It’s been a long four years, more for my husband than myself but it feels like it’s been ages. This is the week that all fourth-year medical students have been waiting for. It’s Match week and today is Match Monday. Match Monday is the day fourth years find out if they matched to a residency, the next step in the journey of becoming a doctor and on Friday, you find out where exactly you’re going. If you do not match on Monday, you’re given an opportunity to spend the few days interviewing and connecting with residencies that have slots open.
The lead up to this week is so stressful and depending on what an email says on Monday decides if it becomes even more so.
Since my husband has started medical school, he wanted to go into Emergency Medicine, it has never been a question. The only question he had was where. After doing a lot of away rotations, he figured out his list and submitted it the day it opened. On Match Monday we found out that he matched! That means we were able to “relax” during the week in the lead up to Friday. The wait seemed like forever and Conor had been looking forward to this day for years. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the celebration was canceled. I had taken time off to spend the day celebrating but plans had to change. It has gotten so bad in our area that we can’t even visit our small group of friends. Our plan was then to spend the morning together as a family. Gather for the email and then maybe go for an afternoon walk.
Thursday night came with an announcement from the governor that all non-essential businesses were closing and people had to be working remotely. We had something planned for Saturday morning so we quickly had to head out for an impromptu appointment. On the way back from the appointment, at noon the email arrived in his inbox. Conor let me open it and we found out where we’ll be the next four years…
Lehigh Valley Hospital!
Conor had matched with his first choice! When he did his rotation at Lehigh, he honored and had an incredible time. He loved the team he was working with and the hospital. Plus we had lived in Allentown & Lehigh Valley for four years during undergrad so we already loved the area. It was an amazing moment finding out that everything he went through and we went through as a family was worth it. Come June he’ll be an official resident at Lehigh Valley Hospital.
