Working during medical school. How do families in medical school afford to live?!

During Jordan's undergrad at Wichita State University, I knew medical school was the ultimate goal, but I always worried about how we would be able to afford it. Especially going into medical school with surprisingly 2 children under the age of 3. But, I saw other couples on social media make it through so I always just figured the financials would work themselves out. 

When I found out we were going to the Caribbean, and I wasn't going to be permitted to work I was more anxious. It is true that Caribbean medical schools are more expensive than US medical schools. Jordan and I had already been married for 6 years when he began medical school, and throughout our entire marriage I have worked full time. We already had adult responsibilities..a rental house, car payment, some credit card debt, etc. One year prior to medical school I had been running my own custom embroidery business out of our home, and when we were moving to St. Maarten I had to pack it all away. We sold all of our furniture minus our bed, a vehicle, and just the majority of our household items. This helped us fund our move overseas. Now, in hindsight, I'm so glad we didn't sell everything like we originally anticipated. 

During the first 2 years in St. Maarten we lived solely on student loans and what was left of our savings (It went fast). Talk about nerve wracking!! I know that financial aid is different for every school, and the amount of reimbursement changes based on tuition increases, etc so I'm not able to give exact dollar amounts. Somehow we managed to make it work financially. Looking back I'm not 100% sure how we did, but we did and I'm so glad that the boys and I were able to spend those 20 months in St. Maarten with Jordan during basic sciences.

After Hurricane Irma, I was ready to get back to work and make some money! I reopened Sew Worth It Designs and it became the boys and I's main source of income.

When Jordan started studying for the STEP 1 exam he was on a leave of absence (LOA) so no student loans were distributed. There are private loans students can take out during this time, but we were not approved for those honestly. He just didn't qualify for whatever reason. I know a lot of Jordan's colleagues were able to though. So during January-May 2018 my embroidery business was our only income!! Crazy right! I'm still super proud of that and am so grateful for everyone who supported my small business. We literally lived in a 1 bedroom apartment for $325.00 a month in a super tiny town in Kansas. We are going to look back and laugh one day...

Anyway! After STEP 1 Jordan started working for a company online called Varsity Tutors. Basically he took a bunch of online assessments to test his proficiency in different subjects and once he was approved he could be matched with students to tutor in different subjects, mainly pre-med/science related. Sessions paid $15-$20/hr depending on the subject, then there are bonus' like depending on how the student rates you, if the student signs up for another session, etc. So Jordan online tutoring really helped fill the gaps financially before he started the clinical portion of school. In fact, Jordan STILL tutors about 4 hours a week while in rotations. He is currently tutoring a pharmacy student. 

Once clinicals started his student loans kicked back into effect, but here's a word to the wise...make sure your credit's 100% clean. Jordan had some medical bills show up on his credit report and his student loan was denied. Scary right?! We paid them off and all was right in the world again. Every 2 semesters student's credit reports are pulled and if there are blemishes they will not approve your loan. 

We are thankful that we are now in a lower cost of living area for the clinical portion, because we are able to save for expenses that are going to pop up like residency applictions, interviews..oh, and let's not forget the costs of those board exams. Whew! Step 2 is over $2k!! Anyway, this is about as real and raw as it gets in regards to going to medical school with a family. I'm not going to sugar coat it..it's stressful! I oftentimes feel a ton of mom guilt that we've dragged our kids through this process, but this is the choice we made and I can only hope that our boys grow up seeing the sacrifices their parents made to better their lives. 

Why a Caribbean Medical School?

I think the first question we get asked when people find out that Jordan is a medical student is, Why did you go to medical school in the Caribbean? 
The short answer: Because he didn't get into a med school in the US :)

The long answer: Everyone knows that medical school is competitive, but what they don't realize is exactly how competitive. There are a ton of factors that go into your medical school applications and one of those is grades, obviously. So Jordan is a non traditional student and had actually gone back to college in 2010 to complete all the pre-med coursework. What we (I) didn't realize at the time was all his grades from his first attempt of college right out of high school were also going to be on his transcript and be calculated into his GPA. Ouch! Jordan had one semester that he just quit going to due to financial aid issues and therefore had straight F's. Now, with MD applications you can retake those classes and get an average score (example: original grade F, retake grade A= C average). Not good enough to bring up a GPA. With DO school applications, they don't take the average grade, they take the newest/highest grade, but it still shows on your transcript as a "retake" so obviously it's going to be a red flag on your application that you've retaken classes. Also, the MCAT is vital. Jordan's first attempt was in the mid 20's, he retook it and scored in the high 20's. Our state school's average MCAT score was 30 so we knew his MCAT was on the lower end. **I know the MCAT has since changed their scoring system so I'm not sure how to compare scores now.** A lot of things stacking against him on getting accepted. I should also mention that Jordan worked full time, on 3rd shift at a hospital, all through undergrad as a nontraditional student.
 After 2 years of applying in the US we both felt a little defeated and weren't sure what our next move was going to be. I started "researching" Caribbean medical schools and at first Jordan was 100% against it, wouldn't even consider it. I saw that American University of the Caribbean (AUC) was having an informational session in Kansas City and I told Jordan that I thought we should drive up there and at least hear what they had to say. He agreed so we went up there on November 1, 2014 to hear about the school. After listening to the presentation and talking with alumni and professors we were starting to feel more comfortable, and realizing that this may be our last ditch effort if medicine was the only thing he wanted to do. I have always seen such a drive and ambition in Jordan that I've always fostered because I know he is extremely capable of becoming an excellent physician. Now, if he was failing classes in undergrad for the second time, not putting in the effort on his applications, etc I would not have been okay with taking the risk of going to an international medical school. Let's face it..it was a huge decision. We had 1 son, and I was pregnant with our second son at the time so a move to the Caribbean was a daunting. 
At the beginning of 2015 Jordan went ahead and applied to AUC and the rest is history, up until present day. Do I recommend a Caribbean medical school? Sure.. if you're 100% dedicated and willing to put in the hard work. Caribbean medical schools are more expensive and there is more adversity you'll be facing in regards to island life, clinical setting choices and eventually matching into a residency. However, there are so many success stories of physicians that have graduated from an off shore med school as testimony. We are grateful to the opportunity AUC presented, but it is really up to the student to determine how successful they will be. 
So there's the long answer :) Thanks for reading!

Psych Rotation done

Jordan completed his Psych rotation on Friday, September 21st. It was a 6 week rotation, and let me tell you..I am SO GLAD psych was his first rotation after moving to Baton Rouge. His hours were typically 7:30am-noonish Monday-Friday. He would stay at the hospital library to study and usually come home right at 3pm so we could ride together to go pick up Bradley in the pickup line at school.  Not every day, but most days. I loved that because we could recap our day, and I could hear some highlights of his day.without patient details of course. His shorter days made me feel more comfortable navigating a new city as well because we could figure it out together. 

On his first day of this rotation he came home, all excited like a little school kid on the first day of school. He was happy because his partner was a fellow student he's (we've) been friends with since MERP days. It is always so nice to see familiar faces!! We haven't seen a lot of our friends from St. Maarten in over a year now! So there were only 2 of them on the psych service as students and he really appreciated the personal, hands on experience. Another thing to note is that Psych is completed at Baton Rouge General Mid-City campus, and food and parking are free for students.

 I don't know exactly what they did every day besides see patients, but some of the "extra" things they did were attend an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting, watched the movie "A Beautiful Mind," witnessed Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), and attended a morning at the Behavioral Wellness Clinic (group therapy). At the end of the 6 weeks he took the Psych shelf exam and just found out yesterday he passed and did well. He won't know if he honored the rotation until the attending does his evaluation. 

Jordan started his Internal Medicine (IM) rotation on Monday at the Bluebonnet campus, and it's already a whole different ballgame. I will recap it at the end of the 12 weeks! 

The only photo of Jordan I have from the past 6 weeks!

Moving to Baton Rouge, LA for MS3 & 4

We found out in the beginning of April that we were going to be placed in Baton Rouge for clinical year MS3. We had about a weeks worth time with Jordan trying to negotiate (aka BEG) with AUC to let us go to Michigan for his clinicals. At the end of the day, Michigan's schedule didn't work out with the 60 day rule so we had to let that plan go. Our next option was at Kern in Bakersfield, CA...BUT they couldn't place us there until October after Jordan did pediatrics (6wks) and surgery (12wks) at another location. That didn't work out for us because Bradley would be starting Kindergarten in August/September. Our next option was Baton Rouge. We were also offered Miami, but we didn't think we would be able to afford it financially.

We knew that Baton Rouge didn't offer OBGYN or pediatrics as part of their core rotations. That is why Jordan went to East Meadows, NY first for his 6 week pediatrics rotation. This allowed me to keep working to save money for our move and also time to research schools for Bradley and safe areas to live within our med school budget. Jordan got home from New York on July 6th and we moved to Baton Rouge on July 29th. Those 3 weeks Jordan was on "break" were so helpful because he was able to help me pack up our apartment and get everything ready for the move while I completed 64 orders before our move. 

Let me tell you, moving around for clinical rotations with a family is NOT ideal. It is expensive..apartment deposits, moving trucks, utility deposits, fuel, etc. We also bought a couch and kitchen table for our apartment because we had sold our previous furniture when we moved to St. Maarten. Luckily, Jordan's grandparents own a 16' enclosed trailer and were kind enough to let us use it for our move. That saved us about $1k that we would have had to spend for a moving truck if it wasn't for their generosity. 

Saying goodbye to Kansas! The day we moved to Baton Rouge

We were thankful that Jordan's uncle and Mom were able to assist us with our move. We all rotated driving the 10 hours or so between 2 cars and the truck hauling the trailer. We did stop in Shreveport, LA on the first night, and then finished up the drive to Baton Rouge on the second day. Unloading the trailer was a breeze with the extra hands. We are so grateful for their help. Oh, and did I mention that our kids are perfect travelers? Not exaggerating. They were troopers..no meltdowns, no car sickness, no major stops. 

Overall the move to Baton Rouge was seamless. I will say though that when we move for residency, wherever that may be, I WANT TO HIRE MOVERS! That probably won't be realistic financially, but maybe if I start saving my pennies now. We are in Baton Rouge for the next 2 years- Jordan is in his Psych rotation now, followed by Internal Med, Surgery, Family Med, and OBGYN in Miami (May 2019) and then he'll do a handful of elective rotations in 4th year. He has most of his electives scheduled in Baton Rouge, and will probably do an away ER rotation somewhere else, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

Thanks for reading!

Med School 23 months later

I last left off at Ian's 1st birthday party . Baby Ian turns 3 years old in October !!
I started this blog because I wanted to document our medical school "adventures." I blogged all the fun things, but when the journey got too adventurous, I stopped. You see, there was a time we didn't know if Jordan would ever achieve his goal of becoming a physician. In February 2017, at the beginning of his 4th semester, Jordan went into Septic Shock. I don't want to sound like a broken record to our friends and family who know about his septic event, so click here to read about his sepsis survival story.
After a semester off to recover and a diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis, we returned back to St. Maarten in May 2017 to complete 4th and 5th semester. The beginning of the semester was a bit of a struggle because Jordan was dealing with tinnitus from his hearing loss. The medicine he was on also affected his tinnitus and caused anxiety. After some med changes, we got back on track and Jordan completed 4th semester exceptionally well. 

August 2017 was sad because most of our friends were leaving the island. We still had a semester left to complete due to Jordan's sepsis withdrawal. At the end of 4th semester (August 2017) we traveled back home to Kansas because Jordan had some doctor's appointments and we were attending our friends' wedding in California. We had return flights back to St. Maarten to complete our 5th and final semester of basic sciences. At the wedding, we really started debate moving our flights back because of news reports of Hurricane Irma. I was hesitant, and wanted to just go back. But when the hurricane was upgraded to a category 4 and our flight back was being cancelled the decision was made for us. It ended up being a good thing, because the island was devastated. I remember vividly the night of the hurricane I could not sleep. All I could think about were our friends still on the island. Also the people of St. Maarten. I worried about everyone's safety. I literally worried myself to sickness. I also had terrible survivor's guilt. I wondered about what would happen to Jordan's final semester, how the island was going to rebuild, whether we were going to be able to go back to our apartment to get the rest of our belongings, etc etc. The list goes on. 

That period in my life feels like a blur. I really don't remember September 2017. At the end of September we learned that AUC would be temporarily relocated to the UK. Students were given the opportunity to defer for that semester or go to Preston, England, but the semester was going on. Being that it was Jordan's final semester of basic sciences, it was a no brainer that Jordan would go and finish up in the UK. I chose not to. For a few reasons: 1. We couldn't afford it. There was no way were going to be able to swing moving a family of 4 internationally for the 2nd time. 2. I wanted to give the boys some stability. 2017 was CRAZY for us, as a family. I wanted to get Bradley into some type of formal schooling, because I wanted him to be ready for Kindergarten. Jordan left for the UK, and I stayed in Kansas. I reopened my Etsy shop Sew Worth It Designs for income during this time. I missed embroidery and running my business so I was so glad to get back to doing something for myself. All of that is really a blur. Living situation with family was tense, and I was battling some serious depression if I'm being honest with myself. WE WERE ELATED when Jordan came back home at the end of December. He finished 5th semester on the Dean's List and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Phi Honors and Service Society.

In January 2018 Jordan got back to business studying for USMLE Step 1 exam. We had moved into a one bedroom apartment in Kingman, KS while Jordan studied. This board exam is SO IMPORTANT. It determines the specialties you can apply to for residency. ordan took the exam February 28, 2018 and we waited 3 LONG weeks for the results. Thankfully Jordan was happy with his score. 

Next things next we needed to be placed for clinicals. We had high hopes to be placed in Michigan. It just made sense for us. Unfortunately, there is a rule that students need to be rotating within 60 days of getting their score and the rotation in Michigan didn't start until June, and Jordan's 60 days were up in May. Literally he took his test about 10 days early lol. Anyway, after that disappointment we were placed at our 3rd choice, Baton Rouge. First though, Jordan had to complete his Pediatrics rotation at Nassau University Medical Center. Pediatrics and OBGYN rotations are not offered at Baton Rouge General. Jordan went to New York and the end of May and ended up living with 4 of our friends who were also rotating at NUMC. I stayed back with the kids in Kansas to keep working. We missed him, but it all worked out really well! Jordan completed the rotation, even honored it!! Yea! 

At the end of July we packed up our life that has been in boxes the past 3 years and moved to Baton Rouge, LA. So far so good! We love our apartment, the cost of living is comparable to what we're used to, we found a great elementary school for Bradley, and my embroidery business is thriving. Jordan is in his Psych rotation and is partnered with a friend all the way back from MERP days. We are happy.
This was the longest updates of updates and if you've made it this far, thanks! I want to start getting more real and raw with this blog. The days of bonfires on the beaches of St. Maarten are over. We are in the depth of med school at the moment, and the year is only going to get crazier! I will be updating this blog more regularly. I remember reading blogs before med school, and although I'm JUST a spouse, and this blog isn't from the students perspective I hope it can become a resource for anyone interested in medical school. 

Ian's 1st birthday party

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in 2 months!! We have been super busy, but as I have 4 dozen cupcakes baking in the oven for bake sale, I figured I could squeeze in a quick blog entry.
On October 27 our sweet baby Ian turned 1 YEAR OLD!! The year went by so quickly- it makes me so sad! But we had a great Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party at the Blue Marine pool in Maho!

Jordan grilled hamburgers and hotdogs at our friends Kerri and Dave's house, then we were joined at the pool by our closest friends. The weather was perfect- hot and sunny! My friend Kim with Black Cat Cafe made 4 dozen cupcakes and Ian's Mickey Mouse smash cake- they were amazing! And my friend Jackie surprised me with a high chair banner handmade with love! Several friends brought gifts which was so sweet (even though it was a no gift party!) 

At 6pm, when the sun went down, the pool lights turned neon so that was extra fun for the kids. It was a great party! and it reminded me how much work it is to throw a birthday party, but definitely worth it. My kids only get one birthday party during our time in St. Maarten, and since both of my boys birthdays are in the fall/winter this will probably be their only birthday in swimsuits! 

My experience with Zika

So since I posted on my FB that I had contracted the Zika virus I had a lot of people messaging me asking questions about it so I thought I'd just do a blog entry on my experience. Here is the CDC: Zika website with facts, but this is my personal experience. From what I read symptoms vary, but this is what happened to me:

So Thursday of last week I woke up with, what I thought was, a goose egg on the back of my head closer to my neck. It was pretty good size and very tender to touch so I spent some time trying to figure out when I had bumped my head! That afternoon I felt SO tired, like I could barely keep my eyes open. I decided to lay down and nap with Ian in the afternoon which I very rarely do. When I woke up I knew I had to get ready for my Spouses Org meeting, but I felt so achey that I just wanted to keep sleeping. I had to force myself to get ready. By the time I left for the meeting I felt like I was freezing and had a splitting headache. Our meeting was at an outdoor restaurant and I was shivering the entire time. I didn't last long, because I just wanted to go back home. I walked home, which in reality isn't a long walk at all, but it felt like it took forever. I was drenched in sweat, but freezing at the same time. I got home and immediately took some Benadryl and tried to fall asleep. Luckily Jordan had already put the boys to sleep. I could not sleep though..every joint ached, and I was shivering so my whole body just hurt. I took my temperature and it was 102 degrees. My fever finally broke around 4am and I was able to fall asleep.

 Thankfully on Friday Jordan didn't have class until 10:30am so he let me sleep in. When I woke up I felt better, but still had a headache. I had Jordan examine my "goose egg" on the back of my head in which he determined was a swollen lymph node. Obviously I was fighting some kind of infection, he figured it was either sinusitis or the flu because of the body aches. I carried on Friday and felt decent, until the evening I developed a fever again! Tylenol helped, but when I woke up Saturday morning I noticed I was itchy all over. I didn't think anything of it because I have sensitive skin anyway. It was a beautiful day so I took the boys outside to take some photos of them and that's when I noticed I had developed a rash everywhere. When I looked in the mirror I freaked out because my face was swollen, red and splotchy and radiated heat. I couldn't even capture on camera exactly what the rash looked like.

 I sent a picture to Jordan and he was like "umm yea you have some kind of mosquito borne illness" so we decided to go to the St. Maarten Medical Clinic to get checked out. I did labwork, but as soon as the doctor looked over my rash he said it was either Dengue, but 99% positive it was Zika. He even discouraged me to get tested, and I have a personal theory on why he didn't want me tested, but I will keep that to myself. For now there's nothing I can do except ride the virus out. I can't be out in the sun because it makes my skin swell and itch even worse so my poor kids are stuck inside with me :(
Oh, and I also had my broken finger x-rayed and it is still broken and I was referred for physical therapy because the finger doesn't bend, people. So yea, basically I'm a mess! Luckily the rest of my family is happy and healthy. Oh, island life.