Dec 21, 2008

Help...........


What will happen in the next 4-6 years of our lives has to be decided within the next few weeks. Please help us with your opinion on which option sounds best-
1- Take the Navy ophthalmology residency spot in San Diego starting this summer for 3 years and then after that go off somewhere else for 3 more years with the Navy, as a Navy ophthalmologist.
.....or

2- Spend one more year here in TX and be done with the Navy, and then spend 3 years in civilian ophthalmology residency somewhere on the East Coast...and then hopefully be able to move back home to San Diego for good? Tough call, eh? Watcha guys think?

14 comments:

AJ said...

I guess you have to decide how badly you are missing living in SD. Do you really want to be back there even if its not permanent? OR Do you want to be done with the Navy sooner than later and miss SD for a while longer. That is a tough one. It would be nice for you to have the family support that you would get in SD for all the stuff you are doing right now. We'll be praying for you either way!

Chadlee said...

Tough call, let us know what you decide!

Marcia Mickelson said...

That is a tough choice. Sure would be nice to be done with the Navy if you could stay one more year.

The Bright Family said...

How could you pass up one more year in TEXAS!!!!????!!!! (I know ithas grown on you a little) :)

Jen I said...

I'm gonna bank on Ryan saying go civilian, but I'll ask him. My opinion, too, is go civilian and be done with the navy. I don't know how it is with the navy, but I'm going to guess that the salary you'll make coming out of regular ophtho is going to make up for any of the cushiness you may have the next few years with the navy. Maybe it depends on what residency in the east coast you got into though. That might make a difference in how wide open your options are when you're done.
I don't know - one of the attending docs just told Ryan to go for retina over general ophtho because the difference in salary will be definitely worth the extra two years of training and the lack of money we'd have during that time. You should just have Gavin call Ryan and discuss his options. I bet he's got some good insight.

Dave and Loralee said...

ummm...hmmm...that's a hard one! I think we TOTALLY GET each other right now. If it was me I'd probably go civilian route. But it's not me. You know, it's probably going to end up being one of those things where either choice is fine, you just have to pick one! those are the worst kind :) But I know whatever you do you'll choose to be happy about it and make the best of it, so it can't be that bad!

Taryn said...

I think it is a no brainer stay NAVY!

Rob and Jennifer said...

I am with Taryn I think you should stay in the Navy!

Debbie said...

If either choice is a good choice, then for strictly selfish reasons I say... GO TEXAS!!! :) But I want whatever is going to work best for your fam. Good luck with that decision though!

Jen I said...

Alright, Ryan says go with the best program. He says the navy might be pretty good training. There's an air force or military guy doing a fellowship at Bascom and Ryan says he's really good. So he says if you get in somewhere like NY Med, he thinks the navy might be better. I was with my air force friend last night and she said that the only thing is almost everyone is getting deployed now and they're serving for longer terms than they used to. She says it's just not the same world anymore that it was when they started. So I guess you can consider that too. Seriously, do you even care about my opinions that much? Just trying to have a logical opinion because I can't be selfish because wherever you go it's not going to be by me!

Gavin and Shawna said...

Thanks everyone for your opinions. You can tell who the military peeps are, can't you = )

Hope you have a Merry Christmas !!!

Jen- I'll give Ryan a call sometime this weekend...I appreciate your advice.

-G

tatum said...

i hope i'm not too late! i'd go for option 2, if SD is where you want to end up for good. good luck!! xo

Jake & Rachel said...

wow, tough decision. I guess you just have to weigh how much you miss living in SD. You'll eventually get back there, so can you wait a few more years? And would Gavin ever face a deployment?

erika said...

Well of course we want you back in SD and the Navy isn't so bad right? :) Man, what a tough choice! Let us know what you decide.