Allison walked up the stairs into Teddy and Owen's living room.
"Where's Ev," Owen asked.
"In bed a bit early she was over tired again," Allison said, "she needs the sleep, she's not getting her naps on Tuesday and Thursday and it's hard on her."
"Why isn't she napping," Teddy asked.
"Physio," Allison said, "but then she's tired and cranky after school. I just about killed Annie today."
"Why," Owen asked.
"I got there and Ev was asleep on her couch," Allison said, "tucked in with a blanket and pillow. She didn't doze off watching something Annie put her down for a nap."
"Did you talk to your sister," Owen asked.
"I do but she thinks she knows better than me," Allison complained, "mom can you talk to her?"
"I have," Teddy replied, "you could try to get daycare Thursday since that's the only day you have Annie. Cat gets out of school at 3 and has a car. I'm sure she would."
"Cat is a horrible driver," Allison countered, "she got in an accident last week. She rear ended someone."
"Talk to Annie again," Teddy replied.
"It's my daughter and she won't let me make decisions," Allison said, "I know she's peds and has four but I know Everly. I know what Ev's team has said. Ev needs consistency to her routine."
"You and Asher are great at that," Teddy agreed.
"Are we going over your med school applications tonight," Owen asked.
"We are," Allison said, "I'm worried about my why I want to be a doctor and challenge essays."
"Do you want us to read them," Teddy asked.
"I do but I don't want to sit here when you do," Allison replied.
"Do you have them printed," Owen asked.
"I do," Allison said handing them each a few sheets of paper.
"Okay do you want to go down and we'll read them then call you," Teddy asked.
"I'm going to go wash my floors, Ash wore muddy boots inside again," Allison groaned.
"His work boots," Teddy asked.
Allison nodded.
"We'll read these," Owen said, "I'm sure you did well."
"The prompt wanted it in first person," Allison said.
"Personal writing should be," Teddy smiled, she grabbed a pen from the junk drawer and sat down at the island with her copy to read.
I didn't initially want to be a doctor, I actively avoided the idea most of my life, my parents are surgeons, my aunt and uncle, even my older sister and brother in law. I was going to be a lawyer or work for the UN fighting for human rights. Then my daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 5 months old. Everly's diagnosis changed my perspective on my relationship with medicine, the hours of doctors appointments, surgeries, hospital stays, bracing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. My daughter had her first surgery at 5 months old to place a shunt for hydrocephalus, seeing the skill of her neurosurgeon and the care shown not just to my daughter but to our family opened my eyes to a different side of medicine. I'm the daughter of two surgeons and yet until that point I had never seen the total focus and care that is directed to a patient and their family.
As I've spent more time with Everly's medical team I have become more and more determined to be part of that community to help families like my own. Learning from orthopaedic and neuro surgeons at Grey Sloan Memorial I have been able to learn more than just the medicine. I've learned how a relatively simple procedure like a shunt can make a child more comfortable and alert, how her movements become more coordinated when her intracranial pressure had been reduced. To see the fussy baby become a smiley little girl. Or to watch the difference in her ability to stand up right after having hip realignment surgery, and watch her take her first independent steps after the surgery. It's the knowledge that her medical team has shared with us, their skills and knowledge, that makes me want to be a doctor. To be that person for another family.
I know that I can use my experience as a parent of a child with not only Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus but also a bicuspid aortic valve, to support other families. This gives me a unique perspective on medicine, I am able to connect with my patients and their families in a unique way. My goal is to become a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, I believe that my perspective as a parent gives me a unique insight into the challenges faced by my patients and their family.
I would definitely say it is my three year old daughter Everly that makes me want to be a doctor. To be activity involved in finding ways to make life easier for her physically and medically, and more importantly to make life better for other children like her. Ultimately to make it so that other families like mine do not struggle the way we have for answers and care, to find new less invasive ways to help children like my own daughter.
"Her why essay is so Allison," Teddy said.
"It's raw and honest," Owen agreed, "she's herself in it."
"She is," Teddy agreed, " some word choice to make it stronger but it's good."
"It is and in the word count," Owen said.
"She met the requirements there," Teddy agreed, she turned to the personal challenge essay, she had read her other two children's essays about their journey with adoption and finding their birth families, she had found Annies almost 30 years ago harder to read because it had been information she hadn't fully known or understood, Leo's was different in it's own way with all of the unknowns about the Nelsons.
My greatest challenge is also linked with the reason why I want to be a doctor. I had my daughter my senior year of highschool and she is currently three years old. Being a teenage mom and in highschool is not easy. I was lucky to have my family to guide and support me but it has not been an easy journey raising a special needs child and going to college. My daughter is both the best thing I have ever done and my greatest challenge. Having a baby in highschool was not my plan, yet my now fiance and then friend made a decision that created our daughter in the fall of our senior year. We welcomed our daughter that May a month before graduation.
I began college the following September with my three month old daughter, arranging my class schedule around when my fiance was off work or when we could get child care. The first year was hard, adjusting to college, learning to be a mom. It's also something that has shaped me and shown me how strong I am. I know I can do hard things and I know I can change this world for my daughter.
The past three years have been full of challenges as a student and a parent. My daughter has multiple diagnoses, Cerebral Palsy, Hydrocephalus, and a Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Parenting a baby and a toddler through multiple surgeries and rounds of casting, hours of physical therapy is hard. Learning to be calm and steady for her when I just want my own mom to hold me and tell me it will be okay, but setting aside my fear and anxiety to calm my daughter and be the steady presence she needs. This has allowed me to become a deeper listener, to learn to steady my emotions when things are tough and to put others needs first.
Having my daughter has also brought moments of intense joy, the first time she called me mama and reached for me in the morning, watching her take her first steps at nearly two, to recently starting preschool. Everly is the best thing I have ever done, she is my reason for pursuing medical education and becoming a doctor. I will be the strong, loving, wise person for her my mother has always been and continues to be for me. Everly will see a mother who embraces challenges as a chance to grow and improve herself, who instead of running or backing down faces them head on and never gives up. My daughter has taught me that I am stronger then I could ever have imagined, that I can trust myself and my own voice to know what is right and to do what is best for those around me. She has taught me to look at all of the information and make the hard decisions. I have learned that our greatest strength comes from our relationships to those around us, that genuine human connection builds us up and shapes us. My little girl with her brown hair and green eyes has taught me the most important lessons that challenges and hard things happen but we can always grow and learn. My greatest challenge getting pregnant at 17 was also my greatest gift because my Everly taught me so much about my own strength and that I am capable of impacting our world for the better.
"She's good," Owen said.
"She's in," Teddy replied.
"Two," Owen said, "both?"
"Their applications are so different," Teddy said, "it would be tough. His wanting to serve will hit the right notes with some schools and turn others off but her being a parent could be a hindrance to some programs. I doubt we'll see either do Harvard or Columbia, I don't think we're going Ivy League again."
"Him," Owen asked.
"Texas, something south eastern," Teddy replied, "bible belt with the military aspirations and his MCAT score was lower than hers and his GPA isn't as good, she's 0.02 ahead of him. But she's a mom, she has other commitments that will always come first, she has to put her daughter first."
"Schools," Owen asked, "do you want to bet on it?"
"Loser does laundry for a month," Teddy suggested.
"Fine," Owen replied, "she goes to UW and he goes to Hopkins, it's his first choice and she wants to stay here."
"She goes to Oregon and he follows me to Texas Southwestern," Teddy said.
"Or they both get in at UW and he moves home," Owen suggested.
"He won't move in full time again," Teddy replied, "not after being out for 4 years. If she stays at UW they'll stay in the basement at least a couple more years. There would be no sense in them moving."
"There wouldn't be," Owen agreed, "his apprenticeship is over in February."
"We'll celebrate," Teddy replied, "it's an accomplishment."
"It is," Owen agreed.
"Her responses," Teddy said.
"It's word choice, expanding some ideas," Owen replied, "but she writes so openly."
"She's herself," Teddy replied.
"We'll help her edit," Owen said.
"My third time doing this," Teddy said, "all three have at least applied."
"Parenting medical students," Owen asked.
"Let them be independent then they come tell you everything they're learning and we spoil on breaks," Teddy said, "I used to love bringing Annie to Germany and showing her around the hospital, bringing her into the OR and onto wards. I used to know all her online shopping accounts and would order the things she was looking at but not buying and press buy on them for her."
"You did that," Owen asked.
"We do for Allie and Leo now," Teddy said.
"I know we do but I didn't know you bought Annie's clothes in med school," Owen said.
"Not all," Teddy replied, "little things once in a while to surprise her. If I wasn't able to go for her birthday I would either tell her to shop and use my card or I would see what she had saved in the online carts and buy them. I did it a couple times a year."
"You take the kids shopping a couple times a year," Owen said.
"I do," Teddy replied.
Allison came back up, "what do you think?"
"It's good," Owen said, "some word choice and grammar things but the ideas are good."
"I would pick you as a resident based on that," Teddy said, "are you happy with it."
"I am," Allison said, "I know I talk a lot about Ev but she's my why."
"She is," Teddy said, "you were you and personal. It stands out, your story is different and people will know your last name. The connection to us is too obvious. Your personal story is good. I like how you turned it into making you stronger."
"It has,' Allison said, "I told the truth. Ev makes me want to be better and do better."
"We all do for our kids," Teddy agreed.
"We do," Owen said, "I'm proud of you. Allie you've done so well."
"I'm not done yet," Allison said.
"No but you are well on your way," Teddy assured, "you are all those things, strong, brave, wise, kind, loving."
"That's you," Allison said, " I want to be but I'm not there yet."
"You are," Teddy assured, clicking on the kettle.
"I'm not," Allison said, "maybe one day."
"You are," Teddy beamed putting her arm around Allison, "you have a little girl that looks up to you with those brown curls and big green eyes and sees all of those things. She looks to you and sees mommy who is always calm and steady and wise. Who loves her beyond the ends of the earth. I see it. Allison you are all of those things. I'm proud of you."
"But," Allison said.
"You're 21," Teddy smiled, making them both tea, "you're not supposed to see it in your self yet. I didn't until I was in my 50s. And I still doubt it. I don't know if we ever fully see it in ourselves."
"What if I don't get in," Allison asked.
"You applied to both medical and physio," Teddy replied.
"I want med school," Allison said.
"Then you work for it," Teddy said.
"You've got this munchkin," Owen said, "you are all those wonderful things. You are so strong. You have your own strength. You are so strong and it's not because of Everly. You've always been brilliant and brave and strong, she just brought it out of you in ways we didn't predict."
"Dad," Allison whispered.
"Munchkin listen to us," Owen said, "we see it. You amaze us daily. We are so proud of you. You will get in because you have worked hard and earned it."
"No," Allison said, "they won't want the teen mom who has a three year old."
"I see it differently," Owen said, "it shows your commitment and dedication. You chose to keep and raise and love Ev every day of her life. That was the hard choice. But you are more than that, you are a good friend, you are part of a family that loves you."
"You have talents and gifts outside of school," Teddy said, "and you wrote about them in your hobbies."
"Dance, camping and my garden," Allison said.
"But they make you you," Teddy said, "your garden brings everyone joy."
"I like it, it's calm," Allison said.
"You do it because you like it," Teddy said.
"And seeing Ev trying to steal all my raspberries is pretty cute," Allison smiled, "she grew her own pumpkin this year."
"It's as big as she is," Owen said.
"It is," Allison smiled, "it'll be fun to carve when it's ripe."
"You're ready," Teddy said before sipping her tea.
"I think so," Allison replied, "I make the changes you guys wrote on my paper copies and upload them and pray."
"You'll get to the interviews," Owen assured.
"Will I," Allison asked.
"You will," Teddy assured, "you have this baby girl."
"I do," Allison questioned.
"You do," Owen assured giving her a hug, "you have this munchkin."