- Joined
- May 9, 2015
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 5
Hi everyone,
I'll try and make this short and sweet. So I graduated college in May 2016 and decided medicine was the path I wanted to take around that time, but just to be sure I started scribing and I am still doing that. I had been signed up to take an MCAT course in October and was excited to start the process. However, in September (right after signing up for the course) my family and I found out that my mom has advanced lung cancer and I stopped in my tracks and dropped the MCAT course. I was heavily considering my options, flip flopping between waiting to see what happens and be there for my mom (which is of course what I want to do, but then again time waits for no one) and applying to either MD/DO/or PA programs. She had been tested for mutations and is positive for a mutation that does have a targeted therapy (not traditional chemo) which may extend her life for quite a few years. However if she fails on the treatment it could* mean we only have months.
Here is where I am torn: I know she wants to see me succeed. I also know that if I don't try and move forward, when she is gone, I may become "stuck" and I won't have anything to move on to with my life to keep me busy. However I am also scared that if I get into a program, it will be incredibly difficult mentally to finish a program. The time that my family and I have right now is very precious and I know how time consuming a graduate program, particularly medical/PA school, can be. I am definitely considering PA more heavily as most programs are only 2 years ish, and time is clearly not on my side right now.
I know this situation is sort of different so I'm not expecting a right or wrong answer, but I just could use some insight. One of the doctors I am scribing for is really pushing me to move forward and apply/do this for my mom, however I think it's easy for someone else to say that when they haven't been in this situation themselves.
I'll try and make this short and sweet. So I graduated college in May 2016 and decided medicine was the path I wanted to take around that time, but just to be sure I started scribing and I am still doing that. I had been signed up to take an MCAT course in October and was excited to start the process. However, in September (right after signing up for the course) my family and I found out that my mom has advanced lung cancer and I stopped in my tracks and dropped the MCAT course. I was heavily considering my options, flip flopping between waiting to see what happens and be there for my mom (which is of course what I want to do, but then again time waits for no one) and applying to either MD/DO/or PA programs. She had been tested for mutations and is positive for a mutation that does have a targeted therapy (not traditional chemo) which may extend her life for quite a few years. However if she fails on the treatment it could* mean we only have months.
Here is where I am torn: I know she wants to see me succeed. I also know that if I don't try and move forward, when she is gone, I may become "stuck" and I won't have anything to move on to with my life to keep me busy. However I am also scared that if I get into a program, it will be incredibly difficult mentally to finish a program. The time that my family and I have right now is very precious and I know how time consuming a graduate program, particularly medical/PA school, can be. I am definitely considering PA more heavily as most programs are only 2 years ish, and time is clearly not on my side right now.
I know this situation is sort of different so I'm not expecting a right or wrong answer, but I just could use some insight. One of the doctors I am scribing for is really pushing me to move forward and apply/do this for my mom, however I think it's easy for someone else to say that when they haven't been in this situation themselves.