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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Away Rotations

For those of you still in medical school, I put together a post on my advice for away rotations. You can check it out here: Advice from a Doctor's Wife: Away Rotations.

For those of you MSIVs good luck - its a crazy, exciting and stressful year - but you will survive! Feel free to email me if you have any questions, would like any advice, or need to vent about applying to residency!

Labels: away rotations, medical school

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Thanks! =); September 9, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Chelsey said...: Marissa did a great entry about a lot of 4th year info! But I am stressing right now for some financial advice on what to do during 4th year traveling and away rotations. What is the best thing to do? What have other people done? Is taking a relocation loan the best loan to take out for the long run?! Help :); September 9, 2010 at 3:11 PM
Colleen said...: @ Marissa - Do you have kids? Just curious. My husband is an MSIV and we have two boys under the age of 3.

@ Chelsey - As far as financially...
I am a certified teacher, but in order to stay home with my boys, I quit teaching public school, and use my degree and certification to run a licensed in-home preschool in Fort Worth, TX. In addition to my own 2 children, in the past I have had up to 6 full-time 3 and 4 year olds. This year, to cover extra travel costs and a possible end-of-year move, I took full enrollment, which means I have 11 kids all day, including mine. I'm losing it, but it is the best thing for our boys and the only way I can contribute financially. I hired an assistant to hire me 3 hours of the day. I'm open from 7:15-5:30. I just keep telling myself it is only temporary.

@ Marissa - My husband is currently on an away rotation, with another away rotation directly following, a total of 8 weeks away. Your blog entry made me feel a little sad because I didn't do any of those things. In order to support us and minimize loans, I am working like crazy. I barely have time to text him, we rarely talk, and I didn't pack him any food. He was on his own. :( But he is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is where his parents live, so he is staying with them. And trust me, his mom is retired - he is being spoiled, I guarantee it!

One thing I found helpful - for those who have kids - I have a good friend whose husband travels during the week. We trade off hosting dinner 3 nights a week, so we don't have to cook as much, when we do there aren't tons of leftovers, and our kids go off and play together while we get a little adult interaction. So far, I have really enjoyed it, especially on nights when I get home and don't have a huge mess in the kitchen to clean up. Plus, it means I'm not so lonely! :); September 9, 2010 at 10:36 PM
Tif Sweeney said...: @Chelsey . . . I did a post a while back on Residency Relocation Loans on my site. We had to take out this extra loan because I was a SAHM at the time and my husband literally was traveling from one end of the country to the other. It's not for everyone, but it's good to know some info before you decide. Check it out here http://ourmedicallives.blogspot.com/2009/07/residency-relocation-loans.html and, let me know if you have any questions about it!; September 9, 2010 at 11:31 PM
Mrs. Dawkter said...: @Chelsea - this is my philosophy on taking out extra loans for residency: its not worth saving a few thousand dollars if your spouse does not match, so TAKE out the money! Think about how much in loans you have already, another $5,000 or $10,000 in loans hurts but its nothing in comparison to the entirety of their debt and its NOT WORTH SKIMPING on the amount of programs you apply to or amount of interviews you take. It sucks but its a NECESSARY expense. We were fortunate in that I was working and 3rd year we only took out loans for tuition, and then 4th year we took out the full loan amount (living expenses) and used those for interview costs. (So unfortunatley I can't tell you which loans are best). I think I'll do a post on saving money on interviews because we were pretty lucky and kept it around $5,000 despite applying to 42 programs and taking 16 interviews.

@Colleen - no kids. And what you are doing is awesome! I don't know if I could handle 2 kids let alone that many... and ALL DAY! Don't worry if you didn't do any of the things on my list, those were just suggestions and they were more manageable because I didn't have kids! I'm sure your MIL is having a great time spoiling your husband!; September 10, 2010 at 10:56 AM

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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Away Rotations

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