MS1 Updates?

So far so good -- DW is now one month into MS1. Her school has a systems-based block curriculum, so she had her first midterm last weekend and gets her results back this week. First unit is hematology & gastroenterology or ... enjoy the Patch Adams humor ... Blood & Guts.

We've been together every weekend so far: she's driven up all but two, which I drove down with the three kids. The house is slowly defeating me, but it's slow, so that's OK so far.

Except that there is a FLY in the house and I absolutely HATE flies, but I am wary of setting a bad example for the kids by shrieking like a little girl when it lands on me (and I assure you, I have a real little girl who shrieks when the fly lands on her to gauge my authenticity, and it's pretty good.) And I don't want to run around the house with a can of RAID, either, because that feels like shredding any last remaining bits of dignity I have left.

How are the other MS1 spouses doing? Is everything just starting for you? I don't even know what a "normal" program would be like...

[scrub-jay]

Things are going well for us. We are living on campus, so the commute to work for me is icky, but it is nice that DH is able to walk to class, home, study group, home...etc. We used to go to bed together, but now I go to bed long before he does and he stays up much later to study. He is very happy with the school and his classmates, everyone here is very cooperative. His school is also on a block system and he'll be doing Anatomy block until late October. We are adjusting, the "what shall we do this weekend" question has become a thing of the past and we are both busy with studies (and work for me). There are days I question what we've gotten ourselves into (like around the midterms), but I think we are still positive 1 month in. It is nice to hear from other MS1 spouses, because sometimes as I go through the boards, I think...wow...and how many more years again? oh yea...ugh. I am enjoying the time now, when DH LOVES what he is doing and learning.

Sam - Good luck with the flies!! Ugh, I am the same way...I cannot stand them, although I am very lucky to have a cat who hunts flies and bugs in the house. Makes life very simple... I freak out, grab the cat and point his attention to the fly...within 10 minutes or so, problem solved.

Lucky you! Our cat is so ineffective that two years ago when we had voles in the garden, I had to kill two voles in our house: the first one came in randomly, the second was brought in injured by our incompetent cat.

[ladymoreta]

Do I even want to ask what a vole is? It sounds way ickier than a fly...

A little rodent, like a mouse.

[Thirteen]

Lucky you! Our cat is so ineffective that two years ago when we had voles in the garden, I had to kill two voles in our house: the first one came in randomly, the second was brought in injured by our incompetent cat.

**THREAD HIJACK**
Sam_, we haven't spoken before (to my knowledge), but your post has inspired me to reflect on all things kitty cat. I'm going to start a thread in GR about cats and the things they catch

One more update -- and seriously this feels a little weird, but here I go anyway -- she got her preliminary exam scores and she did well! Seriously big YAY! Because that means we can keep doing this study-all-week / weekends-with-family schedule. If she had been close to the passing line or on the wrong side, we would have had to re-evaluate everything.

(But what exactly does it mean that I am (effectively) bragging on my wife's preliminary mid-term not-for-credit exam results for the first block of a pass-fail curriculum? No point in overanalyzing, I guess it just means I'm happy and excited for her.)

It means you are a great husband, and something is really working well for you guys
Nothing wrong with a little bragging

[poky]

Big congrats to Mrs. Sam_!

I'm glad things seem to be working out so far, and that you don't have to stop seeing each other every weekend, yay!

[MrsK]

Way to go Sam. We used to have a dog -- a Yorkie, they were originally bred to hunt small vermin for serfs and chase mice out of the Yorkshire coal mines -- that threw up every time he saw a mouse. Also, the flies in our last place were like something out of the Amityville Horror. You have my sympathies. Keep up the good fight.

Also, congrats on the test scores.

I was working when DH was a first year a few moons ago. He's a first year resident now. When he started med school we worked out a system where he would be able to focus on his studies and carve out reasonable time for me and the kids when he was done. Weekends ended up being a very important time for planned family activities and the occasional date. Of course, around exam time that wasn't always able to happen.

Congrats on the good exam results, you are on your way!

Thanks for the kind words!

It's hard for me to remember that me taking care of the kids is so important (to her, I mean; obviously I think it's important or else I wouldn't be doing it..) If it were me in medschool, or doing any kind of intense work away from the family, I would be in work-mode for most of the time, and occasionally, in a break, I might remember that I have kids and all that. But I guess for her it's the other way around -- knowing that the kids are well cared for is a precondition for being able to concentrate on her work.

ETA: Oh yes, and I meant to say - if my insomnia comes back, I'll ask for a little hematology bedtime story. That sounds like it would work beautifully.