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Merry Christmas, everyone!

The last year has really flown by. As it says on our Christmas card, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as school is concerned. Here’s a little look back at this year…

Jeffrey and I both finished up the Spring semester of our 3rd year, but not at the same time. Jeffrey’s last rotation extended through the end of June, meaning that his 3rd year was a marathon of 12 months working in the hospital with very few holidays, many mornings that started in the wee hours, and even one icy day that required him to walk to the hospital when a storm turned the roads into slip’n’slides. My semester ended in the middle of May, but my Fall semester started again the first week of July, so we only got to enjoy 5 days of summer freedom together. Apparently we have finally transitioned into the grown up world where summer is just another day that you go to work, only hotter.

Speaking of hot, we managed to float the river during our week-long reprieve. We traveled to the Comal with a group of friends from college, tied together 12 rafts, and enjoyed a summer day on the water. In keeping with San Antonio tradition, we drove straight from the river to the Gristmill in Gruene for some fried onion rings, fried chicken, and French fries. (We’re still working off those calories 5 months later.)

Both of us had another round of National Board exams to take this year, Jeffrey’s in the summer and mine just a couple of weeks ago. It’s strangely dissatisfying to spend thousands of dollars for the privilege of taking a 500 question test, but at this point we’ll pay anything to get those magic initials behind our names.

My brother got married in November to a girl named Courtney Yoder. She’s cute and smart and fun to be around, so we’re pretty sure that Greg tricked her into marrying him. We tried desperately to convince her that instead of taking his name, she should do the modern thing and combine their last names. We felt that ‘Courtney Yoglesby’ had a nice ring to it, but she decided to go with plain old Oglesby. They are now living happily ever after in a love shack in Abilene owned by the rental home tycoon, Robert Oglesby.

At some point this year, Jeffrey decided that he would become an Internist. What’s an Internist, you ask? Simply put, an Internist is a doctor for adults who does not do surgery. So if you’re an adult and you saved that buy one, get one free prostate exam coupon we sent as our Christmas card in 2009, feel free to cash in!

So what’s next? Jeffrey is interviewing through January at various programs for a residency position in Internal Medicine. Most of the interviews are in Texas, but a few are out of state. We’re trying to keep an open mind about where to go next (and our parents are praying daily that our minds are closed to every program except the ones closest to them). Once all the interviews are done, students rank programs, and programs rank students, and then the Wizard of Oz matches the two lists. Then one fine day in March, we will find out where we’ll spend the next 3 years of our lives.

Both of us are graduating on May 27th, but I don’t have to complete a residency, so I’ll be job-hunting starting in March, and hopefully I’ll be drillin’ and fillin’ by June. I feel ready to branch out on my own at this point. After all, I have spent the last four years learning how to scare the spit (literally) out of my patients, and now I’m ready to have a go at it unsupervised.

It's been a busy but great year, and we can't wait to see what 2012 has in store. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.