Wednesday, August 11, 2010

One down....199 to go

Update: A life in the day - week one.

The first week is over. It went pretty well, much like I expected.

Dr. N leaves for school a little before 7 every day. Of course, I wake up and make him a SPLENDID breakfast (ie, I put the cereal and milk on the table) and make him a lunch and send him on his way.

He comes home a little after 5 pm, smelling something fierce of dead-body juices. Ugh. We have dinner, during which the conversation mostly consists of the body he cut open that day or the nerves he's learning about, or the drama that took place in class today when someone unexpectedly moved seats.

Then he studies until about 10 or 11 pm, taking small breaks to play ping-pong with me or have a snack.

He's doing well and seems to be enjoying school. He HAS started mumbling in his sleep. In the middle of the night I'll hear, "Jusgt a moofin falatchkey nonifactatoe meloon" and say, "What, Dr. N?" and he'll repeat it, louder. It's pretty funny.

Staying busy during the day helps me not miss him too much, but I've found the important thing is to save stuff to do for night. Stuff that is more fun to do alone. Like painting my nails while watching a movie, or making cookies, or practicing the piano. That way I'm not tempted to go up to his study and watch him. Slash, talk to him.

It also helps a lot to think of it like a job. I mean, other people have jobs where they work 14 hours a day, 6 days a week. Don't plenty of people work around 80 hours a week?  He just has one of THOSE jobs, and would be away this much even if he WASN'T at medical school. That helps me not be resentful towards med and the med  profession.

I met some of the med wives at a dinner last week. They all had kids, so there is that invisible barrier there between acquaintances and friends. Most of the wives have kids, it seems. I guess it just means I'll have to be more pro-active in getting them to be friends with me, instead of tagging along for the ride.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I had popped onto your blog a little while ago...
I love reading about others experience through med school - a journey indeed! It sounds like you know what to expect and you're going to do just fine. You're right, you might need to be a little bit more diligent with the wives that have kids - sometimes we forget (although I am not a wife) that others don't have kids, but we too REALLY want to have friends!!! lol...
Can't wait to read more.

Anonymous said...

Why are you calling your husband "Dr. N" if he isn't even close to graduating from medical school?

Brady Quist said...

I happen to like Dr. N. It makes him sound that much smarter! Also, it probably helps keep the end goal in mind.

Lauren said...

What Brady said- it keeps the end goal in mind. That's why you use Dr. before they are even close to being a Dr. I did that a lot for my husband during his first year especially. It's a beating and they often just need the small reassurances that all this hard work is going somewhere. Now my husband is in his fourth year and he has told me (now at the end) that me doing that was super encouraging to him when he was feeling low. So go you. Keep doing it.

EvalieRN said...

I found your blog by going from blog to blog. It made me laugh when you said your hubster talks in his sleep. During our first year my used to lecture... "no, no, no. It's the front nerve!" I'd then tell him I just didn't understand and he would get very upset, give a big HUFF, and then say "whatever!"... all in his sleep! HA! Congrats on the first week! We are in our 4th year already... time just flies!