Greetings from the Midwest

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to begin my involvement with this community by introducing myself. Funny, it must have been over 3 years ago when my then fiance told me about this website that he came across. Now it's nearing the end of his 3rd year of medical school and the marking of our 2nd year of marriage that I finally came back to join. It couldn't have come at a better time either because I often feel like I have no one to talk to when my husband isn't around- and it's wonderful to find a community where this common bond is shared.

A little about myself and my family- 24 years old, originally from Orange County, CA and currently residing in St. Louis, MO. Graduated from UCLA where I majored in Psychology & Sociology and where I met my husband and best friend while we worked as Resident Advisors in the dorms. We married after his first year of medical school and then I moved to St. Louis to be with him. I am an assistant manager for Walgreens and hating retail- but it pays the bills and job stability is important right now. We have a 2 year old baby, albeit- he is white and fuzzy and loves belly rubs. His name is Cowboy and is our pride and joy.

Life has been less than perfect in Missouri- we both miss our family and friends in CA very much and our schedules leave us little time to go home- especially together if we can ever get our schedules to agree. I am not a cold-weather baby by any means and long for the temperate "non-seasons" of home. We have gone through our ups & downs throughout the past couple of years, but we survived a year of a long-distance engagement, and almost 3 years of medical school thus far so I think we've had a good start. There are times though I really miss having a support group- I have no real friends to speak of out here and there are times I won't see my husband for days if he's on call and I'm working my midnight shifts. He has decided to go into emergency medicine and we will be embarking on that whole application process soon.

I will try to post more later- I have some issues I'd love to talk about and receive advice on. It's just nice to hear that other people have been in the same boat sometimes. Thank you for being here and making this website possible!

[DCJenn]

Welcome DayDreamer!

Feel free to post anytime, we look forward to getting to know you better!

It's hard leaving the supportive networks and moving- and if it's one thing that most of us who are just starting this medical journey do, it's MOVE! I didn't make friends with any other females while we've been here. We've made excellent hopefully long term couple friends but that's it.

I swear, my level of dependence on this place is just not right! And there's a whole lot of us who figure it's easier to post here than go to therapy!

Welcome-

Jenn

[Meenah]

Welcome,
This is a wonderful site. I am married to a Pulmonologist and I am an RN. This site has saved me on more than one occasion. I have two teenagers and my husband has two teenagers. We are past the school /intern/residency part, but the problems remain the same. I look forward to getting to know you.
Luanne

Welcome back! When I found this place last October it was like a wonderful gift. I too have moved a bunch of times and have found that it hard to make new girlfriends. Hang in there, it does become easier to deal with. This is a great place to come for support. Scheduling is also a nightmare in our household because I have very strange hours too, including the overnight shift last week and this week. My husband is a third year medicine resident about to start an ID fellowship.

Welcome and post often!

[houseelf]

Welcome Daydreamer!

O.K. I'm humming the Monkees right now..."Cheer up sleepy Jean...oh what can it mean...to a daydream believer and a homecoming queen"

But on a more serious note, welcome to the boards! Many of us are dealing with the whole displacement from our region of the country (or world in some cases) and the difficulties of making friends when life seems temporary. You know the mentality..."We'll only be here for x amount of years so people don't want to "invest" their time in a short term friendship and I just don't have the energy to overcome this obstacle". In other words, we are right here with you navigating our way through the same issues.

Cowboy sounds like a lucky dog to have such a wonderful mom and dad.

Join on in!

Kelly

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I look forward to getting to know all of you better in the coming months. This is a place I think I will find myself "de-stressing" a lot and I too will probably be guilty of venting because there are times when I just feel like screaming but then I think, "what's the point? no one can hear me?" Just being able to voice my thoughts will be therapeutic- now if only I could have a weekly masseuse visit me as well...

Yesterday, my husband had his first real scare at the hospital because a baby he was assigned to while he was on call was diagnosed to have meningitis the next day-possibly a very contagious type- so there he is being rushed around to start on antiobiotics himself and he's calling me to tell me to strip our bed and wash the sheets and to call around emergency vets to make sure that human meningitis cannot be transmitted to dogs. Fortunately, it is not! *phew* That was certainly enough excitement for me.