Hello, this is a wonderful site.

[bokelley]

I just happen to come across this site, while trying to find ways to handle the upcoming board stress that my husband is going through. What a wonderful idea this was. Nice to know that others have the same feelings that I do.

[bokelley]

Well my name is Brandi, and my husband Ryan, just finished his second year of medical school in Iowa. We have been married for just over 2 years. We moved to Iowa right after we got married from Arkansas. BIG STEP FOR ME. He is getting ready for his boards, so as you can imagine things around the house are stressful!!! We are moving to the ST. Louis area next month for him to do his clinical rotations. I was going to school at Iowa State University with a major in meteorology and physics, but since we have to move, I am going to put that on hold for a little bit. Any advice for the upcoming clinical rotations or how to deal with him during this stressful time?

[SuzySunshine]

Welcome aboard - the clinical rotations really vary by specialty so you just have to take them one at a time.

[MrsK]

welcome

[Sheherezade]

Welcome aboard! Sounds like a lot of change in a short time. You are handling it all so well! We are so far out of med school now I'd hesitate to give advice about rotations....but I know we've got lots of med school stage members. I'm sure they will chime in.

[Ladybug]

Welcome!

[MarissaNicole]

and Welcome! How long will you be in St. Louis for medical rotations? I am not familiar with doing rotations at a different place than medical school. My husband is just finishing up his third year and we enjoyed it for the most part. Does your husband have any interests going into third year?

I don't have to much advice for the different rotations other than if he can request the order of his rotations I would suggest doing internal medicine and surgery at the beginning. The reason I say this is because third years are the most excited during the beginning of the year. My husband was sooo excited to be in the hospital that he didn't mind the longer hours on surgery and IM. It has also been nice because he has had a very reasonable schedule this spring and we have been able to enjoy the nice weather.

Also as far as boards my husband just tried to go to school from 7/8 a.m. to 5 at night to study all day then we did dinner and he studied for a little bit at night but sometimes we would relax. Some nights and weekends I went with him to the bookstore or coffee shop and kept him company while he studied.

[bokelley]

I believe we will be in STL for 2 years, then we go to wherever he matched too. The school sent us "out" for clinical rotations because they did not have enough OB/GYN and PEDS slots, so instead of him being going away for a few months alone, they gave us the option of relocating. Ryan (my husband) wants to do radiology and then a fellowship in interventional neuro-radiology. Thank you all for being so welcoming.

[NYCHoosier]

Hello and welcome~!

My husband just finished MS3. It's one of the toughest years of training (or so I hear), so your patience will be really helpful.

But first things first - the boards! When DH was studying, he and a few of his classmates took over a classroom at his school and studied full time... more than full time. He probably studied something like 15-16 hours a day. And it paid off! His score was 50 points higher than his first Q-bank score before he started studying. That's huge. So hopefully you've survived this month! If you still have some time left before he takes them, just do everything. It can be stressful, but there's an end-date. Boards scores help generate interviews for residency, and the more interviews, the more likely you are to match. (If he doesn't do as well as he likes on Step 1, though, he'll have the opportunity to make up for it on Step 2). Now is the time to be more than accommodating.

MS3 will be a mixed bag year. Medicine, ob/gyn, and surgery will be really time-consuming. Psych and family medicine are more likely to have regular hours. Take note of his call schedule at the beginning of each rotation as well as the dates of his shelf exams so you can appropriate plan your schedules. There will be late nights and early mornings. He'll be dealing with working on little sleep and might need to adjust to that.
While he will be busy, make time for each other. It doesn't have to be a date night every week, but just a few minutes each day talking about what you want to talk about instead of what you have to talk about. Think of it as a reminder that your marriage is a positive part of your lives, not another stressor. DH and I had issues the first few months of third year (which also happened to be his medicine rotation). But, then we learned to make time for each other, and it's been a breeze since then.

As for your school... do you have any options to take online courses? I go to school right now as well, and taking online classes allows me to be home with DH but also work toward my degree. If that's not at option, is it possible to transfer?
It just seems rough to put that on hold for two years, particularly when you don't know where you'll be in two years after the match.

Anyway, when all is said and done, third year was not nearly as rough as I expected. Just be patient and supportive. It will help him be happier and thus you both will be happier.

One other random little tip - remember fourth year expenses when you're applying for third year financial aid. Step 2 fees alone are ~$1500. Since 4th year loan money doesn't come until the fall, we're having to dip into our savings to pay for away expenses this summer.

Anyway, welcome!

[NYCHoosier]

I saw you posted while I was typing. My cousin is going into IR! She just graduated this year and starts PGY-1 in July.

Very cool specialty!

[ladymoreta]

Welcome! Boards stink - especially Step One. They get better from there... It sounds like you're doing really well with all the moves and stuff. Glad you found this site - it's a great resource for people like us!

[Flynn]

Welcome!!!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Welcome! We're in the exact spot you are! DF takes the boards one month from tomorrow and then will begin third year rotations in July.

We're getting married in October when he has a mini-gap and then it's straight on through July of 2010.

We're in Cleveland. No relocating for us though I do work in Boston, MA 2 weeks of every month.

Welcome aboard!

[bokelley]

Ryan became very interested in IR after his dad had a brain aneurysm rupture and a IR fixed it. Although he would never admit it (are the all like that?) it changed him, he has so much more compassion for people and the circumstances that they might be in. He takes the test in about 3 weeks, they just got done with class on Thursday, so he has not studied as much as he would have liked to. Right now all he does it look at the Kaplan books. Poor guy. I have tried to leave him out of the moving situation as much as possible, but every so often he pokes his head up to check it out. LOL. MS2 was really hard for us, so much studying and then with his dad's thing, we were stretched pretty thin. But it is looking up!! As for my schooling, there is not online courses and the only school in the STL area that offers a BS in Meteor is a private school and i just really don't want to take out any more loans....I think they are already starting to put two stamps on to mail out his statements LOL Thank you all for all the helpful hints and keep them coming.....

[Meenah]

Welcome and congratulations on finding us!!!!! If there is any way for you to keep going to school do it. You will be much happier fulfilling your own dreams if you can (just search the boards and you will find many threads on this topic). Again, welcome!