HELP ME aPD! Switching questions

[studentnobody]

I am a fairly frequent poster, new name to protect anonymity.
I have a situation.

I matched to advanced program A, and prelim program B. I am doing well in program B for my intern year now.

Since matching my wife had our second child. We moved across the country for my training, and thus have no family around. My wife (and to some degree myself) are miserable.

I have been contemplating how best to get back to a geographic area near family. Assuming I complete current intern year (which I will, dont want to leave this program hanging mid year) my options are:

1) Apply for waiver for advanced position in program A under "change of specialty". Obviously this would force me to change specialties. As I understand it, if I do this and enter this year's match I would essentially lose my prelim year credit and have to start over with new program in new specialty next July. (yuck). I dont really want to change, but would do so if I needed to in order to move, as I can be happy doing several different specialties.

2)Apply for waiver based on hardship for advanced position. Dont know how they look upon "miserable family" as a hardship...... But would allow me to re enter my chosen specialty.

Questions:
1) How likely is a hardship waiver
2) If I get a "change specialty" waiver, how do I go about finding PGY 2 spots where they will accept my PGY I year? Through ERAS? Word of mouth?
3) When should I talk with my advanced PD about this. On one hand I want to give them as much time as possible to replace me. On the other, I dont want to burn that bridge and then be denied NRMP waiver and stuck in program that hates me.
4) On that note, if I am denied a waiver what will program know about the fact that I applied? Will they know at all?
5) How do I broach the subject to said PD?
6) Do you have other ideas or suggestions? I am open to creativity.

Thanks in advance.

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[NotAProgDirector]

1) How likely is a hardship waiver

Not likely. Impossible to prove, anyone could claim this. Unless the baby has some medical condition that requires you to be elsewhere, I think it's unlikely that "my spouse is unhappy" is enough to qualify. You can always try, though.

2) If I get a "change specialty" waiver, how do I go about finding PGY 2 spots where they will accept my PGY I year? Through ERAS? Word of mouth?

All programs that require a Prelim IM spot (Derm, rads, neuro, PM&R, etc) would work.
Otherwise, only IM would count your prelim year.
You then need to contact programs to see who has open spots. Assuming you go for Neuro/Rads/Derm etc, you'd be looking for programs with a PGY-2 position open in July 2014. These programs will list those as "R" positions in the match. But there is no centralized list, so you'll need to call around. And, they may not even know if they have open spots yet -- for example, your program doesn't know they may have an open spot yet, right?

3) When should I talk with my advanced PD about this. On one hand I want to give them as much time as possible to replace me. On the other, I dont want to burn that bridge and then be denied NRMP waiver and stuck in program that hates me.

If you request a waiver, the program will be notified. So, you must tell your program about this before asking for a waiver. Basically, if you want to switch, you want to give your future program enough time to find a replacement. They need to know now, so that when ERAS applications roll in, they can look for people who are ready for a PGY-2 spot in July.

4) On that note, if I am denied a waiver what will program know about the fact that I applied? Will they know at all?

See above, yes.

5) How do I broach the subject to said PD?

You simply talk to them.