Karen McLean walked across the stage and graduated with her DDS degree last week in much the same way she participated in her white coat ceremony four years ago: very pregnant.
Karen arrived at the Faculty of Dentistry in August 2012 expecting her second child, a son who arrived on October 1. She also had a three and half year old daughter at home. 聽
鈥淚 came to school the day I went into labour and I only took a week off after the birth,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was tough and I couldn鈥檛 have pulled it off without my husband, who took paternity leave.鈥�
As determined as she was to studying Dentistry, her first and second years of dental school were made even more challenging by the deaths and illnesses of friends and relatives. Among the more intense events was when her newborn son contracted e-coli septicaemia when he was just two weeks old. 鈥淚t was really scary. He was on IV antibiotics and had a number of spinal taps.鈥�
Luckily, her baby was in the IWK Health Centre, just across the street from the Dentistry Building. 鈥淚 went over every lunch hour to feed him. I slept there and studied there. It was the most difficult time of my four years in dental school.鈥�
Karen and her husband Everton, who works in communications, moved from Moncton so that Karen could study Dentistry.聽 She comes from a military family, which meant moving a lot. One year as a child she went to three different schools. 鈥淵ou learn to adapt,鈥� says Karen, 鈥渨hich is a good skill, and you also learn that home is where you make it.鈥� When she joined the military herself, the rigour and pace of basic training prepared her well for dental school. 鈥淚t gives you physical toughness.鈥�
Forging connections
Pregnancy is not only bookending Karen鈥檚 journey through dental school, it also prompted her meeting with fellow student Reem Rostom during their first week in the Dentistry Building. 鈥淪he spotted that I was heavily pregnant and came to talk to me. We鈥檝e been friends ever since: we live near each other, we鈥檝e carpooled, and we鈥檝e looked after each other鈥檚 children.鈥� Reem and Karen also started the Halifax Dental Students Society for Refugees, which is raising money to bring refugees to Nova Scotia.
Karen and her family are finalising their move to Charlottetown, where Karen will start work on August 8. The baby is due June 26, so it doesn鈥檛 give her much time off, but it seems generous compared to the one week off she had in first year.
鈥淲hen you take away the coursework and the studying, having just a job and family doesn鈥檛 seem that hard,鈥� says Karen. 鈥淎lthough those four years are tough at the time, you truly appreciate and feel great satisfaction in knowing that Dalhousie has prepared you well to be the dentist you are about to become.鈥�