Now that I can say we are in recovery mode I'd like to talk about last year and David's internship. In one of my posts last year I mentioned that we did nothing for the 4th of July and that David did not get to join us in Idaho for Christmas.... at all. Well to be honest internship year was pretty tough, not as tough as some (ie- surgery), but David was still gone plenty.
His first rotation in the ICU was 4 weeks of 6-6pm, 6-8pm, 6-10pm, a day off, 8pm- midnight, repeat. That one was tough but I think I hated night float more (that is when he works all day and basically only comes home to sleep) because I didn't get to sleep with him and we had to be quiet while he slept at home during the day (that always stinks). Thankfully night float is only 2 weeks. HOWEVER, one of the second year internal medicine residents randomly decided to drop out of the program so David got to do a second ICU and night float rotation in November/December, along with surgery and renal. Basically he was never home so our plan to cope was to run away to Idaho for about 2 months.
His first rotation in the ICU was 4 weeks of 6-6pm, 6-8pm, 6-10pm, a day off, 8pm- midnight, repeat. That one was tough but I think I hated night float more (that is when he works all day and basically only comes home to sleep) because I didn't get to sleep with him and we had to be quiet while he slept at home during the day (that always stinks). Thankfully night float is only 2 weeks. HOWEVER, one of the second year internal medicine residents randomly decided to drop out of the program so David got to do a second ICU and night float rotation in November/December, along with surgery and renal. Basically he was never home so our plan to cope was to run away to Idaho for about 2 months.
Did I mention that David came home late almost all the time while on the ICU shift, especially on the 6- 8pm days. He reported his hour overages a couple of times and was then told to stop doing that. Interns and residents have new and better rules so that hospitals can't run their workers into the ground like they did in the past, but they still only do so much. These hours are even worse for those in surgery. Here are just a couple of different reasons why not reporting his overage hours sucks-
A) then David and other interns still get overworked
B) interns and residents are salaried so no bonuses and
C) they can get "talked to" like David did for reporting it.
What's interesting to me is that I'm sure there is some kind of fine that the hospital pays when they have employees who go over on their hours so I'd like to know where that money goes. Just a thought.
Last year he even took naps. David NEVER takes naps.
The farther into this doctor stuff the more irritated I get at people being irritated at doctors (in general) or how much they make, or the tax laws that will eventually be taking a third of our money or the fact that we owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in school debt (some of those loans are at 8% and we won't get to write off ANY of the interest on our taxes). It's not all because we, or I, want to be rich because I would gladly donate a third of our money if it meant that the government didn't get it. I'm all for giving back but the government is not a charity. I guess the other thing that I get frustrated about pretty quickly is watching David and the other great men (a couple of women too :) work so hard and then to have people poo-poo that.
Sleeping at church. Poor guy. I'm sure if we were to look at his attendance last year he could have qualified as inactive. He had to work SOO many Sundays :(
I don't know how to not feel personally slighted by some of the rude comments that people make about doctors and how "rich" they are. Hello! My husband is never home and we haven't even had a couch for the last year and a half because we have been trying to save! Don't talk to me about being selfish. Or use doctors as an all-encompassing way to complain about people who are wealthy. I absolutely believe that there are doctors out there who are total jerks, but that is not unique to medicine. Everyone has choices in life. We chose a life of patience when we chose medical school. We have put in 4 more years of school and NO pay and we are about to put in 6 years of lower pay. It was our choice and I am happy with it, but I don't like being told we are selfish or "rich" with such a negative connotation.
He is super exhausted in this picture. He's about to leave for night float. Did I mention that he also kind of got roped into doing 2 extra weeks of night float last year? Yea last year just stunk.
I just really dislike people making me feel bad about our career choices. I wish people would stop complaining. Lets all complain about people who are actually worth being irritated over like worthless celebrities who make millions for being naked and holding bottles of perfume (haha I saw a perfume add the other day and WOW). I guess what I'm trying to say is I love David and I think he really is one of THE MOST altruistic people I know and have ever known. So when I see his career choice being demonized I can't help but be frustrated really fast. I'm sure it goes with the territory though because one of our friends who was in law school is struggling with similar stereotypes. Can't we all just get along? That's all rant over.
Basically last year was awful and the farther away from it we get the more I realize how stressed out, sad and lonely we all really were. This is a good moment to mention before I end this post that this year so far has been 100 times better. We (David especially) are getting some much needed rest and togetherness. Doing "hard" things is tough, but the blessing that are starting to come to us through David's sacrifices are so wonderful. We truly are so blessed.
A) then David and other interns still get overworked
B) interns and residents are salaried so no bonuses and
C) they can get "talked to" like David did for reporting it.
What's interesting to me is that I'm sure there is some kind of fine that the hospital pays when they have employees who go over on their hours so I'd like to know where that money goes. Just a thought.
night float.
When we got home from Idaho David was essentially working 6 days a week 12-14 hours each day. It stunk. We have been filling out tax forms and David and I both guestimated (for one of the forms) that he works about 75 hours a week. Which like I will repeatedly say IS way better than the 80-100 hours a week that his dad used to work or the 100+ some odd hours some of our friends in surgery work, but comparing bad and horrible aren't going to make me feel better about barely ever having him around. Also he kind of got tricked out of one of his weeks of vacation last year. I won't go into detail but it was super frustrating.
The farther into this doctor stuff the more irritated I get at people being irritated at doctors (in general) or how much they make, or the tax laws that will eventually be taking a third of our money or the fact that we owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in school debt (some of those loans are at 8% and we won't get to write off ANY of the interest on our taxes). It's not all because we, or I, want to be rich because I would gladly donate a third of our money if it meant that the government didn't get it. I'm all for giving back but the government is not a charity. I guess the other thing that I get frustrated about pretty quickly is watching David and the other great men (a couple of women too :) work so hard and then to have people poo-poo that.
Sleeping at church. Poor guy. I'm sure if we were to look at his attendance last year he could have qualified as inactive. He had to work SOO many Sundays :(
I don't know how to not feel personally slighted by some of the rude comments that people make about doctors and how "rich" they are. Hello! My husband is never home and we haven't even had a couch for the last year and a half because we have been trying to save! Don't talk to me about being selfish. Or use doctors as an all-encompassing way to complain about people who are wealthy. I absolutely believe that there are doctors out there who are total jerks, but that is not unique to medicine. Everyone has choices in life. We chose a life of patience when we chose medical school. We have put in 4 more years of school and NO pay and we are about to put in 6 years of lower pay. It was our choice and I am happy with it, but I don't like being told we are selfish or "rich" with such a negative connotation.
Basically last year was awful and the farther away from it we get the more I realize how stressed out, sad and lonely we all really were. This is a good moment to mention before I end this post that this year so far has been 100 times better. We (David especially) are getting some much needed rest and togetherness. Doing "hard" things is tough, but the blessing that are starting to come to us through David's sacrifices are so wonderful. We truly are so blessed.
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