references, 289 pages, and 49, 968 words that NOBODY WILL EVER READ AGAIN. 

But… it’s done.  6 1/2 years, 5 apartments, one husband, and two babies later… it’s done…

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

<Catching up> A match

On March 15, 4th-year medical students across the country took place in what is called “Match Day.”   After months of residency interviews, students and residency programs rank each other using an official computer program toward the end of February.  An algorythm is then used to match students based on both their and residency programs’ rank lists. 

Match day is a big deal.  The BU medical school provided breakfast, a program, an award ceremony (during which Tim won a big award, but barely mentioned it as per his nature), lunch, and champagne.  Fifteen seconds before noon, the students counted down together and then received envelopes delineating the next four years of their lives.

I joined Tim for the last part of the morning.  Below, Tim and two of his good M.D./Ph.D. friends (Kathy and Lauren) patiently (not really) wait for their envelopes:

And finally the big moment came.  Tim got his envelope and I held my breath as he opened it.  I should mention that Tim is an excellent candidate, and has been heavily pursued by the several of the top programs in the nation. 

He ranked the University of Utah (which has an outstanding pathology program) first – for me, knowing how homesick I’ve been for mountains and family and friends and red rocks.

He got his first pick.

And so we are moving to the great Salt Lake for the next four years.

Inevitably, I am both elated to be returning to my mountain home as well as devastated to leaving my family and friends in Boston – especially Lance and Cami and their families, and the awesome friends I’ve made in Boston.  Thank goodness for internets, and airplanes, and Burning Man festivals.