The home stretch

I thought I should post an update, since a lot has happened since my initial post, and things are moving right along.

First of all, my surgical board exams are done, and I passed! Thanks, God! So did the other 8 residents I've trained with for the last 5 years. It's such a relief to have this phase of things done, and a little hard to imagine that my general surgery training is finally over.

Where to from here? Well, next week I start a 3 month orthopedic surgery placement to help me prepare for some of the surgery I'll be doing in Nepal that I haven't yet been trained for. I'm looking forward to this time. With my exams done, and all the core requirements for my residency completed, this is just bonus time, and I'm doing it to prepare for Nepal, so it should be fun. And I don't have to study for exams anymore. Whew!

I have a departure date scheduled - it's November 3. I'll be flying first to Thailand, where I'll spend 10 days with some good friends, and then will head to Kathmandu in mid-November. The plan is to be in Kathmandu for the first 4-5 months doing language study, and then to move to Tansen after that, probably March/April 2012.

I'm so thankful that God has brought me this far. The last many months have been a grind, but it's paid off. Thanks to those of you who have been standing with me.

Onwards and upwards.

Intro to this blog

As you may already know given that you've found me here, I am in my final year of residency training in General Surgery. I am also in my final year of preparations for going overseas after my training is finished. This has been a long time in coming - the first time I remember talking about working overseas was when I was in 8th grade. I've been in education/training my whole life up till now, and things are soon going to shift dramatically.

Once residency is done, I will be heading to Nepal to work at a hospital called Tansen hospital (www.tansenhospital.org.np), about 300 km west of Kathmandu (see map below). I'm thrilled about the opportunity, and confident that this is the next step in God's plan for my life. The current arrangement is that I will be there for 2 years, but I suspect that this is more than just a 2-year term. This blog will be one way that I keep people in the loop while I'm over there. I don't anticipate posting much over the next year, but am starting with this one post, mainly because the link for this blog is on my prayer card, which many of you have received.


For those of you interested in what the next year looks like, here's a rough timeline:

• October - March - 2nd half of my 12-month stint as chief surgical resident
• April - June 2011 - Exam preparation, filling in some gaps in my clinical experience (C-sections, skin grafting, etc)
• Surgical Board exams: Written exam - May 2-3; Oral exam - June 14 or 15
• July - September 2011 - 3 months of orthopedic surgery to round out my experience before I go overseas
• September 30, 2011 - End of residency!!!
• Sometime in Oct/Nov 2011 - Leave for Nepal!!!!

This year is obviously very significant in terms of preparing for the years ahead, and transitioning from training into the next stage of my life. Prayer is much appreciated.