Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween y'all! 

We've been celebrating Halloween all week long.  Last night, it was the barrel racing association's annual costume contest.  I believe Squeaks and my horse looked pretty darn cute.  I made their costumes.  I know, I know.  I'm great. 

And not only did my horse look good, she ran good too.  I finally landed in the pay window.  $42.  It's been a while since I've won money.  But that's the way it goes when you're away from home for almost four years.  With us being home since August (for Mav's away rotations), I've been riding nearly every day.  Riding consistently sure does pay off.  Literally. 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Let the Interview Season Begin

It's really happening.  We are all applied for residency.  And we're already hearing back for interviews. 

Mav has applied to 28 programs.  We have been requested to interview at 12 of them and we're on the waiting list for another.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  We've heard back from nearly half of the programs we applied to.  Rumor is from a lot of people in this residency that we'd be lucky to hear from a quarter of them.  I think we're doing good. 

Does anyone else say 'we' when it comes down to this whole medical career thing?  Sometimes I found myself thinking it's really weird that I say 'we.'  I'm not the actual one in medical school you know.  But you know what, I have been with Mav since his second year of undergrad.  This is a 'we' effort for us. 

Back to the residency thing.  I'm super excited.  I'm just curious of y'all.  How many have residencies have you applied to?  Have you heard back from some?  Are you going to travel with your spouse to the interviews?  I wish everyone the best of luck through this year's interviewing season. 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Away Rotations Really Do Take You Away

We've been gone.  We've been gone for a long, long, loooong time now. 

We decided to do two away rotations.  We've heard from a lot of people in Mav's chosen specialty that it's who-you-know in this specialty that will get you noticed, interviews and hopefully, a job.  So two away rotations it was. 

Man.  We've regretted it.  I think with Mav's Step scores and how well he's done in everything, really everything, we probably didn't need to do the two.  One away rotation to the our top pick would have been just fine.  But no.  We decided to heed everyone's advice and do two. 

You guys.  It's sucked!  Well, let me take that back for a second.  The first rotation was great.  Fantastic.  Amazing.  Mav loved it.  He would come home with a skip in his step and would be so excited to tell me about his day.  He loved the first program.  He loved the residents.  He loved the place.  He loved it, to say the least.  And they loved him!

But this second one, it's been something else.  It's the complete opposite from the other away rotation.  Yeah, the residents are nice.  But Mav feels like this place doesn't care about him in the least bit.  They don't seem to care that he's chosen them or even care about the amount of money he's spent to come do a rotation with them.  We're talking nearly a thousand bucks y'all.  He's nearly done with this rotation and no one has presented him with information about the residency or tried to talk it up.  Did I mention the tears that were shed when Squeaks and I dropped him off at the airport?  The second rotation has been aweful.  It's been hard.  It's sucked!

Mav only has nine days left at this horrible place.  Then we'll head back home.  And let me tell you how excited I am for that.  I cannot wait to get back to our normal again.  I cannot wait for Squeaks to get back to a routine!  She hasn't had one since August.  It's taking its toll on me and her. 

And how I wish internet friends, that I could tell you just where Mav is so you too can avoid this horrible place.  But I'm sure you understand that it must all be so discreet until Match Day. 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Fighting Sucks

It has been one crappy week people.

It started with needing to register our car.  We thought it was going to be your typical routine thing.  Well, we were wrong.  We needed to replace a part.  It wasn't a big deal except it took Mav's entire Saturday morning off to do it.  Whatever.  We got it to pass.  That's what counts right?

Saturday night I was expecting him to be home from work around 11:30.  Instead, I got a call from him.  The way he sounded I thought someone had died.  And of course I thought the very worse.  Instead he started cussing that someone had busted his passenger window out.  At least we had already got our car to pass safety and emissions.  What Mav wasn't aware of was we had some serious wind blowing that night.  I think the wind picked something up to shatter his window.  That was something else that needed to be fixed.

Then today, we had a window guy out to fix a crack in my truck's windshield.  Instead of fixing it, it cracked more.  He said he couldn't fix it and wouldn't charge us.  Oh goody.  But now, we're going to need a new windshield.

Next week, we're driving cross country for away rotations. Gas prices are insane! 

We have almost maxed out our credit cards.

He's applying for residencies.  He'll be flying all over the country.  

We're poor. 

All of this equals to one big fight between me and Mav.

And me being up way too late...

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

One Less Debt

In my hand is the title for my truck!  It's a wonderful, glorious feeling to know my truck, is actually and really my truck.  It's a good feeling you guys! 

And did I mention that we paid it off three months early?  Even better huh?

That's one less debt to worry about. 

Saturday, July 28, 2012

My Husband Rocks

I was at Wal-Mart the other day.  Mav called me from work.  It was 11 in the morning.  I remember thinking this is a little odd but only a little.  Whatever.

Mav chatted me up, asking what I was doing.  My answer, "Duh!  You know exactly what I'm doing.  What are you doing?"

The rest of our conversation went like this:

Mav:  "Oh.  I got my Step Two scores back."
Me:  "Really?  How'd ya do?"
Mav:  "I passed."
Me:  "You passed?  Don't you get a number score?"
Mav:  "Yeah."
Me:  "Well, what was it?"
Mav:  "Good enough.  I scored above my Step One score."

Mav's Step One score was 244.  We were hoping he'd score at least even with it. 

Me:  "Good.  What was it?!?"
Mav:  "Two...  Sixty...  Nine..."
Me:  Silence
Mav:  "269."
Me:  "269?!?  Really?!?  That!  Is!  AWESOME!!"  

And the people in Wal-Mart were staring at me as I was screaming into my phone.  I'm sure you guys get why I was screaming into my phone and doing a happy dance in the middle of Wal-Mart.

My husband scored a 269 you guys!   He is friggin' amazing!  I seriously could not be any prouder of him!!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Awesome

Mav just started fourth year.  He's 13 days into it so far. 

He came home on day one, walked through the door and said to me, "Fourth year is awesome!"  He then told me about his first day as a fourth year med student.  He was so relaxed and was actually smiling about the day, (as compared to third year where he was always tense and tired.) 

He told me about rounds and the people he was working with.  People are happy!  He's happy!!  Then he told me about a conversation he had with the man in charge.  It went like this:

Mav:  I know I'm going to regret asking this but what is protocol around here?  What do you expect from me?
Man in charge:  Whatever you want.  You want to learn something, ask.  You want to do a procedure, ask.  You want anything, ask.  It's up to you.
Mav: Really?
Man in charge:  Really.  You're a fourth year now.

Obviously, Mav couldn't believe his ears.  I couldn't believe mine either.  Mav explained to me that this huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders.  No expectations.  Zero anxiousness about shelf exams.  No pressure about presenting.  By no means is this a pass to be a complete lazy bum but this is a huge relief for Mav. 

Mav is right.  Fourth year is awesome!  

Monday, June 18, 2012

Life is Good

You know those moments?  The ones where everything is going your way and there is nothing to complain about?  I'm pretty sure the planets have to align just right for it to happen but occasionally it happens and you find yourself thinking, "Life is good." 

Life is good. 

Wanna know why? 

I'm home.  With my family.  My whole family.

Wanna know what else? 

I just spent all morning pampering my horse.  It's therapeutic for me.  And I have missed it so much. 

Wanna know more?

As I was braiding my horse's tail, I could hear Squeaks giggling as she was being chased around the yard by my dog. 

Life is so good, guys.  So, so good.   

Friday, June 15, 2012

Third Year is Over!

It's over!  Third year is officially over! 

Most people who have done medical school, say third year is the worst.  And I agree.  It was hard for me and Squeaks.  It was hard for Mav too.  It was a hard year. 

I think it was hard because third year matters.  Mav wanted to do well on all of his rotations.  The worst part for him was probably that he was gone all day long and then he would have to come home and study all night long.  On the plus side, no rotation lasts forever.  The first day of surgery, he came home saying only seven weeks and seven days left.  Surgery was the worst!  Psych was a close second.  It was easy for Mav but he hated it. 

It's done!  It's behind us!  Mav came out pretty well, I think.  He honored in surgery, pediatrics and OB/GYN. 

And now we get to move onto the fun stuff: fourth year.  We get to start researching residencies, interviewing and counting down to match day and graduation.  We can start planning the next chapter of our lives!  Well, as much as you can plan it with the match.  I can hardly believe we're almost done. 

So, here's to fourth year!!  

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Wifey-1 Hubs-0

Remember when Squeaks was sick?  It was a couple weeks back.  She had a pretty good fever but that was it.  We didn't rush to the doctor or anything.  We gave her some Tylenol and that was good enough.

Three days later, I was so sick.  I noticed Sunday night that my throat was getting sore. 

Monday morning, my throat was on fire and my entire body ached.  By Monday night, I was shaking with a fever.  To tell you the truth, I have never had the chills and a fever.  It was horrible!  I didn't sleep at all that night.  I was so sore the next morning.  

Tuesday was no better.  I still had a fever, the chills and a super sore throat.  So sore that all I wanted was chicken broth to eat.  I couldn't eat real food because it hurt. 

Wednesday morning I woke up free from the fever but my throat hurt still.  Whatever.  But I noticed this weird bump on the side of my thumb.  I didn't think anything of it.  It was actually similar to a callus I used to have on my thumb from roping.  Did you know I can rope?  I'm pretty handy with a rope y'all.  Anyway, the bump turned into many bumps and it had this weird itchy sensation.  It didn't hurt.  It just bugged.  Mav could barely see them.  He thought I was nuts. 

Of course, it took Mav a matter of seconds to pull out his doctor-groove and get to work on Squeaks.  Me, I had to wait three days for him to eve notice I was sick.  He checked out my throat.  I had something he said, maybe strep and my ears looked weird and my hands, meh.  He said if I didn't feel better by Thursday morning, I should call a real doctor.  

Thursday came.  My throat still hurt.  My hands still had the weird bump-rash-thing.  But now, my feet were having the same weird itchy sensation but no rash.  I went to the doctor.  I really hate it when doctors only talk to my husband about medical school stuff.  It drives me nuts.  I don't mind friendly chatting for about a minute but past that, I feel like I'm being ripped off as a patient.  So the doc and Mav were talking and then she turned to me and said, "What's up?"  I tell her.  She runs a strep test, it comes back negative.  I do have an ear infection.  She isn't sure about the sore throat though.  She tried to write off my hands like I was crazy, just like Mav.  I seriously had to put them in front of her face and scream, "LOOK!"  She takes a look and then I tell her it's happening around my feet too. 

Light bulb!  I could seriously see the light switch flip on. 

She examines me closer.  Tells me to open my mouth one more time.  And she sees it!! 

I had hand-foot-and-mouth!!  

I turn to Mav and say, "Told you so!!"  He laughed at me when I told him prior to that, that I really thought I had hand-foot-and-mouth.  He explained it was a childhood disease, rare in adults.  I know all this.  Squeaks has had hand-foot-and-mouth before, when she was about 16 months old. 

Squeaks might have had this too and gave it to me.  It's weird.  I hear it's going around like crazy though. 

So I diagnosed myself.  Without the help of my almost-a-doctor-husband.  I'm proud of it too.  I know moments like these will not happen often.  Kind of like the one time we were golfing in Seattle and I made a 30 foot putt and he didn't.  Things like that are rare and I'm not about to let him forget about them either. 

Bwhahaha!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Sick Squeaks

Last Thursday, Squeaks and I had an uneventful day.  We didn't do much.

Squeaks was pretty whiny.  Typical two year old, right?  I didn't think much about it.

Thursday night, is Big Bang night.  Mav and I are crazy about The Big Bang Theory.  We love it!  Squeaks loves it too.  She gets up and dances with the theme song.  When we settled down to watch it and the song came on, Squeaks didn't move.  Instead she crawled up onto the couch and put her head in my lap.  She has never done that.  Ever.  My child is not cuddly.  That night she was though.  She wanted to share my blanket.  My hand had to be just right on her cheek.  If I moved my hand, she screamed.  Then I noticed she had goosebumps.

It was kinda neat to watch Mav shift right into doctor mode.  He grabbed his stethoscope and borrowed our neighbor's ear-looker-inner-thingy and went to work.  She had a temperature of 102.9.  Actually, it was 103.9 because you add a degree when you check a temp in the armpit.  I forgot about that.  Good thing I have an almost-doctor around.

So Squeaks had something.  Mav concluded a visit to the ER or the doctor the next day wasn't worthwhile.   She didn't have a cough, a rash, no ear infection that he could tell, maybe she had a sore throat.  Her temp went down a couple degrees with Tylenol.  She was fine, she felt crummy, but she was fine. 

I think, for the most part, I'm going to like having a doctor in my house.  It just might come in handy.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Parking Tickets

Squeaks and I were outside playing with our neighbors when Mav got home from work.  He got out of his car, grabbed his stuff from the back seat, glared at me and then slammed the car door.  He went straight into the house without saying a single word to me.

Scary, huh?  Honestly, my first thought was, "What did I do?"  I was terrified.  My neighbor and I just looked at each other.  I tried to make a lame excuse but ultimately told her I'd better grab Squeaks and get inside to find out what that was all about.  I ran to the backyard and grabbed Squeaks from the swing set.

As we walk back to the house, I hear Mav raving about the stupid city we live in.  He got another parking ticket.  The second one in a month.  He thinks the city is out to get him.  I almost believe him now.

He's a third year.  He has basically parked in the same spot every day for the last three years.

So the first ticket was given in his usual spot.  The reason: because he parked on the grass.  Really?  He had one tire on the grass.  It wasn't even all the way on the grass.  He tried to get off the road as far as possible.  I thought it was  courtesy to other drivers.  And a protection to make sure no one takes off your mirror on accident.  $25.  Whatever.  Mav just makes sure not to park on the grass again.  Maybe he'll just park in the middle of the road from now on.  People really do that in this city.  There will be four lanes of traffic and two of them will have parked cars in them.  Weird, I know.  I'll be driving in the right lane and have to move over because there is a car parked there.

Now, this ticket really makes Mav peeved.  He checked the signs.  One says, "No Parking the 2nd Thursday of the Month."  No striped curb.  There is a sign that says "No Parking - Bus Zone" but it's a good 20 feet from his car.  He can park.  He parked.  He comes out and there's a ticket plastered to his windshield.  They claim he was parked in a bus zone.  Really?  Another $25?

I'm a little upset myself.  You can count; that's $50 in one month.  First thing I ask Mav is if he took pictures.  "NO!" he says.  Then there's a light bulb.  He knows should've taken a picture.  His cell takes them.

We're debating on fighting this.  They've gotten at least $100-150 in parking tickets from us since we've lived here.  But is it really worth it to go and sit for half the day over 25 bucks?  I'm surely not going to do it.  There's no way I'm going to sit there with Squeaks.  I'm trying to convince Mav that we're fine paying the stupid ticket.  We've saved $1200 by not buying a parking garage pass from the school. 

Ugh...  Isn't there bigger things to worry about here than parking tickets?  Perhaps the fact that this city is number one in violence and homicides in the nation?

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Summer Plans

We have this routine at our house.  It's probably the same routine at your house too.

Mav comes home from work.  Squeaks hears his car because he usually has Zebrahead blaring from his stereo.  She jumps up and opens the door to say, "Hi Daddy!"  Mav gives her a kiss says, "Hi Squeaks!  What did you do today?"  She usually rambles on about her toys, doggies or watching Belle.  Then Mav asks me what we really did today.  Now, as of last week, I would have said homework.  But this week, I have answered, "Nothing!  Not a thing!  And I loved it!"

The first day that I was done with school, Squeaks asked me to help her with her princess puzzle.  She actually didn't ask me in such elegant words; it was, "Mommy!  Sit!  Help!"  Usually, I would tell her no.  But this time, I had tears in my eyes as I laid on the floor with her, working on her puzzles.  I can play with my little girl.  

It has been glorious.  I'm such a better wife.  I'm a happier mommy.  I'm a much better friend.  My house is clean.  I don't mind making dinner.  Mav even commented the other day that I seem really chipper lately. 

So my plans for my summer off?  I have been working on Squeaks' scrapbook.  (No, I'm not an ultra crafty person.  But I don't know what else to do with her 8x10 portraits.  12x12 scrapbook it is!)  I'm working on a quilt for my bro-in-law's wedding gift.  (Maybe I am crafty after all.)  I have a couple of friends who are having babies, I'm making blankets for them too.  (Alright, I am crafty.)  I'm going to read the Hunger Games.  I started training for a 5k.  And Squeaks and I are going to get some awesome flip-flop tan lines.

Basically, I am going to enjoy my time off doing whatever I want to do. 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Huge Sigh of Relief

I finally received my grades for the semester.  

I was all sorts of nervous because my proctor didn't follow my teacher's simple instructions of faxing the test and then mailing the hard copy to her.  They just mailed it.  My teacher and I have been waiting on the mail for the past eight days.  And you know the mail...

Well, she received my test yesterday.  I got my final grade.  And I passed! 

No more math for me!  No more math!  No more math! And yes!  I'm singing and doing a happy dance. 

So I'm just two classes short of getting my associates.  Come December, I'll have a fancy-shmancy paper to hang up.  And you know what?  I'm going to hang it proudly.  It's taken me nearly six years to get this far.

Yeah.  Six years to get an associates.  Kinda sad but if some people knew what exactly I've been doing for the past six years they'd understand.  It's been a long, hard road to get this far.  I worked full time, got married, supported Mav through undergrad, helped Mav apply and get accepted to med school, got pregnant, still worked, moved across the country, Mav started medical school, we had a baby and the baby is now 2 1/2.  I've been going to school the whole time.  Can I tell how big of a pain it is to do online classes and the whole proctoring thing from your home school in a different state?  The biggest pain ever!

For the past six years, especially since my baby was born, I've felt like a person in the circus.  The person who has about ten plates spinning atop sticks.  It takes a lot of time management to keep all of them spinning at once; you can't neglect any of them.  If one of them gets neglected, it slows and then falls, smashing to pieces.  While the person it busy cleaning up the mess, the next thing they know they all start to smash to the ground.  It's a juggling act but it is a very possible juggling act.

It's been a hard juggling act for the past six years, but I've done it.  And I'm letting out a huge sigh of relief here...

Friday, April 13, 2012

The Healthcare Issue

This is brave, I know.  This Healthcare Reform thing is a very, very touchy subject.  I hate the feeling of walking eggshells though.  I've been working on this idea, of bringing up the subject for a while now.  I lay in bed and think about it.  Constantly.  Is this going to effect Mav?  Is it going to effect our friends who are going into medicine as well?  Will it effect the way Mav treats his future patients? How will this effect our future that Mav has worked so hard for? 

So for the past few days I've been surfing the web.  I've read lots of articles.  Nearly all of them are how this healthcare reform will effect the public.  I've found very few about the effects on doctors.  The few I've read seem to be written by people who believe doctors are selfish, greedy people and are paid way too much.  Let me be honest, those ones just make me mad. 

I want to have a solid opinion on this subject matter.  I am asked constantly about it when people discover my husband is in medical school.  My reply is mostly, "I don't know enough but I think..."  I want to fill in the blank with a good, educated answer.  Right now, I'm riding the fence. 

So ladies and gents, what's your opinion?  Do you stay up late, like I do, wondering how this will work out?  Do you worry about your significant other's patients?  Do you agree or disagree with this healthcare reform as a whole or maybe just bits and pieces?  Have you read any good articles about it lately?  Especially ones that seem unbiased, fair and/or honest?

I would really love to hear from you.


AND...
I did a lot of research of whether this should be 'effect' or 'affect.'  I decided 'effect' was proper.  Cause and effect, right? 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

This Better Be Worth It

We just paid for Mav's Step II test.

We had been warned by our friends to set aside this money because it's not counted into our student loans.  We just put the idea on the back burner.  We wish we hadn't now.  I'm now passing this lovely bit of information on to all you second years: set this money aside when you get your money!  DO IT!!  And yes!  I am shouting!!   

Ask me how much it was.  Go ahead.  Do it.  It was 1700 dollars.  1700 bones.  Yes.  That is a 17 with two zeros following the 17 part.  One thousand seven hundred dollars.  

I feel like I've been violated in some way.  

All I can say is this doctor thing better be worth it.  My heck. $1700? 

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Poor Sport

I'm sometimes a poor sport.  So what.  Tell me who isn't?  At some point, someone will show unsportsmanlike conduct.  Even the most mellow people will do it.  Really.  It's only a matter time.

Let me explain.  For Easter, I played the Easter Bunny.  (By the way, Happy Easter!)  Squeaks got an adorable, super poofy dress, sunglasses, and a baseball glove with velcro to help her learn to catch.  Mine and Mav's basket was filled with a movie and a card game.  It was simple.  I'm not sure why some people go to crazy Christmas-birthday-elaborate attempts for Easter.  Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way.  Anyway, our movie was Bruce Almighty.  I explained to Mav that at Christmas we get Christmas movies and Bruce Almighty was the closest thing to an Easter movie that I could find.  It has God in it, right?  Our card game, Monopoly Deal.  We played it with friends a while back.  It was a lot of fun.  And we are always looking for good games to play. 

I'm warning you now, do not get this game to play with just you and your husband.  It causes fights.  Big fights.  Mav actually went straight to bed after I threw my cards at him.  For a second time.  This is where my unsportsmanlike conduct comes in.

Really.  I'm actually mad that the kid is a genius.  I hate him for it.  It makes me mad.  And it really makes me mad when he beats me in stupid, simple games like checkers.  In school, he was the punk kid who sat in the back of the class, hardly paying attention.  I was in the front row trying to listen to everything.  Come test day, he's the kid who scores 120% on the test, which throws off the curve, making kids like me fail regardless of how hard we try.  It's not fair!  And once again I got beat by the smart kid! 

This game really is fun to play with a group.  We like it because unlike Monopoly, it doesn't take 20 hours to play instead it's about 20 minutes.  But when it's just two players, there is only one person to steal properties and money from.  That is not a good thing.  Personally, I don't like being screwed with on purpose and that's what this game encourages.  Stealing and screwing other players.

Now, we do have some awesome marriage friendly games that don't result in couples sleeping in separate rooms.

For a group we recommend:
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Dice Game
  • Farkle
  • Catch Phrase
  • Dicecapades
For just the two of you but still super fun with groups, we highly recommend:
  • Ticket to Ride- US version with 1910 expansion pack and the Dexter & Alvin expansion
  • Carcassonne with the Princess & Dragon, Inns and Cathedrals, The River, and Traders and Builders expansions.  
  • Sequence
We have spent a lot of playing Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride.  We actually got Carcassonne for Christmas two years ago.  We seriously played it almost every night for two or three hours or until we were too tired to see anymore.  Then we got Ticket to Ride and it was the same thing.  Now, all our neighbors and friends are addicted.  They are such good games.  We haven't bored of them yet.  

Maybe to avoid the fights, we'll have to stick to Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride with just the two of us playing. 

Do you know of any other games that are couple friendly?  Or maybe ones that aren't?  What are your favorites?

Monday, April 2, 2012

Pretty Spoiled

Mav is on outpatient pediatrics.  It's sweet.

The weather here has been glorious.  It was 90 today.  Squeaks and I, along with our neighbors, blew up the pool in the backyard and played all day long.

Spoiled, huh?

Around five this evening, I felt horrible.  I thought I had tunnel vision.  I was woozy.  It felt like my brain was swollen and could possibly blow out of my head.  I was hot but cold.  Maybe dehydration or heat exhaustion.  Who knows.

Well, I laid on the couch and told Mav I was going to die.  Dramatic, I know.   He asked me what was for dinner.  I didn't even raise my head to stare at him but I told him I was going to make tater-tot casserole.  Now, I was doing nothing but dying!  I told him that he and Squeaks were on their own.

Mav told me to go take a nap and he'd make dinner.  I refused.  I needed to do my homework.  I only have two weeks left and I have to pass this blasted math class.  I tried to listen to a lecture.  I tried for about two minutes but couldn't manage.  I got up slowly and walked past Mav who was starting dinner.  I told him to wake me up in 45 minutes or so.

And I crashed.  I woke up 45 minutes later to dinner on the table.

Spoiled, huh?


Want the recipe for my tater-tot casserole?  Click below to see it.  My two year old and picky husband love it.  Best of all, it was easy enough to explain to Mav how to make it, all by himself. 

Monday, March 26, 2012

An Away Rotation

Mav just got his fourth year schedule.  We're pretty excited.  We know exactly what he's going to be doing until the day he officially becomes Maverick, MD.  Happy day!

We have a question for y'all though.  What is your opinion on away rotations?  Does it help in pleading your case for a residency position?  Is it a waste of time?  We've heard a couple different things like it is really good to go because you're not another face in the crowd of residency applicants but then again, all you can do is screw up on your away rotation. 

What do you think?  What do your significant others think?  We'd love the input. 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Feeling Like a Single Parent

Some days I feel like a single parent.  It comes with the territory of being a med school wife.  Some rotations are cake but then there's the horrible ones.  You know, the ones where you only see your better half when they're climbing into or out of bed.  Or not at all, I've had to meet Mav at the hospital for lunch so Squeak and I could actually see him in only partial zombie mode.  The joys of third year...

Today is one of those days that I feel like a single parent.  I've rarely had this feeling.  Squeaks is a super easy toddler.  Nonetheless, she's still a toddler.  But Squeaks makes it easy being a single parent for a short amount of time.

Until today.  Squeaks had a slight running nose yesterday.  I think it's allergies.  Nothing horrible.  But this morning, she came into my room with thick, gooey snot creeping from her nose to her chin.  Gross!!

Now, this wouldn't be a problem any other day of the week but today is Sunday.  We have church.  Squeaks attends her own classes.  (Yes, my two year old attends church classes but it's more of two hours of play time with a five minute lesson about Jesus.)  And I teach a class too, the five to six year old kids.  And Mav is working.

So today, I had to call in sick for my class.  I feel bad.  But I'd feel worse knowing that someone else would be constantly wiping my child's gooey nose.  Oh.  And I would feel twice as bad if Squeaks actually had a cold that spread to the whole class.  That's just not cool.

So today, I had to be a single parent.  I had to suck it up and ask someone else to take over my responsibilities.  It's actually a good thing for me.  I'm a rather prideful person.  I need to learn that sometimes I simply can't be there all. the. time.  And that's ok.  Because we all know, there's going to be a lot more of this single parent thing in the years to come.  And that's ok too.

P.S.
I'm secretly excited to sit at home and watch some NCAA basketball.  Hee!  Hee!     Go SLU!  Tip off is at 1:45.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Surgery No More

Mav just ended his surgery rotation.  Eight long weeks of surgery.  And he hated it!  I was so relieved.  Don't get me wrong, I would have supported his decision to be a surgeon.  But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was secretly rooting against it.  

I think all med students think of surgery as a specialty at some point in their schooling.  Mav did.  He thought trauma surgery would be cool.  And then he did this rotation. 

He hated the hours.  He never saw the light of day.  He hated that most of the residents were cocky and sometimes rude.  Maybe they were sleep deprived.  Who knows?  Mav hated just standing around in the O.R.  He hated that he couldn't scratch or itch anything, not even his nose.  It drove him nuts!  He's a baseball player and he is always scratching himself.  You see how that would be a big issue for him?

Mostly, he hates the lifestyle of a surgeon.  They work a lot.  And they need to work a lot.  Someone has to do all those surgeries.  Their residencies are long.  The hours are long.  The surgeries themselves are long. 

There are two things we've learned from this surgery.  One, Mav is not considering surgery at all.  Like he's not thrilled in the least bit to do a surgical sub-specialty for fourth year but he has to.  And two, kudos to surgeons and their families.  It's not an easy job and they probably don't get recognized for the sacrifice it takes to be a surgeon or the wife and family of a surgeon.  Kudos to you guys! 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

No Homework!

Squeaks said a new word today.  Usually I'd be jumping with joy but today it made me sad.  She said homework.

This morning I sat grabbed my books and went to the kitchen table.  Before I could sit down, Squeaks was clawing up my leg screaming, "No!  No homework!" 

Sad, huh?  I've been doing a lot of homework lately.  I actually have two math units due tonight and Mav has his surgery shelf exam on Friday.  We've been doing a lot of studying around this house. 

Luckily, there's only six weeks left in the semester.  After that, I am Squeak's for the whole summer. 

And yes, I'm counting down!!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Party Like It's Your Birthday, Everyday!

Probably the most important thing I've learned from this whole med school experience is to party.  And there is ALWAYS a reason to party.  There's birthdays, holidays and so much more.

Super Bowl is a tradition in my family.  I don't remember, ever, not celebrating Super Bowl.  My family mostly watched it for the commercials.  Anyone remember the Budweiser Frogs?  Best commercials of all time! 

 Anyway, we would get together with friends and sit around the television chowing down on hot wings and other crap.  Good times I tell ya.

Mav comes from a sports family.  They watch the game.  And the commercials.  They actually watch the whole season and do a fantasy league.  Did I mention I was second this year?  Yup, the first loser.  All of us get to hear Mav's old man brag about it for a whole year.  

So what happens when you put Mav and I together?  You get one heck of a Super Bowl party.

When we moved to St Louis, we started a tradition for a lot of our new friends.  Some of them knew of football and a few weren't even sure when Super Bowl was but none of them had been to a Super Bowl party.

Our party rocks.  You'd be surprised how many friends you make when you put together food and football.  In years past, we've had probably 20 adults in our home.  This year there was 13.  It's a new tradition for a lot of our friends now. 

My advice, find every good reason to have a party.  And don't forget the food.  Good food is a must.


If you want a super, top secret recipe that the guys always request, read on. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

We be Poor Folks

We just got our student aid back.  And it's already spent.  Does anyone else burn through their money as fast as we do? 

Trust me.  It's not like I have a hole in my pocket.  We're pretty frugal.  We rarely go on dates.  The last one was in December.  Before that, was in August.  We didn't have a super fancy Christmas.  We don't have glamorous anniversaries by any means.  I'm pretty good at staying away from Target.  We take advantage of free activities.   

Maybe you could lend me some help with this financial thing.  Or maybe you're going through the same problem too.  Maybe we could help each other out here.   So I'm going to be honest about this whole money situation.  Really. 

So once the school gets its chunk of money for Mav, we get the remainder for living expenses.  It's about $11,000.  $11,000 for the semester, January 1 through July 1.  Roughly, $1800 per month to live on.  $650 of it goes to rent.  $310 goes towards a car payment.  We spend about $250, probably more, for bills: phones, utilities, car insurance.  We're up to $1,210 with rent, car payment and bills.  This doesn't count for gas for the cars, diapers, groceries or fun.  Wait, what's fun? 

I'm sure you're wondering how we afford to live.  Let me answer that question.  Credit cards!  Credit cards have saved our hineys.  But it's also going to get the best of us.  See.  Between our cards, we have a balance of about $6,000.  And we have to make payments with the remaining money for the month. 

Here's where we're scared.  We're pretty close to maxing out.  Then what?  What do we do?  The bank will laugh in our faces if we say we want  need a larger limit on our cards.

Luckily, I guess, we have the option of taking out more loans for fourth year.  But this is to cover interviewing expenses and moving.  And that is expensive. 

So by graduation, we will have racked up about $250,000 or so in student aid, in addition to maybe another $10,000 in credit card debt.  That's a grand total of $260,000.  Not counting interest, people! 

See the reason for my anxiety. 

I would love some input.  How do you survive?  Do you just push through it?  Is there some sort of trick?  Is this normal? 

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I Take It Back

Remember when I said third year bites?  I take it back.  Third year was a breeze.  Until now...

Mav is currently on an eight week surgery rotation.  Now.  This.  Sucks.  He's on trauma surgery during the nights.  It's fascinating.  He loves it.  Why wouldn't he or any other surgeon?  He's observing trauma surgeries at night in the homicide capital of the nation.  Yeah.  He sees some interesting things. 

Want to know what Squeaks and I don't see?  Him!  Mav's shifts are 6 pm to 6 am.  He sleeps till he wakes up.  At 4 pm I give Squeaks the all clear to wake up her daddy.  We normally get to see Mav for about an hour, or two if we're lucky.

So this surgery rotation does bite.  But I'm okay with it for now.  Want to know why?  I get the whole bed to myself!!  I can watch what I want to watch at night!!  I can make whatever I want for dinner!!  Squeaks and I have been eating super easy meals: cereal, waffles, grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I am having a Grey's Anatomy marathon.  You know, I have never watched it.  Never.  And I'm hooked!  And it's a good thing Mav isn't around to ruin this show for me.  Any medical show I used to enjoy is now ruined by him telling that this isn't possible or that isn't accurate. 

Anyway, I'm keeping my head up.  I'm enjoying my new freedom to do what I want to do.  But I do miss sleeping with Mav; I do need someone warm to put my freezing feet on at night.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Outraged!

I’m mad. 

I caught some news today.  It’s a rare thing.  I don’t like the news here in St Louis. It’s depressing.  There was a shooting here today and a murder there.  I don’t watch it.  It’s depressing. 

So I caught a glimpse of a story about the presidential race.  It’s getting interesting.  The Iowa caucus is just around the corner.  The republican candidates are trying to convince folks to vote for them.  Nothing out of the ordinary for a candidate on the campaign trail, right? 

But one part infuriated me!  Mitt Romney attended an evangelical church today.  I’m sure you’ve heard that his religious preference is a big deal to a lot of people.   A person was interviewed following Romney’s visit.  This young man was asked if he’d vote for Romney.  “No,” he said.  He was asked why; “Because he’s a Mormon.”

This is completely ridiculous!!  Does the Constitution of the United States of America not protect your rights to worship as you please?  Does it not guarantee the separation of church and state?  Why are people so worried about Romney being in office?  Why are they not extending this grand right to him?  Who cares what religion he practices, or doesn’t practice?  It’s his right.  It’s his business.  It’s a right that is protected by our government.

We should be looking at the bigger issues that will affect us, people!  For instance, how are we going to get out of this mess of an economy?  What is going to be done about our failing health care system?  Immigration is a big deal.  Is the war against terrorism ever going to end? 

Personally, I don’t care if our next president is black or white; man or woman; raised Mormon or raised Muslim or nothing at all; if he’s a doctor or a lawyer or comes from humble roots.  I want someone who has a real plan to get the United States back on track.  Because people, we are on a very slippery path to somewhere not good. 

Take a look at this video I found.  I feel it applied just as much then as it does now.  It’s so odd that sometimes history repeats itself but I’m hoping that it doesn’t.



Now.  If you're interested in my opinion, feel free to read on below.  But remember this is MY opinion.  I don't speak for any candidate.  It's just my ideas and I'm putting them out there.  
Read it at your own risk.