Wondering how YOU feel...

[Amiens]

Matt loves the specialty he has chosen- anesthesia. Granted he still has one year of training left. The only thing he isn't completely happy about is the residency program he chose, but that is a different story.

I am happy about the specialty he chose. We keep hearing that life gets much better after residency with anesthesia.

Crystal

*reviving an old thread*

My husband is an ID Attending, and though ID traditionally doesn't carry the hours of a Surgery Attending (my hat's off you to ladies), DH always manages to "find" extra work.

I'm glad he found a specialty he loves. However, it's the business side of medicine that seems to be stressing him ( = us ) out. I think being in an academic setting coupled with his tendency to take on additional responsibilities is a prescription for burnout, and he's been showing signs of wear and tear for a few years now. He may think he's happy (depending on his mood), but he isn't. Our girls are doing okay, but our 9 year old may be starting to notice his workaholic behavior ~ she comments on it now and then.

Lawsuits ~ that's a whole other issue, but that figures into our stress level as well.

So, I guess my answer is officially NO, I'm not happy with the path he's chosen. I would've have liked a more rural, family friendly job.

[Flynn]

...something to add to my previous post!!!

Since we have started CT the hours are long HOWEVER (and this never crossed my mind before) my DH is performing operations -- FINALLY -- he will be doing for the rest of his life!!! In our house that equals a VERY HAPPY energized DH and it's a fantastic change.

I never really factored into my idea of residency that some areas of medicine require a LONG training stint in an area they will rarely use in the future...ok that may be too strong a statement but you get my point.

General surgery is a means to so many other areas and it's SO LONG! By the time my DH was done a month ago in Gen. Surgery he was pretty &*^% sick of it!!!

Now things are so much different -- he is happy. Which isn't to say he was a total bear before...things are just, well, BETTER!

For those of you slaving away in a long residency as a means to get to something else, HANG IN THERE! I would never have guessed things would be so different after a couple of weeks but they are.

Just an addition to my every changing opinions of this life!

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to whole heartedly reply! I enjoyed seeing how you all felt and seeing your different circumstances as well in training, etc. DH just started M3 last week and is doing his OB rotation. He came home the first night saying that he felt he would love it. I was so thrilled to see him be excited and to be "out there" doing instead of in the classroom studying. Anyway, the next 2 days he was swamped and on call all night and came home saying "no thanks". (Please don't laugh at us yet, we are clueless but BUSY!) I am expecting him to love everything for a day or two and then to pass it up. He has felt he will do EM the whole time and I believe he will end up doing that which makes me so happy. I just want him to be happy too. Anyway, thanks again guys!