Why Podiatry?

We often get asked why Nathan chose Podiatry, and why he decided that he wanted to work on feet instead of in the mouth (because he was doing pre-dental at PSU).  So, now that Nathan is done with Podiatry, and because we still get asked this question, here is our answer (or, more importantly, Nathan’s answer):

Shortly before undergrad graduation, we applied to 6 dental schools.  Nathan had interviews at 5 of them.  He interviewed at UNLV and OHSU, and came home feeling as though he was headed into a well-established career, but also felt that he was being shuttled like cattle.  He felt that he was just going to be another dentist among a sea of dentists.  He was wait-listed at a few of the schools.  So, during Nathan’s senior year he again decided to apply to dental school after taking the DAT.  OHSU called for an interview, and Nathan was in class or something.  He returned the call to schedule the interview, and decided to take Monday instead of the upcoming Friday.  Come to find out, his buddies interviewed on Friday, and they had almost completely filled their class. But, Nathan said he honestly felt that he should NOT schedule the interview for Friday.  So, we sat down.  And, he decided (after) paying new application fees, that he wanted to look at other options before interviewing again.

We had dinner shortly after this conversation with Nathan’s brother-in-law.  He questioned Nathan as to what he wanted out of his career.  Nathan wanted to work with his hands, wanted to perform surgeries, wanted to have a family life and time for hobbies.  Nathan’s brother-in-law, Kurt, suggested looking into Podiatry.  As soon as Kurt said that, Nathan and I both felt that yes – Podiatry was where Nathan should be.  It was a confirmation to both of us that we needed to change paths.

A week later, Nathan applied to podiatry schools, and a few days later he had 5 interviews lined up.  His first interview was with a medical school in Arizona – Midwestern University.  Nathan went to the interview alone because I was working and had Natalie to tend to.  He called shortly after the interview and said, “Jenn, we’re moving to Arizona.  I think this is where we’re supposed to be.  I’m going to cancel my other interviews.” 

Nathan does not know how much he stressed me out!!  He was not even accepted at Midwestern yet, but he knew that was where we needed to be, and he knew that podiatry was what he needed to do.  So, he cancelled all his interviews and we waited.  A week later, we received our official acceptance letter!  Nathan was going to be a Podiatrist, and we were moving to Arizona.

Medical School is OVER!!  Yay!  We have been through 4 years of tough educational demands, 3 board exams, countless other exams and labs, 4 months of separation for clerkships, and even managed to survive the match and got our 1st choice residency program!

The Lord guided us to Podiatry, we followed, and now we know we have been tremendously blessed to not only be in the professional world of Podiatry, but to also have lived in Arizona with some of the best friends we could have ever asked for.  We miss Arizona already, and we still call it home.  But, we are grateful for the journey – and are excited for our new journey here in Iowa!  More to come on that . . .