Poll

The new poll is up. Any comments on last week's poll? I delete all of my messages except for the sweet ones from Brad. :o)

Anyone else want to start a companion blog or forum? These are left.

Medical School
Residents
Attendings
OB/GYN
ER
Radiology
PM&R
Internal Medicine
ENT
Ortho
General Surgery
Family Medicine
Pediatrics
Dermatology
Psychiatry

Give me the link once you get it started and I will add it. Thanks!

Let's try this out...

Okay, a Facebook page was asked for, so here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122706377764218

I made it open. The person who decides to moderate the group can decide if they want to close it in case we want to discuss personal things. Not that we'd ever complain about attendings. :o)

I started a list of different blogs. What I'll do is make a page that lists all of the companion blogs. If you see a specialty/situation that doesn't have a name, let me know you want to make a blog (or forum if you know how) for it. Then, when you get it made, let me know and I'll link it. It would be great if you could actually be in the specialty, and maybe further along in it, just to have the experience. And if I'm missing any specialties, let me know. Thanks! I hope this works the way it is in my head. ;o)

Medical School
Residents
Attendings
OB/GYN
ER
Radiology
PM&R
Anesthesia - Brittany
Internal Medicine
ENT
Ortho
General Surgery
Family Medicine
Pediatrics
Dermatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology - Jennifer
Urology - Rachel

Feedback please

I've been stewing over an idea that I'd like some feedback on. I'd like to find a way to let the people in each specialty have a place to get together and talk. That is a lot of specialties and a lot of situations. Obviously, I can't do it all. I need lots of volunteer help.

My first thought was to have pages on this blog that you could go to and chat, but the extra Blogger pages are for info, not for posting.

My second idea was to have separate blogs, but heaven help me, I can't keep track of 15 more blogs. Preferably volunteers to run the blogs would have experience with their DrH in that specialty, ie a resident or attending. Does that seem reasonable?

Here are some specialties/situations I've come up with. What more should we have?

Medical School
Residents
Attendings
OB/GYN
ER
Radiology
PM&R
Anesthesia - Brittany
Internal Medicine
ENT
Ortho
General Surgery
Family Medicine
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Opthomology
Urology - Rachel

A big concern I have is that by specializing so much, this blog would become obsolete, which would make me sad because I think there is strength in numbers. I am hoping the specialty blogs would be a place to ask about programs, lifestyle, etc. Hopefully, the moderators of these blogs would come and post here and let us know if there is a great discussion going on over there.

What are your thoughts? Too much work? Not worth it? Sounds useful? It would ruin this one? You want to help?

Out with the Bath Water

As I bottle up the dirty bath water into empty milk jugs, I reflect upon the sacrifices we make for our spouse’s career.

I am 32 years old, bottling up bath water in order to water my vegetable garden. Living on the east side of the Intercoastal Waterway “ie the Ditch” water is like liquid gold. If you water outside on a day other than the two days of the week your house number is assigned, they’ll haul you off to jail!

But, it’s not like we can even afford to water on the two given days. I’ve never seen a water bill like the one we received our first month here. We have become quite the conservationalists! Only flush on number twos, wet the tooth brush then turn off the water. Bath water for the garden (I hope the tomatoes don’t taste like stinky feet!)

Only 2.5 years left until I can flush at will!

Possible tax refund for medical residents

I know most of you are still in the early stages of training, but if your Dr. H was a resident prior to April 1, 2005, you may have some money coming your way. The IRS recently announced that it will reimburse the employer and employee portion of FICA taxes paid for medical residents prior to April 1, 2005, so long as the employer previously filed a timely refund claim with the IRS.

Here is an article from UC-Davis. A friend of mine from residency recently checked with the University of Iowa (where our husbands trained), and they are working on it, too - so check with your program if you think you qualify.

Every little bit helps!

Poll

New poll is up! Comments on last week's poll?

I watch about 2-3 a day. I can't do laundry, pay bills, etc without it. LOL!

Attitude Adjustment!

Camilla, whose husband is a PGY3 in General Surgery, had this great discussion question for us.

My husband and I have been talking a lot lately about whether or not training is what makes surgeons so mean/crazy/egocentric or if they already have personalities like that which are unmasked in the training process. . . .Just want to know what everyone else thinks and whether or not they've seen changes in their hubby's as they've been 'beaten down.' My husband is an atypical personlity in his field-he's positive and generally cheerful, but I've found him rolling his eyes a little more often at difficult patients and/or families.

Poll

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

You might be a resident if...

You have 3 pagers and a cell phone so you can be reached at all times.

Welcome to our new friend - Sybil

Hello!

I am glad I found your blog! My husband is a neonatology fellow (think tiny preemie babies) and we just moved to Gainesville, FL for him to begin the fellowship at UF/Shand's Hospital (so that would make him a PGY4 - Neonatology). I would love to be included on your contributors list (our blog is http://sybilandalex.blogspot.com/).

Does anyone on here lives in the Gainesville area? I would really like to meet some people here. I am currently looking for a job but as you know, moving to a new city is tough. We have been married almost 8 years and lived in 3 states (Memphis, TN - med school; St Louis, MO - residency; and now Gainesville, FL - fellowship). We moved the last week in March and it has been a very lonely past few weeks in a city where I know no one. People have no idea the sacrifices that physicians' wives make!

Sybil

Busy Lady: Samantha

Hi! My name is Samantha. I officially joined the ranks of Doctor Wives last year and I'm so excited to find this blog. My husband is a PGY-3 psychiatry resident and we're trying deciding on which fellowships to apply to for PGY-5. I think I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the residency tunnel! Just in time to head into the fellowship tunnel :)

We currently have 2 fur-babies but are hoping to add a human baby to our family soon. I work for a start up pharmaceutical company and I have a Masters in Public Health. I'm currently working on my Masters in Architecture and Design, so needless to say we're pretty busy.

Welcome Heather

Hi! I am new to the "Lives of Doctor's Wives" blog--found it while waiting on my husband to come home--he is on an away rotation, and the 3 kids and I came to visit (at his request) thinking we would get to see him, but um no, I don't think it's going to happen:)My name is Heather, my husband is PGY3, General Surgery, and I don't really have a website at this point, although I've just started blogging a little--so I may link up at some point!

Thanks!!! Heather

Howdy Liz!

My name is Liz. My husband is currently finishing up his intern year and will begin his anesthesiology residency training this July. We have four young children. I have a masters degree in public health. After residency, my husband and I plan to travel to 3rd world countries to participate in medical humanitarian work. I am new to the blogging world and amazed at how wonderful this site is. I love being married to a doctor, I love to laugh, and I love talking with other wives about being married to doctors. I hope that I can add some helpful insights as a contributor to the site. A lot of our common experiences are wonderful, and yet, a lot are so horrible that all we can do is talk about them, and then, hopefully, laugh about them together.

Glad you are here Laura!!

Hi! I am Laura. I am a mother of three, tutor, and a doctor wife. My husband, Ben, is in his third year of an orthopedic surgery residency. We have been going through an extremely difficult time recently because his residency program did not get accredited for this next residency year. We found out a little over 7 months ago that we had to find a new residency program to take us for the last two years of his residency. It has been just one more thing to struggle with during an already hard time. We have a home to sell and more debt to accrue with moving costs. Luckily we found a residency program that we are thrilled about going to, but we wish more so that this had never happened in the first place. We will be moving to Pittsburgh in little over a month to complete his last two years at AGH. It is much harder moving in the middle of residency than at the end of medical school. We have a house to sell that isn't selling, we have had to find money to pay for the interviews that he had to do to get into a new residency, we have to move without any relocation loans, and we have to do all this without any time off. In fact my husband has been told by the new residency to be there or orientation by the second week of June, while our current residency told him he is not allowed to leave until the last day of June. Anyway, I have been feeling down on my luck and today I have boiled over into a depressed state. I have resisted posting a hello for some reason, but today I feel so alone in my struggles that I felt a need to reach out. Any of you in Pittsburgh? I am sure none of you have dealt with a closed down residency program -- it is so rare, but if you have -- do you have any advise? I do blog at benandlaura.blogspot.com and I am hoping to meet some friends through this doctor wives blog. Thanks for a listening ear.

New to Medicine - Welcome Shauna!!

I came accross the blog about a month or so ago, and I'm so happy I did!

I recently (very recent, 5 months ago) started dating J. He's PGY3 family medicine. Let me just start out by saying that I had NO IDEA what residents go through! The looooong hours, the call shifts, the stresses about money, board exam, applying for jobs and the interviewing, etc., plus visa paperwork (he's from Canada). I would have done lost it a long time ago!

I think I've read just about everything there is to read on the blog, and it's been a great help in understanding how difficult things are and how to better deal with them. J and I live and hour and a half apart, which makes even a normal relationship difficult to start as you want to spend time with and get to know each other. In comparison to the distances some of the ladies have to deal with, an hour and a half is nothing...but add in the crazy life of chief resident, and it becomes very hard. I am in school full time and working part time, so my schedule also hampers spending time together.

Though this is all new to me, I can see the patience and determination these men (and women) must possess in order to get through med school, residency, fellowships, and practicing all while maintaining relationships with family and friends...plus the dedication of the spouses and SO's and what they have to deal with.

So, thank you for having this blog out there!! It's helped me deal with the "I got called in...again," and the "I'm so tired, I just need to sleep."

Oh, maybe I should introduce myself...I'm Shauna...Hi!

Superstitious?

My husband has got to be one of the most logical people I have ever met but I think residency has made him very superstitious. For example, if he is on call, I am not allowed to ask him if it is a slow day. He also has lucky articles of clothing that he wears for difficult cases.
I just find this kind of funny because there is no scientific merit to these actions or beliefs, yet my super smart husband feels so strongly about them. I wonder if this is just a doctor thing.
Is your husband superstitious?

Poll

The new one is up! Comments on last week's poll?

I don't read tabloids from the store. I'm such a skeptic. I'm so skeptical, I didn't believe that Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson really broke up for weeks. LOL! Yes, I realize that was years ago! I will read about celebrities it if it is on MSNBC, but I won't necessarily believe them either. ;o)

Also, feel free to shoot some more ideas for polls my way. If you already sent me one and I forgot it, please remind me. Thanks!

Poll

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