We Need Help!

What are your thoughts on the name of this blog? Do you like "Med School Tagalongs"? Do you think it is lame-o? Do you have any other ideas?

Please comment and leave any suggestions for a blog name, decor, or anything else! Feel free to leave it anonymously if you're too scared...just kidding.

Thanks for Inviting Me!

Me: Christina Renee (Alstott) Lee

Wife and inspiring Graphic Artist (I guess, still in training)
Tidbit about me: 31 -Oldest of 4 siblings, 3 half siblings and 2 step siblings

Married to: Dr. William Douglas Lee II D.O. hee hee
1st Year Resident at Hamot Medical Center
Tidbit about him: 30-grew up on a horse farm

From: Indianapolis, IN and met at Anderson University

Pet: Shephard Mix breed - Sierra She is my baby!

Moved to Erie: June 22, 2008 prior to Bill's graduation from LECOM Bradenton in June.Me and Bill before LEPROM'06

Me in the middle of Sarasota Bay, kayaking with Bill. Our favorite thing to do there.

We loved Florida and we grew to love Bradenton and near by Sarasota. We made so many life long friends whom we miss GREATLY!
We always had so much fun at the beach....grilling out, football, volleyball or just
laying back at night and watching the stars.

LEPROM Again ....Kim and Amber became our closest friends.
They are from Erie and went to LECOM Florida. I wonder why?

Life brings change and change takes time to get used to. We are blessed to have a great God who takes care of us and is so passionate about us. He is leading us to His ultimate goal for our lives. He has provided us with friends & support along the way....
......and He continues to do so here in Erie.
So, THANKS FOR INVITING ME to your small group! I enjoy the friendship and support. When you come to a new city or start a new chapter in your life, a support of a friend is what helps you get through those tough and lonely times. It was not accident when Elizabeth walked into my work. Our conversation was no accident......
God was leading me to a group of new friends!
Christie

Howdy!

Thanks Brooke & Camille for letting me in the loop. Here's a little tidbit about me.
I'm Emily, married to hubby-resident Justin. We have two little nuggets: Jacob (2 years) and Hudson (2 months) that I stay home with. We got married fresh out of Baylor and a couple short months later my hubby started med school at UT Houston. I was his sugar mama all through medical school until we had our first child in his 4th year. Justin had a sweet schedule then and got to spend a lot of time home with us. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment all through med school and had to share a room with our baby for 8 mos. We fit more furniture in that room than should ever be possible. It was a Master Bedroom, Office, and Nursery all in one!
We moved to Colorado just over a year ago for Justin's PM&R residency and love it here. Though we love it, it's been a tough adjustment moving so far away from friends and family. We had an incredible group of fellow meddies in Houston that we had small group and bible study with. It was so encouraging to us to be around so many other married folk in med school, especially fellow believers. Moving here we were all on our lonesome.
Anyways, Hubby finished his intern year (whew!) this June and started the first of 3 years of PM&R residency. Well, just recently - like in the last month - he officially decided Anesthesia is the way to go. He was dissatisfied with PM&R and has always liked Anesthesia. (Unfortunately, Anesthesia was his last rotation as a 4th year med student and he had already matched with PM&R.) So, we really want to stay in Colorado. There is only one position for a PGY2 (tranlation: post graduate year 2) here but his interview this week went REALLY well. He's also going to interview other places.
I think it was really hard for him to tell me that he wanted to switch, knowing that this year won't count toward anything (thankfully intern year counts!) and therefore we'll be adding another year of lowsy residency salary to our future. Plus, we'll be saying "adios" to the sweet PM&R residency schedule which has no overnights and barely any weekends. Anesthesia is a different story. While it's no the worst, there are definitely a lot more overnights and weekends. That's particularly difficult when you have a family. But more than wanting to have things be easier, I want Justin to love what he does. And most of all I want us to be in God's will. So this new bump in the road isn't nearly as overwhelming as I would have expected it to be. Granted, we haven't found out where we'll be yet. The thought of packing up and leaving this house that we have poured our blood, sweat and tears into makes my head hurt. But one thing at a time. We should find out in the next month or so whether he got in here.
So there's a choppy little synopsis of our path on this crazy journey so far. And as for the comments people make about me marrying a doctor, I say, "No...I married a broke medical student and now I'm a lowly resident's wife." And if there's any prestige (gimme a break) in being married to a doctor, I will have more than earned it when all this is said and done!
Glad to meet y'all and thanks for letting me jump in!

Response to Brooke's Post....

Okay Brooke, you have inspired me to post again because this topic really aggravates me....it has been a while since my last post!! The main reason it has been so long is because we had a baby!! (almost 3 months ago) I guess that still does not give me an excuse because I have been keeping my own blog updated, but now I am finding more time for things...especially since Addy has become a good napper!! She is also ALMOST sleeping through the night. Please don't tell me how your baby slept through the night at 2 weeks because I have heard a lot of that lately.....I guess Addy just really enjoys being awake!

Anyways, Camille did comment that I have a great story about conversations with people about your husband being in medical school. Yes I do and it was quite a shocker coming from the elderly lady across the street. It was my husband's first week in medical school and I was outside taking a walk and when I passed by her house she stopped me to chat. Here is what I can remember of our conversation:
Neighbor: "How is Josh enjoying medical school?"
Me:"Oh he is enjoying it so far. We really like being up here."
Neighbor: "Oh well have you found a job yet?"
Me: "Yes, I will be teaching at _____ school district."
Neighbor: "Oh so does he make any money during school?"
Me: "No he doesn't while he is in school. "
Neighbor: "Well you need to be saving that money you are making teaching. Don't let him pay for his school with it."
Me: I basically just looked at her like she was crazy.
Neighbor: "My nephew went to medical school and he got married before he went to school and his wife worked all through school. When he graduated he left her for another woman and she didn't have any money. She had used all her money to pay for his school."
Me: Wondering what in the world I was supposed to say I think I muttered something like thank you and walked away.

This conversation really upset me because I had not had someone say something like that to my face. Yes I have heard all the stories about doctors leaving their first wife, etc., but there are also good doctors who love their families and put them first. Josh loves his family and medicine is not the most important thing to him. Of course I immediately called my mom to tell her this story and she said she is probably just a bitter old lady. Josh was pretty upset she said this about him and we avoided her house for quite some time.

I have now realized she is just a negative person. When I told my neighbors I was pregnant the other ladies were so excited about it. The lady across the street responded by saying "Yeah my nephew and his wife had a baby during medical school." I just ignored the comment because I was sick of hearing about it.

I am happy to say my husband will graduate May 31 and we have a 3 month old little girl. We are still happily married and I am not saving my money for myself one day!! Marriage is a partnership and right now yes I am the breadwinner, but soon he will be finished with school and I will not have to be in that position.

One more thing....when people say "Oh you are going to be a doctor's wife," I want to say...yeah we have spent 4 years living on one salary, we have used furniture in our tiny home, we both have cars with way too many miles on them, we just now got satellite tv, we have a used washing machine that shakes and sometimes moves across the floor, we used space heaters our first year in school to try to save money on our heating bill, we never pay full price for clothing, I love to shop at garage sales and we shop at Erie County Farms to get groceries a little cheaper. I love my life and we have grown so close through school, but there have been difficult times. Now we like to look back and laugh at all the things we did to "survive" school. It has definitely made us appreciate every little thing we buy now! I don't think people realize being a doctor's wife is not like it looks on television!!

conversations at target

Im sure we all have those kind of conversations with random strangers.. where they give you advice, or comment on your life, or say something random. It happens all the time when I say Freeland is in Med School. It doesn't bother me. Sometimes what they say can actually be helpful.

Last weekend I ran into Target to return something. I got to talking to the woman helping me. She was nice. She was probably 25 or so.. and we had one of those conversations. But this time she totally threw me for a loop by what she said!! I guess I mentioned we had just moved here.. and here is how the conversations went.

Her: Oh so you just moved up here?
Me: Yes, back in June
Her: What brought you all the way up here?
Me: Oh my husband just started his first year at LECOM
Her: Oh thats nice

quick pause...

Her: So you are going to be a doctor's wife?

another awkward pause..

Me: (kind of laughing because I didnt know what she meant) Umm I guess, technically.. I will be since my husband will be a doctor..
Her: Oh thats so nice! A doctor's wife! I bet your mom was proud when you married him..
Me: (what??!! still laughing and trying to figure out what that meant) umm maybe. But she also works for a group of doctors so I think she didnt have that exact feeling. She more joked about if I knew what I was getting myself into.
Her: Oh, well yeah. I guess it can be really hard. And he will be gone all the time. And he will always be busy. Yeah.. thats going to be really hard.


.. after the last comment I kind of wanted her to go back to the mom being proud part of the conversation.

I was cracking up when I walked off after we finished. First Im a "doctor's wife".. then my mom was proud of me (like I won something) then my life pretty much sucked and was going to be really hard!

I think she realized half way through what she had said. Although, Im still not sure what being a "doctor's wife" means. And I think she also forgot to notice that I was shopping at Target.. and returning something because we have no money! So.. if thats what being a "doctor's wife" means.. then yes - I am.

Maybe these just happen to me. But if not, I would love to hear what other people have said to yall .. or what the craziest comment you have had someone say to you before was... I feel like I have a few others I could add!

Quality, not quantity

So, yes, I may be a slow learner at times. Whenever asked if I "date" my hubby, I say..."of course!" My mind automatically thinks of all the dates we have gone on. They usually consist of going out to eat and putting around at the mall while waiting for the late show to start. Usually a full evening of fun filled events, not to mention expense! I am finally learning now that he is in school with a tight schedule that it isn't the quantity of time that counts, but quality. Thanks to my awesome sister who was visiting, ( and because she was my only ear at the time, also got to listen to me vent!) my husband and I were able to take some time for ourselves. But, because it was a Wednesday night, and a huge anatomy test was looming over his head for Friday, we had about an hour and a half to catch up on the week. It was wonderful!!! We went to a coffee shop (which are bountiful in the college towns, I am sure you have figured out!) and sat down to talk for awhile. Being the unseasonable beautiful weather we were having, we went for a little stroll, and talked some more! We stopped in a couple boutiques and looked around, and we went to the Pioneer COOP to pick up our favorite bread and lunch meat. We spent an hour and half together, and I feel recharged and great about the time that was spent. May not have been what I called a true date in the past, but my hubby and I are going to try our hardest to make it a once a week thing. I am totally psyched!

Residency Interviews

I cannot believe that my husband's time in med school is quickly coming to an end. Everyone says that the time flies by and I am definitely seeing that now!

My husband Jeff is starting the interviewing process for residency now and had his first interview yesterday. The interview went well, and I got to travel with him for this one so that was nice. Still, the whole process of waiting for the match to happen can be very stressful. Everyone in our families and at work has started asking, "Where does he want to do his residency?" and it is difficult to explain to them that although we have preferences, the final decision comes down to the match and we don't have a whole lot of control in the process. At times I get really stressed by this, but recently I have been praying about it a lot and trying to lay my worries in God's hands. I try to remind myself that God brought us to Erie and paved the way for us to have some great experiences and meet some really neat people and he will do the same for us on the next step of the way.

That is one huge lesson that I have learned so far in this whole med school time period...God is in control and already knows where he wants us next. :) So, for those of you who are just starting the med school wife journey, remember to slow down and be in prayer about these scary transitions...you will be blessed by God's peace!

Fleeting Moment

Have you ever had a day that you envied your med school spouse?

No, not when you come home from work and you have some free time but he has to study for an exam.

No, not when they sit in lecture for hours at a time.

No, not when they get the humanity beat out of them by impossible standards.

But when you go home for lunch and he's at home too because lecture got out early and he had a test yesterday so he is going to lay on the hammock and read for a bit and enjoy this beautiful weather... and you just really wish that you didn't have to go back to work right now?

And then you remember things like unpronounceable pharmacology flash cards and weekends completely sacrificed for Renal exams on Monday and the moment of envy is over. In fact, feeling pretty good about my lot.