As many of you know, Adam has been interviewing for residency programs recently.
He wants to go into General Surgery, which is 5 years of grueling work hours and 5 years of no husband/dad for me and the kids. Below I have broken down the pros and cons of each place he has interviewed. Now these are mostly MY pros and cons because Adam is not very good at telling me what he really thinks about each of the programs, and I think he is just trying not to think about it much because it is so stressful.
We don't have to decide until February-ish. I think I included everything I could think of.
Where Should the Smith's Live?
- Beautiful (as in has trees, lakes, etc.)
- Nice Neighbor close to hospital = short commute and safe place to live
- Big City = lots to do
- Good surgery program
- LDS Temple near by
Cons:
- Detroit itself is dangerous and not a nice city
- Far away from family
- Terrible cold winters
- Surgery program has little to no international medicine training experience
Johnson City, Tennessee
Pros:
- Right next to the Smokey Mts. (we love the outdoors and I've always wanted to explore the smokies)
- Most Surgery residents are married w/families (VERY RARE!) oh and they all love it there
- Great mild weather = no freezing winters & garden growing in the summer
- Low cost of living = could buy a house w/large yard
- Decent Surgery program w/ good international medicine opportunities
- Good central location for visiting fun places in the east (Myrtle Beach, D.C. Nashville, etc)
- Crime is very low
Cons:
- Poor schools
- Small town = not as much to do
- LDS Temple 3 HOURS away.
- Expensive to fly to = seeing family would be even harder; not even serviced by Southwest
- Far away from family
El Paso, Texas
Pros:
- Close to family (Only 6 hrs away from Adam's family in AZ, 10hrs from my sister in CO, cheaper to fly to for my family)
- Low cost of living
- LDS temple near by (in Mexico)
- No cold winters!
- National forests near by for me :)
- Good Surgery program - international medicine is not part of the program, but they have elective opportunities for international medicine
- Almost 1 week extra vacation time each year
- Despite high crime rate in Juarez (El Paso's sister city in Mexico) El Paso is a pretty safe place
Cons:
- Desert - this is pro for Adam, but not so much for me and since Adam will be at the hospital all day/every day he won't get much time to enjoy it.
- Poor Schools
- Good neighborhoods are on opposite side of town from hospital
- LDS temple is in Juarez (El Paso's sister city in Mexico) which happens to be the murder capital of the world because it is the center of the drug turf wars that Mexico has been having over the last several years.
Aside from the distance from family.. I would chose Tennessee! I've heard it is a really great place to live. And all your pro's are really great points! The mexico temple con for El Paso is really scary :( Where is the second closest temple do you know?
ReplyDeleteIf the temple in Mexico was not a safe place to go, I'd probably just spend a weekend in Phoenix once a month and go to the temple there. Not too bad, eh? :)
ReplyDeleteChoose Texas, you'd be closer to me that way and then you could come to the reunion. Of course, you'd be a Texan but that's the price you might just have to pay.
ReplyDeleteaside from the distance from family, Tennessee is definitely the winner! Seriously, it looks and sounds like the PERFECT place to raise a family; and I think you'd find it to be accommodating for you and the kiddos when Adam is unseen as a resident. You're really only going to see family once or twice a year anyway, so wouldn't it be better to choose some place that you'd love to LIVE the other 350ish days of the year? Just my ideas. but then, I'm not your family. ;)
ReplyDeleteWell I've lived in both west Texas & Detroit and I would vote for the place I've never been - TN! W Texas is fine, just not very green. Detroit is a horrible city and I would never recommend someone to move there. Though the suburbs are lovely and very green. But no. Just no! I lived up in the suburbs, but my church was 30 minutes away in a bad part of Detroit. Also we had to have guards in the parking lot at stake conference! Also even in the burbs the schools were terrible.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who's mother lives near the Juarez temple and you have to drive to the temple and make no stops as the area is very dangerous. I would vote for Tennessee. My son, David, loves the smokies (has a friend from Tennessee and has visited) and says the region is very nice. Other than visiting family, you would enjoy the day by day life in a nice quiet community with great outdoor opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI would vote for Tennessee as well. The temple close to El Paso hardly counts as "close" when you think you would go 6 hours away to Mesa. Also if all the people in Tennessee like it that is a very good sign.
ReplyDeleteI love the break down, Daniel was the same way. I had to make my own list and just hope for the best! You're such a great wife to support him through all this, life certainly isn't going to be easy, but it's much easier when your husband enjoys his job!
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