Woes of Residency

As I sit here watching TV and doing laundry on this Sunday evening, my hardworking husband is fast asleep upstairs. Yes, he did turn in for the night at 3:30 pm this afternoon after working 34 straight hours in the MICU this weekend. And how crazy is that!!! I find it hard to believe that young physicians learn this way. I guess they do as this is the way things have been done in medicine for eternity. But is that really safe for patients? I know I don't want someone performing a procedure on me if they have been deprived of sleep for 30 hours. I am so proud of him but I worry about him constantly. On long days like that he doesn't eat or drink much and just ends up getting run down. It will be wonderful when these days of residency are done!! I look forward to the days that we can spend more than 20 minutes together on the weekend. Dave has decided to do a fellowship in renal - so he will be a kidney doctor. That particular fellowship is an additional 2 years after residency. No thoughts yet on where he might want to pursue his fellowship. I really like Charlottesville and have made some great friends here, so I would be more than happy to stay here. And of course I would always be happy to move back home to Birmingham to be closer to family. It's hard to believe that Dave will start the application process all over again this fall. Time flies!!