Days 4-6

Days four through six (Thursday-Saturday) are lumped together because they pretty much were one long endless day for Drew. He went in a little before 5 a.m. and although he was not on call Thursday night there was a really neat surgery, so he decided to stay. By the time he got out of surgery it was nearly 11:00 p.m. At that point he left the hospital briefly to run out and purchase some deodorant and a toothbrush. He decided it was easier just to spend the night rather than travel back home since he had to be back in a few hours anyways. Then Friday was another busy call night in which he only got about 2 hours of sleep. Saturday he was post call, and finally left around 12:30 p.m. when he told the Resident he was pretty much at the end of his rope. Hopefully they won't look down on him for that but he had been there since Thursday morning, and was exhausted and hungry. He hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours and had only gotten about 7 hours of sleep the past two nights combined (neither of which I imagine are out of the ordinary for a surgical resident - they just learn to adjust and handle it after a while).
For those of you who don't know my husband he is kind of a neat/clean freak. And I'm not complaining because I would rather him be obsessively clean than, dirty! Anyways in the three days that he was in the hospital (and we couldn't really communicate), all I could think about was how he was probably going crazy wearing the same clothes for three days straight. Drew is the kinda guy who would shower several times a day if he could, and will never wear a shirt more than once even if he only had it on for 5 minutes. Although it means a lot of laundry for me, I guess its good for patients... I mean who wants a dirty doctor? Anyways, somehow he managed to survive but once he got off on Saturday he made sure to let me know that he needed to get off the phone so that he could promptly shower and eat! I finally heard from him around 7:30 p.m. when he woke up from his "nap."
He was fortunate to have all of Sunday off so that he could rest, study and refresh for week number two. He is planning on bringing more snacks and powerbars this week so that he can eat whenever he has a free minute. I'm hoping he is feeling a little bit more comfortable and adjusted to the hours and schedule, now that he has survived his first week.
Days 4, 5, and 6 = 55.5 hours*
*There is no limit of maximum hours per week for students because they are learning, not working, and they are there of their own free will.