Finishing Residency Training. A mini-journal to inspire!

Thomas started his "real" job yesterday. Orientations was supposed to start at 10am!!! 10AM!!!!! But they called to say it had been changed to 11AM!!!! This gave us extra time for coffee and breakfast...We rummaged through our pants pockets to find change for his lunch , packed the kids and DOG into the car and off we went. The whole way there, Thomas warned me....it will be a late night, don't be disappointed...We talked about the anticipation of this first month and wondered if he would get any time off being the new guy.



At 4.30, he called me to pick him up. Orientation was finished and he had met with his colleagues and picked up his schedule:



1. He gets 1 DAY OFF per week....yes, you read that right...1 whole DAY! Most weekends he has off although some he must either round or take call from home.



2. He has July 4 off!!!!!!



3. The doctor's lounge is stocked full of cokes, milk, sandwiches, bagels, etc, etc...for FREE (we sure could have used that during residency!



4. We have DENTAL Insurance!!!!!



We gave up the "big bucks" for a more family friendly environment, and I am SOOOO glad that we did! My husband absolutely could not believe his schedule and all of the extras!!! When I picked him up, he was just glowing!!!! He kept showing me his schedule as I was driving us home.."look at this, look at this!"
The Medical Spouse Network Edited by: kmmath  at: 7/3/01 9:17:43 am

oh that so rocks Kris I am so happy for you and thomas



that is inspiring indeed



Dan started his first day as a G2 yesterday and went in at 9:00 and was home at 3:30



he left too early to even swing by and pick me up



how funny is that



today he went in at "8:30ish" ( a far cry from 5:30am sharp)



he should be home around 5:00pm tonight



Let me see if I understand this correctly--thomas gets the weekends off and one day during the week--i am sure I did not read that one correctly



how are you finding Minnesota

Kris:



That is wonderful news. I can't tell you how happy I am for your guys. It is what you have struggled, worked and slaved so long and hard for. Pretty soon things should be so normal you are not going to know what to do with yourself. I must admit this is a wonderful piece of inspiration. Especially in light of the fact that Aaron is thinking of quiting the general surgery program and reapplying to the combined plastics program. OH YEAH!

[houseelf]

O.K. This post takes the cake for INSPIRATIONAL! You're lighting up our lives! You're giving us hope....to carry on...



Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!



Kelly

July 4th....we all slept in until 11am!!! Got up, took showers and made coffee while the kids ran down into their new playroom. Thomas read the paper from the day before (his pic had been in it about moving here, etc) and then started pacing the floors looking for things to DO! Both of us are adjusting to being less BUSY! We eventually decided to go to the movies with the kids and went to see Cats and Dogs (very funny flick). We strolled to Wal-Mart, had a casual dinner at home and stayed up late watching a boring video we had rented....It was such a RELAXING day...and we kept saying..."Do you remember last year, and the year before, and the year before...when you had to work July 4, thanksgiving, christmas....." We just couldn't believe it. Thomas is starting to worry about how he can possibly justify his salary having days off and not working all of the time....He can only assume that as his patient load increases that he will be working more? For now...We'll TAKE it!!!



Kris
The Medical Spouse Network

This weekend we had more of a "residency-like" time. Thomas had to go into the hospital all day Sat and a big part of Sunday...but it was a good thing, believe it or not. It reminded me of how hard it was to not have him around. I have already adjusted to having him here every weekend for coffee...making lunch together and sitting outside on the patio while the kids play.....his absence reminded me of how much I enjoy his company!



It is amazing how quickly the bad things about residency become a distant memory...and having him gone for much of the weekend made me again appreciate how far we have come....and despite him working so much the last two days, we still had a fun neighborhood picnic on Saturday and took the kids out Sunday evening.......these were things we just didn't have the time/energy for during fellowship.



To all of you out there who are struggling through any part of the process...no matter what is going on in your marriage or how you are feeling, I just want you to know that there is hope...and that things DO gradually start to get better....



Kris