Moving

[SuzySunshine]

My husband's away rotations were only a month each and he did two of them. I didn't go with him, I was also working and we didn't have kids. I was able to go see him half way through one of them but otherwise we had minimal phone contact, he was there to make a good impression and decide if the programs were for him and that is what he needed to concentrate on.

Also, in our DH's residency location there is now a 3 month required rotation at another site out of state, the hospital pays for housing, etc. I don't know how married couples with a working spouse handled it, all of the residents right now are married with stay at home spouses or spouses that can telecommute. They don't really move though, just go for 3 months and then come back.

[spotty_dog]

I assumed as much with all the moves but didn't know that away rotations can be thrown in there :/ Is that common? I don't know how that would work for us since I need to be holding down a job and it barely pays enough to keep one household running, much less two.

Yeah, you need to count on at least one away, as a "feeling out the specialty" and/or "feeling out the specific location" and/or "farming for recommendations" thing. DH did a month in California and I stayed in Ohio. He shared an apartment cheaply with another med student or two, spent about $50 on bedding at Target, commuted by bike (that he had shipped to a bike store in town), and used all his best college poor skills to eat on next to nothing. Having my secretary salary support our two households for that month was *nothing* compared with interview and Step exam expenses.

[diggitydot]

Moving

It's not uncommon for places that have people coming to do away rotations to have an some sort of inexpensive housing options for the med students to utilize. DH did 4 away rotations and only had to pay to rent a bedroom in one of the apartments in one or two of those locations.the most expensive one was something like $75 for the month. It wasn't bad.

[MrsK]

I never went along for away rotations. Most provided some sort of housing but, for the most part, the housing was really awful. Like, during a prison rotation DrK stayed in a trailer inside the prison gates. Yeah, he was driving 8 hrs home every weekend.

[SoonerTexan]

We didnt do any med school aways. They weren't easy to fit in the schedule.

[mommax3]

DH did 3 away rotations during med school, but they were military so housing was provided *and* he got active duty pay for that time period, which was welcome! During residency, every year (except intern year) he rotated at an Army post 3 hours away for 2 months at a time. He shared a crappy apt. with other residents and drove home when he could on weekends,
usually post-call.

[alotofyarn]

My husband stayed with my parents during one away and his mom during his other away. I didn't go with him, but I did travel to be with him one weekend of each rotation (AKA conjugal visits).

[ladymoreta]

We got married in undergrad (lived in 2 different apartments there), then moved for medical school. We went to the same place as SoonerTexan and also didn't do away rotations, for the same reason. We bought a house for residency, then rented for the first year of attendinghood. We bought our current house this summer, and we're really hoping to stay here long term. So over our whole marriage, we've had 6 households.

[Auspicious]

My husband moved in with me at the start of MS1, so I guess only he moved. Then we moved within the same city, closer to the school at the start of MS3 for clinical rotations. Then to a different region of the country for residency. Then another state for fellowship. Then a whole new region for The Job. And finally a local move from our rental house to our purchased house this past summer. My 3-year-old has lived in four different homes. I guess we're also at six homes as a couple.

[Sheherezade]

We moved constantly early on -- three times for my own training/career before DH hit med school. Then, 4 times for his training and career over the next 8 years. Funny thing is, now that we've been settled for 8+ years, I've got wanderlust. I think the nomadic lifestyle takes hold if you live it long enough. It has pluses and minuses. You definitely learn to live in the now, adapt to new things and become more open to change. You lose your roots and can't establish long term friends and networks. I'm glad I've been able to live both ways, but I'm not sure it's ever easy to find a balance. Once you really truly root, it's painful to move on. If you always have it in your head that you might move on, you can't successfully root.

That's one of the truly amazing gifts of the internet, social networks and spaces like iMSN: having a virtual HOME that you can root in, even when your physical home moves from place to place.

[ides]

Dh didn't do any away rotations in med school. I'm not sure if anyone in his class did.

We moved for Med school (lived in two different places there), moved for residency (two locations there), moved for fellowship then moved for The Job. We moved once within town to a house we bought since moving for the job.

In residency dh did a couple away rotations but only one was outside the city we were in. The hospital supplied him with a furnished apartment during the out of city rotation. I went with my son (1 year old at that time) for two weeks while dh was there for a month.

[medpedspouse]

Moved for med school (1), moved for residency (2) Stayed put for fellowship - phew! Moved for THE job (3) Job was great then hospital bought out clinic in year 4. Hospital screwed him and his partners over after 1st contract ended and we moved after 6 years (4). So, all in all we have not done too bad. 4 moves in 17 years.

[samssugarmomma]

Just two for us. Med school was in the town we were living in (Houston). Moved for residency. Stayed there for fellowship - did a suicide rank list! then moved for THE job.

[metroguy]

i only move once when i got a house. otherwise, i don't like moving. generally speaking, most people move for residency, fellowship, job(s), kids..

[Thirteen]

*inhales*
From 2004-2009, I moved every year (one interstate move). In 2011, we had another interstate move. In 2012, we moved again and bought.
In 2014, we will sell and have another interstate move under our belt.
*exhale*

We like to move.


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