So far

I have 3 prizes to give away on Monday. I'm still looking for more though, so if any of you have any ideas, please let me know. My email is on my link under admins. Thanks!

Woot woot!

We did it! We reached 100! Thanks ladies! That was so fast, I haven't had time to come up with a prize yet. LOL! Anyone know where we can get a gift card or a seller looking for some advertising on a blog with 100 readers and willing to donate a prize? Email me and let me know. Thanks!

Fabulous meals in just a few minutes

I wanted to share a great new recipe resource you'll appreciate. My sister-in-law just gave me a subscription to Semi-homemade (by Sandra Lee). The recipes are really good and they are surprisingly quick. She uses a lot of frozen vegetables and quick cooking techniques. I love this magazine.

Yesterday, I made a baked chicken thigh seasoned with rosemary and thyme on a bed of roasted vegetables. The whole thing took under and hour (including chopping, cooking, and cleaning up). The night before, I made pan-fried porkchops with an apple topping, and potato cakes.

Along with these "cheater" recipes, she gives some great ideas for party settings and table arrangements. It truly is a wonderful source for pulling together an impressive party at the drop of a hat.

FYI: The recipes I just mentioned were in the Christmas menu edition (Dec/Jan).

Med School vs Work Life Balance

There have been a lot of discussions here about spouses who are too busy to contribute at home. We seem to have a lot of experience in this area! I found several discussions about this on linkedin, too. One businessman was even asking if he was "balancing" enough. Did he really think a stranger could answer that question? Well beieve it or not, there were lots of opinions. It prompted me to post Life Work Balance-When Your Spouse Doesn’t Get It on my blog about checking in once in a while.

I would really appreciate if some of you would post comments there and share your own ways of dealing with this issue. Our group here is pretty good at supporting each other, but not everyone comes here for insight.

Enlightened…and Proud

I’ve been in this game of medical wife for 8 long years now.  In all this time, I would sometimes stumble upon a great story that another wife had heard about or from her husband and how it all hit home and made the long hours (both at work and away from family) worth it.  Yesterday, that moment finally happened to me.

Last week, Doc came home and mentioned this rough case about a little girl who had gotten a peanut in her lung.  She was a little over a year old.  He didn’t mention anything else, other than they were able to take care of her and that she would recover.

Last night, a friend emailed me asking if Doc was available to do her anesthesia during her due date.  She was telling me how her husband, a third year med student, was raving about Doc.  I emailed her back to answer her question, and curiosity got to me.  I asked her if her husband had recently worked with Doc, or if he had just heard that he was doing a great job? 

Today, she emailed me back to tell me that her husband is in surgery right now and that last week he was in a case when Doc was taking care of this little girl who had a peanut in her lungs.  She then said that her husband told her, “[Doc] did awesome.. like he was the one who kept her alive" during the procedure.  My modest husband left out a crucial part of this picture for me.  I’m just glad I got the info from someone else.

Hearing this makes me happy.  First, I want to say that I am love to be at home with my kids and only work part time.  I cherish all the moments I get with them, including the ability to be involved in all the important things in their lives.  Some people react when they hear that I have a husband that is a doctor and that I stay at home like I live some entitled life.  They don’t realize that we barely make more than the average teacher.  Yes, someday we will make more, but that’s not been our life in the past 8 years.  Instead it has been the accumulation of huge debt, and the absence, many times, of our husband/father.  We love our lives and would never change a single thing if we could. 

Second, it makes me realize how important my staying home is to our family.  Guys, I get to work at home to make our home life as quiet and organized as possible so that my husband can go out and save lives!!  How exciting is that?  I’m so proud to know that in supporting my husband and his dreams of a medical career, that I am also enabled to indirectly help him save lives!!  Children’s lives!!

I celebrate that and hope that all of you out there who do for your family feel that exhilaration in doing so.

Next on my list? Pick up the kid from school! ;-)

Survivor Saturdays: Where Do You Rank

Yes, I know it's Tuesday bu I was out of town on Saturday and couldn't get an internet connection. I was visiting relatives. While there, I spoke with someone who is helping rank candidates for match day. She had some great advice to pass along to you.

• Make sure your MD spouse sends a thank-you letter to his favorite interviewers. It DOES tip the scales. My "informant" says that when several candidates are equally qualified, a letter seals the deal. Referring to people by name or making reference to something personal (when appropriate) shows your spouse is personable and pays attention to detail.

• Before your MD spouse sends a letter, ask to review it. If they come across as needy, weird, arrogant or if they misspell words, they might end up being the butt of jokes and not taken seriously.

• Celebrate match day, whereever you go! Somebody chose your spouse above others. Even our friends who ended up going where they didn't plan to be, made the most of it and had a good experience. After all, it's one step closer to being finished!

Just want to wish you all good luck in March.

Many changes

Hey everyone four month into the Infectious Disease Fellowship we decided that it wasnt a good idea and he resigned from the fellowship and we relocated close to family (which means we moved a little over 1000 miles).
My hubby decided to work as a hospitalist and we are now in the interviewing for a position process (which is taking longer than I anticipated).
I just want to be settled already! We are living at my parents temporarily.
Tomorrow he has an interview and any positive thoughts and prayers are happily welcomed =)

Friendly reminder

Just a reminder to please not leave surgical body markers around 3 yr olds. Thank you.

Celebrate!

How should we celebrate 100 people following this blog? Any ideas? We aren't there yet, but maybe we will be soon!

Poll

New poll is up! Any comments on last week's poll?

Newly Meds, I mean Weds

Greetings!

I am a newly wed doctor's wife (four months). My husband is a trauma surgeon and works four overnight shifts per week. We are in a new town and I am rather shy. Needless to say I am getting a bit clinger that I would like.

I love him and miss him a lot. His work precludes us from spending a lot of time together. If I feel this bad now, what is going to happen in the future?

Any suggestions,
Sylvia

PS You know, it is really funny but when people find out what my husband does for a living they are always so impressed. They say, "Oh wow! you married a doctor," I tell them, no I didn't marry a doctor - I married a man, a very wonderful man that I wish I saw more.

Poll

The new poll is up for your voting pleasure.

Any comments on last week's poll? My hubby's family is 1300 miles away and my family is almost exactly 2000. It is hard to be so far from family. My brother's wife just had a baby yesterday and I can't wait to see her. I still haven't seen my other brother's baby and he just turned 1. He lives on the west coast and I'm on the east coast. :o(

Medical Advice

Hello! :)

I was thinking about doing a blog post on my personal blog about medical advice or tips that people who aren't connected to the health care industry might not know. I know our husbands are the physicians but don't YOU feel like you pick up some good knowledge too?? I would love to hear what your "tips" are so please comment if you'd like!

1) Find out if your city has a free clinic or a clinic that pro-rates fees based on income. So many people don't know there is an option like this out there!

2) Request your doctor to prescribe you medications that are on the $4 list at Walmart (if possible - not all meds are included). Also, Target, CVS, Walgreens and many other places have lost cost prescriptions too and good doctors at least have some of those lists memorized. Some people think you have to have insurance to have access to the $4 rates - you don't!!

3) You have the right to request a medical student or resident NOT provide care to you. Keep in mind new residents start in July. My husband did stitches on someone's EYEBROW in medical school (yes, that totally freaks me out!! ha!)

4) Your doctor WANTS you to ask questions and be HONEST!!

What else would you add?

Poll

Your voices have been heard and the poll will stay a weekly feature. YAY! Thanks for all of the great ideas too. I should have enough to last me awhile now! Happy voting!

Applying for away rotations???

My husband is starting to think about away rotations. He is leaning strongly on OB/GYN. He is under the impression that they are not really that important due to other students telling him this. I’m under the impression that you should do a lot of them. He is thinking of applying to 3 of them. Can you give us any insight on this? And how do you begin? Eric has contacted the schools via email. Is there a process to this madness? There should really be a book about this that informs the students. Eric did get a email from his advisor saying that they were looking at a date to have a meeting with the 3rd years and that it would be pushed up 2 weeks from last year, giving the 3rd year 4 weeks to apply. We would like to start this process now but are not sure how to go about it. Can you help or at least guide us a little. Thanks a bunch.

An Idea

so, I was thinking it would be neat to make a post with the info on the med school or residency program we are each at. We would want info like Insurance, Cost of average rent, Salary, perks, etc...also maybe detailed info on how the med school/residency experience has been including number of hours worked a week, how call is, etc.
I thought it might be helpful for people that get on here.

Anyone interested? Any ideas of how we could organize it?

Poll with bloggy business

There is a new poll up! Be sure to vote in this one please. And, I'm running low on ideas for polls, so please leave a comment or email me if you have an idea for a poll. Thanks!