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NAVY DDS 2010
This thread is meant for those dental students who are at a point in their schooling where they are questioning if continuing in dental school is for them, for those who are about to enter dental school and for those who are contemplating if they have what it takes to become a dentist.
Some of you know who I am or have read comments I have made. Therefore, some of you know my story. For those of you who don’t, I just felt it was the right time of the year to talk about the journey I had in becoming a dentist.
First of all, I never really wanted to go to college. I was an average high school student whose only love was baseball. My only motivation for going to college was to play baseball for my hometown college in Idaho - the reigning national champion baseball team - 6 out of the previous 7 seasons. Unfortunately, I hurt my arm in high school and never got to play college ball. I went to college anyways – began in 1990. While I was taking college courses, I found out I actually did well in school. After 2 years, I felt I had what it took to go to medical school. I kept up my torrid pace of taking classes and doing well in them. I began to shadow surgeons as the thought of cutting people seemed cool. After a while, I knew I was going to be a surgeon one day. Then, in 1993, I met a gal with twin sons and fell in love. Her dad happened to be one of the two neurosurgeons in town. I got a taste of what life as a family member of a surgeon (in a small regional medical center) was like. We would be at church, on the river, out to eat, etc. and he would always get paged to work. I didn’t want that for my family. I had submitted my application to medical school that year (1995) and decided to apply to dental school. All the dentists I knew had great family lives, worked great hours and made a good income. So, in August 1995 I took the DAT. I submitted my application to dental school in September 1995. I was very fortunate. I received interviews at every school I applied to and got into each one. I chose to go to school in San Antonio because back then, it was only a couple years since dental schools were last ranked and SA was always considered one of the best. So, I went to school there because of that and because back then it had a very friendly, laid back atmosphere where professors really cared about you and you becoming a dentist.
Now is where my downfall began. Three months before my fiancé and I were to get married, we call off the wedding. I ended up leaving my parents’ home for the first time to go to a school 2000 miles away just months after losing the love of my life. Fall of 1996 – dental school started. I still knew practically nothing about dentistry. I went to classes, but had a hard time connecting as my heart was still leaning to medicine, but reality told me dentistry was the best choice. To deal with the break up and not being near my friends, I went out with the party crowds 3 to 4 days per week. In the long run, I never connected with dentistry and ended up withdrawing from dental school during my 2nd year – Dec 1997. For years, I never told people the real answer why I dropped out. I told people I didn’t like dentistry since that was a more honorable answer. What really happened is that my mind got screwed up because of the break-up and losing all contact with her twins. To be honest, I didn’t really think dentistry was great either, but that was only because I still didn’t know a lot about it.
In fall of 1998, I joined the Navy. I went to Officer Candidate School for 4 months. I started flight school in summer 1999. I met my wife in summer 1999. I got injured in fall of 1999 and was kicked out of flight school in winter of 2000. Got married March 2000. I received orders to an aircraft carrier on the other side of the country from my wife in the summer 2000. I was stationed on the aircraft carrier for 3 years – spending 27 months at sea during 37 months on the ship. During the first 4 years my wife and I were together, we saw each other for 11 months total if you add ever day during this time. My point – we endured a lot of hardship on our relationship and overcame adversity. During my time on the aircraft carrier, I became friends with the dentists aboard. They gave me a hard time about quitting dental school. I shadowed them and realized I didn’t dislike dentistry. I just didn’t know anything about it. I decided maybe I should give dentistry another shot. I discussed this with my wife and we developed a plan for me to get back into d-school which included me getting off active duty when my commitment was up in 2003. That is what I did.
My wife and I moved back to San Antonio so I could set up residency in Texas where my chances of getting back into dental school would be the greatest. Luckily, my wife had gone to school to become a pharmacist. She transferred from one state to Texas within the same company. This is all I needed to claim why I was claiming to be an in state resident for dental school. I spent 6 months studying full time to retake the DAT. Then, in the fall of 2004, I happened to meet the dean of Air Force residency programs at Lackland AFB. He allowed me to volunteer full time and spend time in each specialty. I had so much fun. I learned so much. I realized I really did want to be a dentist. I applied to dental school in fall of 2005. Again, applied and got in to all schools I applied to. I ended up choosing Houston because they seemed to have a sense of ‘family’ there. The faculty seemed to really care about their students – and Dr. P sold it at the interview.
I started dental school in the fall 2006. That first semester was a killer. I hadn’t taken college courses in over 8 years let alone take a course load like you have to in dental school. I struggled, but still ended up that first semester middle of the pack. The second semester, I found my groove and did extremely well. I did pay the price as I stressed myself out majorly by over studying and getting very little sleep. That is where my downfall started. I began to suffer from tremors that affected my hands by the end of the 2nd semester of my 1st year (Spring 2007). August 2007, my very good friend whom I sat next to every day was murdered by her estranged husband. (I ended up finding out he murdered her partially because of me – he thought she was cheating on him with me which is what he thought was the reason she was divorcing him.) My tremors really started getting worse. October 2007, I had to take a leave of absence from dental school to receive treatment. Luckily, we found medications that controlled the tremors and I was able to start up d-school again August 2008 – starting year two all over. One month later, Hurricane Ike hit Houston. My house received $85,000 damage. My wife and I and the pets were displaced for 14 months until my house could be renovated. We had so much crap to deal with about getting that house fixed. I was stressed out the whole time. During this time, August 2009, I took and passed NBDE part I. Thirty-five minutes after finishing, I found out my wife was pregnant. Three days later, not one child – two - twins! Year three went well until the twins were born in March 2010. One and ½ weeks after their arrival, I nearly lost one of my girls because of a heart condition she had. Three weeks after their arrival, my wife came down with a cardiac issue which hospitalized her. At this point, I was so stressed out. I couldn’t study. I had exams I couldn’t take. It was suggested I take the rest of the year off and comeback in the fall to repeat 3rd year in fear that I might fail a couple courses due to the stressors I was facing. So, I started up 3rd year of dental school again in fall 2010. The rest of that year went fairly well.
Fourth Year of dental school (2011) started out crappy. Day one – went to school telling everyone my wife and I were expecting child #3. Day two – went to school letting people know my wife miscarried the baby the night prior. I should have known ….. more was to come. Two months later - miscarriage #2. Finally, we got pregnant again on Oct 29, 2011. During this pregnancy, my wife was hospitalized 13 times, as what we now know, was literally sucking the life out of her. Because of all the hospitalizations, I was never able to get my requirements completed to finish dental school with the graduating class of 2012 (6 years after starting dental school .) I had to stay behind and finish dental school. My son was born in July 2012. The school gave me until the end of fall 2012 to finish or they felt I would probably have to be dismissed. On the last day of clinic, Dec 13, 2012, I finally finished my requirements and became a dentist – the journey I initially began 16 ½ years ago and 6 ½ years this time around.
Now, began my life as a Navy dentist. I ended up coming to my current location in Feb 2013. In March 2013, some bad things really began to occur to my wife. Over the next 7 months, she was hospitalized multiple times. I started my AEGD program Aug 2013. I ended up almost losing my wife in Oct 2013. I really didn’t want to be here. I was tired to having to deal with life while undergoing more training. Finally, my wife was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It was because of Celiac disease that she had the previous 2 miscarriages. She was hospitalized 13 times during my last child’s pregnancy and the reason for the multiple hospitalizations over the previous 7 months. Overall, she had been hospitalized a couple dozen times due to the Celiac Disease. Since her diagnosis, we made the modifications necessary to deal with Celiac Disease. Everything has been well ever since. Life is finally normal for the first time in years. The AEGD is now over. I finally have a sense of completion in life. I can finally live a normal life without worrying about things.
The whole point to this novel I have written is that you will always be presented alternate paths in life you can choose. It is up to you to figure out which path is right for you. When you choose that path, then you must face the hurdles life gives you. If you feel you have chosen he right path, keep jumping over the hurdles. If you trip over it, get up and try again. The good thing is that in life, we aren’t facing a sprint like the 110 meter hurdles. We are facing more of a marathon. It doesn’t matter if we trip up once in a while. If you stick with it, you can always catch up to the pack and finish respectfully. If you love what you are doing, then getting to the finish is magical. You realize you have achieved your goal / dream and can bask in the glory that you have finally made it even through the trying times.
I hope that me taking my time to tell you about my journey helps some of you who may be second guessing themselves, are going through some hard times or are nervous about starting. Realize you aren’t the only one who has struggled / is struggling. There is always someone out there who has struggled / is struggling right next to you. If you really want to become a dentist or whatever profession you end up in, don’t ever give up no matter how hard life is and no matter how many obstacles you face.
Take care!
Some of you know who I am or have read comments I have made. Therefore, some of you know my story. For those of you who don’t, I just felt it was the right time of the year to talk about the journey I had in becoming a dentist.
First of all, I never really wanted to go to college. I was an average high school student whose only love was baseball. My only motivation for going to college was to play baseball for my hometown college in Idaho - the reigning national champion baseball team - 6 out of the previous 7 seasons. Unfortunately, I hurt my arm in high school and never got to play college ball. I went to college anyways – began in 1990. While I was taking college courses, I found out I actually did well in school. After 2 years, I felt I had what it took to go to medical school. I kept up my torrid pace of taking classes and doing well in them. I began to shadow surgeons as the thought of cutting people seemed cool. After a while, I knew I was going to be a surgeon one day. Then, in 1993, I met a gal with twin sons and fell in love. Her dad happened to be one of the two neurosurgeons in town. I got a taste of what life as a family member of a surgeon (in a small regional medical center) was like. We would be at church, on the river, out to eat, etc. and he would always get paged to work. I didn’t want that for my family. I had submitted my application to medical school that year (1995) and decided to apply to dental school. All the dentists I knew had great family lives, worked great hours and made a good income. So, in August 1995 I took the DAT. I submitted my application to dental school in September 1995. I was very fortunate. I received interviews at every school I applied to and got into each one. I chose to go to school in San Antonio because back then, it was only a couple years since dental schools were last ranked and SA was always considered one of the best. So, I went to school there because of that and because back then it had a very friendly, laid back atmosphere where professors really cared about you and you becoming a dentist.
Now is where my downfall began. Three months before my fiancé and I were to get married, we call off the wedding. I ended up leaving my parents’ home for the first time to go to a school 2000 miles away just months after losing the love of my life. Fall of 1996 – dental school started. I still knew practically nothing about dentistry. I went to classes, but had a hard time connecting as my heart was still leaning to medicine, but reality told me dentistry was the best choice. To deal with the break up and not being near my friends, I went out with the party crowds 3 to 4 days per week. In the long run, I never connected with dentistry and ended up withdrawing from dental school during my 2nd year – Dec 1997. For years, I never told people the real answer why I dropped out. I told people I didn’t like dentistry since that was a more honorable answer. What really happened is that my mind got screwed up because of the break-up and losing all contact with her twins. To be honest, I didn’t really think dentistry was great either, but that was only because I still didn’t know a lot about it.
In fall of 1998, I joined the Navy. I went to Officer Candidate School for 4 months. I started flight school in summer 1999. I met my wife in summer 1999. I got injured in fall of 1999 and was kicked out of flight school in winter of 2000. Got married March 2000. I received orders to an aircraft carrier on the other side of the country from my wife in the summer 2000. I was stationed on the aircraft carrier for 3 years – spending 27 months at sea during 37 months on the ship. During the first 4 years my wife and I were together, we saw each other for 11 months total if you add ever day during this time. My point – we endured a lot of hardship on our relationship and overcame adversity. During my time on the aircraft carrier, I became friends with the dentists aboard. They gave me a hard time about quitting dental school. I shadowed them and realized I didn’t dislike dentistry. I just didn’t know anything about it. I decided maybe I should give dentistry another shot. I discussed this with my wife and we developed a plan for me to get back into d-school which included me getting off active duty when my commitment was up in 2003. That is what I did.
My wife and I moved back to San Antonio so I could set up residency in Texas where my chances of getting back into dental school would be the greatest. Luckily, my wife had gone to school to become a pharmacist. She transferred from one state to Texas within the same company. This is all I needed to claim why I was claiming to be an in state resident for dental school. I spent 6 months studying full time to retake the DAT. Then, in the fall of 2004, I happened to meet the dean of Air Force residency programs at Lackland AFB. He allowed me to volunteer full time and spend time in each specialty. I had so much fun. I learned so much. I realized I really did want to be a dentist. I applied to dental school in fall of 2005. Again, applied and got in to all schools I applied to. I ended up choosing Houston because they seemed to have a sense of ‘family’ there. The faculty seemed to really care about their students – and Dr. P sold it at the interview.
I started dental school in the fall 2006. That first semester was a killer. I hadn’t taken college courses in over 8 years let alone take a course load like you have to in dental school. I struggled, but still ended up that first semester middle of the pack. The second semester, I found my groove and did extremely well. I did pay the price as I stressed myself out majorly by over studying and getting very little sleep. That is where my downfall started. I began to suffer from tremors that affected my hands by the end of the 2nd semester of my 1st year (Spring 2007). August 2007, my very good friend whom I sat next to every day was murdered by her estranged husband. (I ended up finding out he murdered her partially because of me – he thought she was cheating on him with me which is what he thought was the reason she was divorcing him.) My tremors really started getting worse. October 2007, I had to take a leave of absence from dental school to receive treatment. Luckily, we found medications that controlled the tremors and I was able to start up d-school again August 2008 – starting year two all over. One month later, Hurricane Ike hit Houston. My house received $85,000 damage. My wife and I and the pets were displaced for 14 months until my house could be renovated. We had so much crap to deal with about getting that house fixed. I was stressed out the whole time. During this time, August 2009, I took and passed NBDE part I. Thirty-five minutes after finishing, I found out my wife was pregnant. Three days later, not one child – two - twins! Year three went well until the twins were born in March 2010. One and ½ weeks after their arrival, I nearly lost one of my girls because of a heart condition she had. Three weeks after their arrival, my wife came down with a cardiac issue which hospitalized her. At this point, I was so stressed out. I couldn’t study. I had exams I couldn’t take. It was suggested I take the rest of the year off and comeback in the fall to repeat 3rd year in fear that I might fail a couple courses due to the stressors I was facing. So, I started up 3rd year of dental school again in fall 2010. The rest of that year went fairly well.
Fourth Year of dental school (2011) started out crappy. Day one – went to school telling everyone my wife and I were expecting child #3. Day two – went to school letting people know my wife miscarried the baby the night prior. I should have known ….. more was to come. Two months later - miscarriage #2. Finally, we got pregnant again on Oct 29, 2011. During this pregnancy, my wife was hospitalized 13 times, as what we now know, was literally sucking the life out of her. Because of all the hospitalizations, I was never able to get my requirements completed to finish dental school with the graduating class of 2012 (6 years after starting dental school .) I had to stay behind and finish dental school. My son was born in July 2012. The school gave me until the end of fall 2012 to finish or they felt I would probably have to be dismissed. On the last day of clinic, Dec 13, 2012, I finally finished my requirements and became a dentist – the journey I initially began 16 ½ years ago and 6 ½ years this time around.
Now, began my life as a Navy dentist. I ended up coming to my current location in Feb 2013. In March 2013, some bad things really began to occur to my wife. Over the next 7 months, she was hospitalized multiple times. I started my AEGD program Aug 2013. I ended up almost losing my wife in Oct 2013. I really didn’t want to be here. I was tired to having to deal with life while undergoing more training. Finally, my wife was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It was because of Celiac disease that she had the previous 2 miscarriages. She was hospitalized 13 times during my last child’s pregnancy and the reason for the multiple hospitalizations over the previous 7 months. Overall, she had been hospitalized a couple dozen times due to the Celiac Disease. Since her diagnosis, we made the modifications necessary to deal with Celiac Disease. Everything has been well ever since. Life is finally normal for the first time in years. The AEGD is now over. I finally have a sense of completion in life. I can finally live a normal life without worrying about things.
The whole point to this novel I have written is that you will always be presented alternate paths in life you can choose. It is up to you to figure out which path is right for you. When you choose that path, then you must face the hurdles life gives you. If you feel you have chosen he right path, keep jumping over the hurdles. If you trip over it, get up and try again. The good thing is that in life, we aren’t facing a sprint like the 110 meter hurdles. We are facing more of a marathon. It doesn’t matter if we trip up once in a while. If you stick with it, you can always catch up to the pack and finish respectfully. If you love what you are doing, then getting to the finish is magical. You realize you have achieved your goal / dream and can bask in the glory that you have finally made it even through the trying times.
I hope that me taking my time to tell you about my journey helps some of you who may be second guessing themselves, are going through some hard times or are nervous about starting. Realize you aren’t the only one who has struggled / is struggling. There is always someone out there who has struggled / is struggling right next to you. If you really want to become a dentist or whatever profession you end up in, don’t ever give up no matter how hard life is and no matter how many obstacles you face.
Take care!
