So it begins...

I mailed off a check and a signed piece of paper Monday which will, when it arrives at its stated destination, make me a very official, and very real member of the 2013 class of Duke’s Pathologists’ Assistant program.

I went up to Chapel Hill/Hillsborough this past weekend to apartment hunt because I like to have things settled far, far in advance. I’m on the waiting list for three different apartment complexes and will live in whichever one calls me first and says there is an opening. I need to get living arrangements sorted out so I can get the kids signed up for school/records transferred etc.

Ah, I guess I should also mention I have kids?

Perhaps an introduction is in order?

I’m Tammy, currently 30, married to Robert, mother to Mercer and Myles and owner to Max Power the super large fluffy creature we call a dog. I graduated from Clemson University with a BS in microbiology in 2007 and have been working for a large pathologist’s group for the past three years as a surgical grossing* tech (2:30pm-11pm). I really enjoy what I do and I wanted to take it farther, which is why I applied to PA programs (or actually just the one, but I had to apply twice for reasons I’ll get into later. Er, later in the blog, not later in this particular entry since I am writing this in the wee hours of morning I’d like to go to sleep eventually).

Anyway, brief introduction now over, I should mention the children are moving with me. The husband is not since he can’t telecommute and we would have to sell our house in the next four months, which is unlikely given the current market condition (two houses directly to our left for sale, the two to our right are for rent). However, my dad is moving with us, which means he goes from couch potato retiree to semi-active soccer grandpa (except we call him Lolo because my mom is Filipino and that’s what you call grandparents in Tagalog) and assistant kid-minder. I was touched and surprised that my dad was willing to uproot himself and move 5.5 hours away from my mom and his home of the last two decades to be there for me while I am in school. My mom has always been very vocal about her willingness to do whatever she can to help her kids but it is nice to know that when it comes down to it my dad is just as committed. I just have to feed him and provide high speed internet so he can stream the view instantly options on Netflix.

I know I am not the traditional student, but I still thought it would be useful to blog about this experience. I know the first year is busy, but I will try to make time to keep this updated since there are med, dental, vet and physician assistant student blogs but only one other pathologists’ assistant student blog that I found. The author just started his classes at West Virginia University in January, so different program, different gender, different professional background, and wildly different opinions about the GRE**.  For now, I think that’s a decent start, I got the basic information out of the way at least.

*I was going to link to the wikipedia article about gross examination but it is fairly spartan. Essentially I describe tissues taken from people or animals and then submit portions for processing for microscopic exam, which is actually much more interesting than it sounds.

**The author apparently studied a great deal for the test and then got into a program which didn’t require it and feels his time was wasted. Perhaps it was. I didn’t study for it; although, I did take a practice test a few weeks before I took the actual one. However, if you are intending to apply to PA school and you don’t want to take it, just be aware that it is not required for all programs.