Internship

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 day as Dr. Warden. So young, so naive.

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.

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.

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. 

Where in the US...

I guess I should write about this since not everyone has a husband in medical school or even a husband in medical school that goes into the same field. I feel like I have done nothing, but talk about and try to explain David's schedule/ future work prospects for the last 3 years haha! So in hopes of having everyone know what goes on around here, I will explain some more. 

Medical school is a 4 year program followed by a residency. A residency can last 3-5 years and can be followed by a one year fellowship depending on what the person wants to specialize in. To put that into perspective when I married David I basically signed up for (braced myself for) 10 years worth of schooling. 

Residency is a PAID program but it only starts out at about $45- 50 thousand a year. That may sound good but the first year of residency (also known as an internship year) can have weeks where you work 80 hours. This usually brings even the higher paid residents to about $5 an hour. Different specialties make more or less in residency and work more or less hours in the week. Thankfully radiology isn't going to be nearly as awful as surgery! I was preparing for a lot worse then what we are signing up for. Most of David's interviews so far have said that he will work from about 7 or 8am until about 6 pm and some even give off weekends and holidays (such a blessing!!!). 

Radiology has a 4 year residency that does not include the internship year. Unless you go to what is called a categorical program, then you get to stay in one location for 5 years. 

Timeline

Medical school-
year one- book learning and class

year two- book learning and class

year three- rotations and testing

year four- some rotations, interviews and more testing

Radiology residency-

transitional year- WORK, WORK, WORK

Resident year one

two 

three 

four

Fellowship- one year

Another thing I always get asking is where we will be going next and my answer is always "I don't know" because I don't. Right now David has about 20 some odd interviews planned at various states all over the country. Several Arizona & Ohio programs (including Case Western in Cleveland), 2 in Florida, Spokane WA, Michigan, California, New Mexico, 2 in Texas, Wisconsin, Dartmouth, Jons Hopkins,  New York, and thats all I can remember for now.

We were a little annoyed that a program in Utah has already denied us, but I have to think about the fact that David already has 2 Ivy league residency interviews, one at Case Western and was even put on a waiting list at Harvard! Bottom line? It's a good thing we did not hold our breath waiting for the Utah program which isn't even as highly rated as his other interviews (so dumb). We aren't the first family we know to get turned down by a program in Utah, heading back to home (or close to it) just is not very typical.

In February when all the interviews are done and we have had some time to think about it we will rank the programs we liked best. Then the schools rank you, next both lists are put into a computer program and the matches are made. David and I do NOT know where we are going UNTIL March 15, 2014. Until then it's anybody's guess.

David has completed about 5 interviews now and so far his top two choices are in Arizona and Florida. Neither program is a categorical though so if we got into either we would be living in some other random area/ state for a year. When we think about what programs we like best our top 3 important factors tend to be 1. How close is the nearest temple (we hate being so far away from ours right now) 2. What is the general cost of living 3. How close is it to family. Some of the less important things that come into the equation is the weather, certain friends, airport size and distance, Ikea, and of course how much money we will make, but schools, local church presence, program benefits (insurance), and 4 year versus 5 year programs all make a difference too.

Basically there are a LOT of choices and still plenty of waiting time before David is hopefully matched. We just hope and pray that with David's two awesome Step scores we won't need to worry. However, worry is always inevitable.

The Speed of Life

 Every time I think I want to blog/ I need to blog I start to think about ALL the many things I need to blog about and every time I never manage to get it done. Life at our house can be so SLOW in certain ways and yet I feel as though I'm getting whip lash from the lightning fast pace of other elements in our life. 

So what's new...

 David recently changed his mind about his medical future... while in Minnesota for his Orthopedics rotation. I was shocked, I have quite literally spent the last 4 years telling myself that if he wanted to do surgery that I would learn to be ok with that and we would make it work. I had barely come to peace with the decision. Not only that but I have also spent the last 4 years teasing him that he should go into every field that has cushy hours (like being an eye surgeon/ eye dr, can you say 9-5 no weekends??). 

 Then he calls me up and says "I think I really would rather do radiology"... Hallelujah!!! That was another field I was jokingly (seriously) pushing him towards because he has always had interest in it and the radiologists he worked with seemed to generally like him and be impressed with his knowledge. The biggest change in all of this is that come late September David will NOT be leaving me for Phoenix for another 4 weeks. YA YAY YA YA!!!! 

I literally could not be happier about the whole ordeal. Well the only thing that would have made it better would have been if he had decided before he left me for Minnesota 4 weeks ago :) But there's no need to bring that up. 

The radiology has a residency that is also basically 5 years long, so we won't be gaining any time there, but I have heard some good things from the people I know who are in residency programs and we are excited. I should also mention that radiology residencies require a score that is about 5 points lower that orthopedics (orthopedics is one of THE most competitive fields) so that is in our favor as well.

 

The biggest downside that I can foresee as of right now is the first year of radiology residency is called a transitional year so there is a possibility that we could end up somewhere for a single year before joining our 4 year program. I told David one of my big goals is to hopefully find a program that includes that first year in their program that way we can move to our next locale and just BE there for 5 years, none of this moving twice stuff.

Davie loves those fluffy dandelion seeds.

As for me I started on campus classes last Monday, and I love them. I really wish my life had been more compatible with on campus classes all along, seriously NOTHNG beats the classroom experience. I'm a pretty good go-getter when it comes to wanting to learn, but I love teacher and student/ class interaction. This semester is full with 15 credits and thankfully with Davie in daycare I have ample time to do homework in a quiet setting. I'm sad to be away from Davie, but I also feel like it's a really good change of pace for both of us since our house is so crowded right now.

Davie seems to LOVE daycare and has only cried twice in the last 3 weeks I have taken him (he went at the end of my summer term). The daycare is accredited which means they have some curriculum (whatever that means for a 1 and a half year old), there are less children per adult and overall I just love the facility and the ladies that work there. Davie is never dirty, cold or wet/ stinky when I pick him up and all the ladies always tell me how happy and busy he is all day, which really is another huge blessing. 

As for our visitors (David's brother and his wife) they are still hanging out with us and trying to be strong. It definitely gets crowded, but they are troopers and so are we. I keep telling them and anyone who asks that it's really only busy in the early morning when everyone is getting ready to leave, at night around dinner time and bed. Also with David gone there's technically only one more adult in the house than normal, so it's all good. It looks like they might be hitting another road block in the world of house buying so I just hope and pray it will work out for the best. 

picks the flower

dainty hold

licks it

realizes he's funny, then proceeds to milk it for all it's worth. What a ham.

I can still remember how amazing it was for David and I to FINALLY move into our condo after living with others (and we only did it for like 3ish? weeks). I think everyone who has lived with other people knows that amazing feeling of liberation when you finally get to move into a place of your own.

Lastly, I hope you enjoyed our most recent family pictures on here we got them done in June, so it's been a while already. AND believe it or not there are more pictures of Davie which I promise to do my best to publish shortly along with some great new stories about the little trouble maker.

Davie was seriously ready to scale this bridge and jump into the murky scum filled water below. It wasn't horrible water but it was plenty green.

This is his "someone is watching me face"

 I can't say I'm crazy about some of the one's David and myself are in I feel like our faces/ eye look puffy or something so feel free to boost my ego by telling me we look great. 

Step 1

For all of you non-medical school people I am going to explain more about what the step one test was that David recently took and the pictures are just some of my favorites of Davie and his daddy. In today's medical school world it is the single most important test you take. No pressure right? The test itself is on everything students have learned in their first two years of school, it has 7 sections with 46 questions each and it lasts about 8 hours. Fun times!

David took his on June 19th. He didn't find out what his score was until the 11th of July. A student's score is what determines their competitiveness when they begin to apply for their desired field of residency. As of right now David has fairly lofty goals he either wants to do interventional radiology, or orthopedics (I guess that one is fun because you get to use hammers, saws and/ or nails fairly often (sick)). That being said David has just barely started rounds and has only experienced first hand internal medicine and psychiatry. However after doing both of those rotations he is still completely uninterested in them.

On July 10th David called me with his test results and he had gotten a 253! Some of you might not know what that means so to give you an idea of he was aiming for a 240 and anything above was a bonus. When he told me his test score I was so relieved! Lost of exclamations in this post it was such an amazing day!!!

I hadn't really realized that I was nervous about his score until he told me and I instantly felt sooooo relieved, it was a great moment for us and our future. Another frame of reference for his score is that a 235 would be able to get him into a orthopedic residency pretty easily. I was and am SOOOO proud of David, he did so great! He deserved it after all his sleepless nights of anxiety and endless studying.

 Basically his score will ensure that no matter what he decides he wants to do he will be competitive when he goes to apply for residency. As a medical student he will apply to residencies he is interested in and they will interview him if they are interested in him. After that David will rate the school on a list from 1 to 10 and the residencies will do the same and hopefully the residencies gets the students they want and vice versa.

 For those of you who have already been through the process this is about the extent of residency and placement that I know so I have no doubt that I might have missed a detail or misspoken about the whole ordeal. So yea that's the basics of Step 1 and residency. Except for there is also a Step 2 which is almost as difficult and involved but it doesn't weigh in as much unless you bomb it.

 Davie was helping Dad fix Mom's lamp

 Mmmm, lamp.

 You're so funny daddy!

 Look at those monkey legs

 Move over dad!

I love this look on Davie's face when he is looking as his daddy.

Mr. Chubs

David is Old

A couple of days before his birthday David asked me "how old will I be? 27?" to which I replied "no... oh... wait... yea you will be, that sounds old!" I don't know why but it sounded so much older than 26! Since he has been studying like a mad man for his test lately he typically leaves at 7am and is at the library until about 7pm when he comes home. Six. days. a. week! Monday through Friday is easier for me to handle since we go to play group, work out and run errands but by Saturday I must admit that I tempt him. Recently I got a membership at the YMCA which has also added another distraction for us- the pool! Anyways this year for David's birthday I decided to do more of an experience rather than gifts. I figured since we were actually going to spend some time together we might as well make it quality time.

Davie helping me pick out balloons and streamers. Davie was loving the helium balloon I got for David, he would not take his eyes off of it!

When David came out after studying ALL day on Saturday this is what he found.

In the driver's seat was a helium balloon that said Happy Birthday.

All over inside the car I put a bunch of streamers and a blew up 10 blue balloons and put them in it as well.

I had quite the time finding a certain pizza store that sold gift cards so by the time David got home I was BARELY ready for him. I had him put on a fresh shirt and get straight in the car. When I got in the car David mentioned something about Davie and I said surprise number one! It took him a second (the man runs on brain dead fairly often after studying and tests) but then he realized Davie wasn't in the car. Our neighbor was kind enough to watch him for us (thanks again Joy!). 

Then I blind folded him and started driving. I meandered a little on purpose to confuse him, then a lot on accident because I took the wrong road and thought I could still back track to where I was going.

Right as we pulled in David guessed where we were. He said it was the highway off ramp and mall parking lot entrance that gave it away. P.F. Chang's!

Waiting for some tasty food. I didn't get David a lot since his parents got him Diablo III and lets face it anyone who knows David knows he is almost impossible to shop for. However I do know that he likes Little Caesar's and Taco Bell so I got him one gift card for each. David is always so sweet even though he loves Little Caesar's he always goes to Pizza Hut with me (or anywhere else) instead because he knows I like it more. The same is true about Taco Bell and Chipotle, but this way while Davie and I are in Idaho he can enjoy some of his favorite food.

Eating our foods without holding a baby :) It was nice to have a little evening alone. This was our first official date without Davie. Then when we got home we picked the little guy up and put him to bed! That's right folks we had almost an ENTIRE evening without the little guy.

My dad is number one!

I did like that David wanted to see him a little before bed. 

Once Davie was down we watched the new Jim Gaffigan on Netflix, good clean fun. What a great evening! 

Happy Birthday David I hope you enjoyed yourself!