For second-time mom, Dr. Perri B. Prellop, balancing career and family is a constant challenge. By day, she practices full-time as a radiation oncologist, dealing with life and death firsthand on a daily basis. After work, she goes home to a brand new baby boy, an active three-year old daughter, and a husband with a full-time job. The circle of life continues to revolve.

 

How does she do it? “You have to be flexible,” she said with a laugh.

 

When Prellop attended LSU as an undergraduate, she was not sure what she wanted to study. She thought about engineering, and even law. A year and a half after finishing college, the zoology major decided to pursue medicine. “After going out and working for a little while, I realized that I wanted to do something that was more of a career than just a job, and that would help people,” she recalled. She went to medical school at LSU in New Orleans without a definite specialty in mind. That changed during her first year, when a radiation oncologist spoke to her class at a careers in medicine seminar. “He talked about how much patient contact there was, with the resultant math, physics, and a lot other science involved, and I was mesmerized from it,” she recalled. “I kind of knew that it was what I wanted to do.”

 

While growing up in Baton Rouge, Prellop crossed paths with her future husband, Joel, while he worked at the yogurt shop by her parents’ house. During college, she was reintroduced to the “yogurt boy.” They dated long-distance, marrying in April of 1997 – right before she started medical school. “He’s been with me from the very beginning,” she gushed.

 

Because radiation oncology is such a small specialty, Prellop had to leave her home state to train. After doing rotations at M.D. Anderson in Houston, Tex. and the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Prellop and her husband decided to return to South Louisiana to work and raise a family. In 2007, Perri landed a job with OncoLogics, Inc. in Lafayette, while Joel found work as a sales manager with Automatic Data Processing (ADP). “I didn’t know anything about Lafayette, but I came and visited this practice a couple of times, and my husband and I liked the city,” she said.

 

One of the things that drew Dr. Prellop to OncoLogics was its founder, Dr. M. Maitland Deland. “Maitland did a good job of convincing me that Lafayette would be a good place to work with children,” she said. “And, she was a woman who owned a business, which made a big difference. It made me feel very comfortable about the idea that I was going to have children one day, and we could figure out how to make it work.”

 

In August, 2006, Prellop started her practice with OncoLogics while pregnant. She delivered a beautiful, platinum-blonde daughter, Maisy, in January of 2007. “It was one of the few names that Joel and I could both agree on,” she said.

 

After Prellop had Maisy, her work schedule did not really change much. She is employed full-time, but does not work nights and weekends. “There are some times when I don’t get there early and need to stay late, so it shifts from week to work,” she said. “Luckily, Joel’s schedule is pretty flexible.”

 

How does Prellop manage to juggle a busy practice with a husband, a 3-year-old and a new baby? “That’s still a work in progress,” she admitted. The couple has a nanny, Agnes, who takes care of Maisy during the week. “I’m lucky, because I have full-time help that comes to the house,” Prellop said. “And, with Joel being at home, that has helped. But, Joel and I just work together, almost on a weekly basis, on what his schedule is and my schedule is, and if he needs to leave early or come home early.”

 

She confesses that at times, it is hard to balance her work with family life. “It is hard to make sure that you get out of the office on time,” she said. “I think the hardest thing is to respect everybody’s schedule.”

 

The Prellops are blessed to have family nearby in Baton Rouge. Both sets of grandparents keep the kids when the couple goes away for long weekends, such as for skiing or trips to the beach. Prellop’s “dream day” is being able to curl up with a good book.

 

Now that the newest arrival is here, Prellop is certain to face new challenges with balancing work and family. But, she has her priorities focused. “Doing what I do, I see a lot of sadness – a lot of end of life issues,” she explained.”I think it is a blessing that I get to see things that a lot of people don’t see until it’s too late. So, hopefully, I get to appreciate my family more, the little day-to-day time that we get to spend together, and not worry about schedules and regimens. Life is short.”