Residency Roundup: Getting Started

Welcome to Residency Roundup!  

My name is Cami!  I am married to an overworked PGY2 surgery resident and have two amazing little children that enrich our lives.   I am excited to share pieces of wisdom, hope, help, and support to families currently in residency and those preparing for it.

So, I am a list person.  Anything that I can write in list form I do.  After match day two years ago new lists began:  what sequence to pack up our tiny, gross apartment;  housing options in our new residency town;  meals that would clear out my pantry, freezer , and fridge;  graduation invites; etc... 

After we successfully and efficiently moved to residency, we realized we had no list ready for the next steps.  The following was developed from trial and error, luck, and a little research. Here is the list we needed two years ago!  

Find and Know this Information ASAP-

• First paycheck - When will it come?  
• DrH's program pays once a month, so the first paycheck came in August!! In addition to all the moving/relocating expenses, we used a short term loan from our parents to bide the time. 
• Vacation Requests - Find out when they are due, turn them in, don't miss the deadline.
• Human Resources - Read through the HR packets to understand your benefits and if you need to enroll in programs. 
• Our residency has a one-time smartphone or PDA reimbursement I found by reading everything.
• Opening socials - When are they? Make the effort to attend.
• We had one for DrH's program and one for the resident support group for spouses and families. 
• Residency Graduation - When is it? Are you invited?
• The incoming interns, in our program, are requested to attend the outgoing chiefs graduation dinner.  We are glad we made the effort to go, a short one week after med school graduation. 

To Do list for the first month- 

        (hopefully before DrH begins rotations)

• Find House to rent or own - We rented sight-unseen, so we planned a meet and greet with the landlord.
• Appliances - Our rental didn't come with a refrigerator.  One had to be secured within the first 48 hours.  Luckily we still had some time left on our moving truck to help us haul it from the store to our home.
• Set up utilities - You will need joint access to all accounts.
• Set up internet - We pay more for the extra fast internet for logging onto DrH's EMR, writing notes, and checking images.
• Local phone number - Look into Google Voice for your cell phone, if you don't want to change your number.
• Purchase a pager plan - Does your program supply one?
• Car insurance - A move to another state means different rates. (We seem to always move to a more expensive area). Call and find a new agent early on.
• Renters or home owners insurance
• Buy a second car - Which includes a smog check, insurance, and registration. 
• Parking pass for DrH's hospital- Is it provided by program?
• DMV trip - Our new state allots 10 days from your move-in date to get your license and car registration changed over.  We had to take the drivers test, thankfully easier than Step1;) 
• Medical/Dental benefits - Assign a PCP
• Thank you notes for graduation gifts
• Fill your new refrigerator 
• Meet neighbors 
• Find a Church and a Gym
• Find new friends for children
• Explore new city

Good luck forming your lists!

Cami


Leave comments below with what went wrong with your residency relocation, what could have been avoided, and what worked great!!

Graduation Gift Ideas?

My DH is graduating in a few short weeks and I have no idea what to get him! The excitement & stress of match-relocating-my job search-home search resulted in thoughts of graduation being put on the backburner.

Any suggestions out there?

Surreal

So, it's Avi. :) Hi, everyone!! I wish I posted more but things are always just nutty around here...

J's graduation was last weekend on a Friday evening... It was so very surreal, folks... (I don't have very many pictures, unfortunately, because it was so dark in the banquet hall and every picture turned out very grainy or blurry...and because hubby's mom always moves her hands when she takes a picture. :-P)

Hubby's parents came up from Ohio (to Michigan where we are) and even had a frame made up with pictures from throughout his residency and cute scrap book things like a lab coat and a mini-chest x-ray. (I printed an orthopedic x-ray for her later because she wanted to replace it with something that fit his field. :-P) It was so nice to have them there--you could tell that they were just beaming...:-)

The graduation started off with dinner and it was very odd seeing all of the wives together that I've met throughout the last four years. Even the ones who weren't particularly friendly or social with me still said hello, which was nice. I ended up sitting next to one of the somewhat new girlfriend of a resident and, sadly, she's going through the weird hostility herself since her boyfriend and her go out with the other residents all of the time. (Hubby and I don't avoid going out with the residents--we just usually have other stuff to do rather than be out until 2am and witness drunken drama.) Anyways, she was cute and said to me, "Oh, I'm so happy that I have a friend to sit next to!" It kills me how a little bit of politeness seems like so much work from the others.

Some of the wives/girlfriends were awesome with me...and I was sad that this was our 2nd to last social outing with them as there was a picnic the next day. Four out of the six are moving to another state... We and another couple (the couple who got stuck in Minnesota along with us during that rotation) are the only ones staying...mainly because we didn't want to go through the hassles of selling our places. (Hubby won't tell anyone but I know that he chose his fellowship here because it gave me more time to finish my degree. It also happens to be a really good fellowship. :-P)

Anyways, at the end of the dinner and after all of the talking...the ceremony began.

Each resident and their significant other was called up...to accept a diploma, some flowers, and a certificate for the wives that thanked them for support to their husband during their five years of training. (I smirked since I have only been around for only four and we are not married. :-P) This is very different from a few years ago where the wives only got flowers and that was it. The certificate was really nice, I thought. :-)

At the end of the dinner, each resident went up to do a little speech to say what ever they wanted to say. Ladies, I got choked up...because I watched men who I knew to be extremely stoic, break down and cry as they expressed gratitude to their families and their children for dealing with the chaos of their schedules. Half of the residents cried... It was incredibly emotional.

When hubby went up, he seemed to be the comic relief. :) He made everyone laugh with some jokes...and then thanked his parents, the other residents, and his attendings. Then, he thanked me...and told everyone how we met when he was on a trauma rotation, being on call overnight in the hospital once every third night...and how I stuck with him...and didn't think he was crazy. It was adorable...and, for a moment, I forgot that there were hundreds of people in the room with us...because I just felt so very proud and so very in love with J. :-)

It was during those speeches that it hit me what supermen we are with. They work so hard...and, yet, still come home to make us dinner...to make us laugh...to help out as much as they can...to play with their children...to play with their dogs...to have some semblance of a life.

It may not be perfect and there may have been tough times but, quite honestly, that's not what I remember from the last couple of years. It seems as if all of those times were mysteriously lost during each resident's speech, including what J said during his.

I thought about J and I...and about all of the chaotic times. I remember a couple that fought to keep what it was that made them complete. I recall all of the times that hubby and I worked through so many difficult moments and, often, rolled around on the floor laughing because we always try to find humor in things, especially when it seemed like everything was going wrong. :)

It was just so surreal...a little sad...but I was happy to see everyone graduate. :)

Anyways, things are still nutty as usual around here. We have interviews for jobs starting next month with one in Virginia and one in Florida. The opportunity in Florida, oddly enough, was one of the first that hubby found...and it seems like the best offer out of everything. They, also, have been the only ones who have officially invited me out along with hubby. :-P

After out interviews next month, hubby starts fellowship in August...we get married in March...and I graduate from college in May...and I am going to faint because where did the last couple of years go??? :-D

Survivor Saturdays: Beware of Spring Cleaning

As you're starting to enjoy the nicer weather and planning about your spring cleaning projects, you may be considering packing up some items that don't seem important. I know when M & I were moving shortly after residency, I couldn't wait to get rid of all those medical books and that graduation hood that took up half our closet! After calling around, I found out that some High Schools and libraries were happy to take some of the books off our hands, even though they weren't the most current. The hood was another story.

I almost stuffed it into a give-away box, but decided M would be mad when he found out. He is very sentimental and keeps tons of items we'll never take out of a box. Still, it was his hood so I stuffed it into a box.

Years went by until one day he was invited to speak at a graduation ceremony. "Where is my hood?" he asked. My heart sank as I asked why it mattered. I have to wear it for the ceremony. That's why I kept it. Oh my goodness, was I ever glad I didn't get rid of it! I dug through every box until I found it, glad that I hadn't done something stupid and thrown it away.

Moral of the story... don't get rid of that thing. It's possible to buy a replacement, but not only will you pay through the nose, but it won't be exactly what your spouse had before. Some colleges will give the MD a honorary doctorate and a school hood, but don't count on it. Keep that baby where you can find it later.