Away Rotation #1

Drew left on Sunday for his first away rotation (which started Monday).
(Drew boarding the train)
With the expectation of having high expenses for residency applications (fees, plane tickets, gas, hotel rooms, etc.) we are trying to save money wherever we can. For Drew's first two away rotations he is able to stay with his sister - this is obviously saving us quite a bit of money. I spoke with another MS4 wife whose husband just finished up an away rotation at this program to try and get an idea about this first rotation. She said that her hubby pretty much was at the hospital all the time and therefore ate three meals there most days. Being the penny pincher that I am I thought it would be a good idea to send Drew with a whole bunch of easy meals and pre-packaged snacks. We purchased canned ravioli, mac n cheese, and individually wrapped snacks like power bars, cracker, chips, pop tarts and breakfast bars. Although I am sure he will still eat at the hospital a lot I hope he won't have to use the vending machines and can minimize his meals at the hospital - but who knows I might be being totally unrealistic.
Tomorrow I'll update on how on how Day 1 went...

Three for three

Drew got accepted to his third Sub-I rotation! We are very excited! Although I know it is going to be ridiculously time consuming and labor intense for Drew to do three straight months (well technically 12 out of 13 straight weeks) of away rotations, it will be a great opportunity for him. He will get some great experience and hopefully get a taste of what his next 6-8 years will be like. It will also give him the opportunity to make a good impression at these institutions and possibly make a name/reputation for himself.
I am a bit worried about the crazy long hours that he will be subjected to, but I also know that it is silly to worry because this is only for twelve weeks... and realistically he will have long and intense hours for many years to come. So he might as well get used to it now because he will have to adjust sooner or later! After all he wants to be a surgeon, and along with that comes a rigorous work schedule and long hours.
So tonight I am praising God for another piece of good news - and also praying that the next 10 months are filled with more answered prayers!

Acceptance #2

Drew got his second acceptance to do a sub-I rotation! We are really excited because this is the one he applied to way back in March and we have been nervously waiting on a response! He will now have 2 differen four week sub-I/away rotations this fall. We are still waiting on a third program but they just started reviewing applications last week so we aren't getting nervous quite yet... and now that he has gotten accepted into two programs there is a little less pressure. I've been doing a little dance in my head all day because at work I don't think anyone really cares about these things...who thought I would get so excited to be apart from my husband?!

Today...

Well last week (Wed) I called opposing counsel and requested that they send me an electronic copy of their discovery requests. I wanted the document in electronic format so that I could type the answers in the document rather than having to retype the entire document. First of all when I called to make this request the attorney was out so I left a message with his support staff asking for someone to email it to me. Ya know, email, figuring that would be the easiest way to send me the document. So after I didn't get a call back for two days (Fri) I called again. So the assistant answering the phone sounded annoyed and was like "well I gave him the message." I was extremely nice and explained that we were closing in on a deadline and asked her if she could tell him I called again. Twenty minutes later I get a call back, same assistant. This time she tells me that the attorney is dictating (transcribing) a letter to me. Confused I try to explain that I was requesting an electronic version of the request but before I could get it out the woman interrupted me saying "I know what you requested! And I am telling you that he is dictating a letter." Surprised at this response I didn't know what to say so I just said, okay and thanked her for the message and hung up. A few minutes later I realized that if the attorney had to send me a letter to respond to my request I at least needed the letter faxed to me because if it was put in the mail I wouldn't get it till next week (today). So I decided to call back, knowing that I was going to further annoy the less than patient assistant. When I called back before I could even make my request she told me that the letter the attorney was dictating was just stating that he would be making me a disk with the document on it. Although I knew I'd have to wait for the disk to come in the mail I didn't feel like pushing it and just gave up on the idea of getting it emailed to me. So today in the mail came my disk. . . .

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
A three inch floppy disk! I was shocked. The attorney seriously sent me a document on a three inch hard floppy disk. Seriously? I mean computers don't even come with floppy disk drives anymore! I have to use a special attachment in order to read the freakin' thing because none of our office computers have a floppy disk drives! I've heard of attorneys not being in this century as far technology but seriously don't drag me into your timewarp!

Also today we found out that Drew got accepted to do a Sub-Internship for the program he applied to for October! We got the medical information to the the August program I talked about last week but still haven't heard anything from them or from the September program.
Last week Drew finished up Pediatrics and this week has marked the start of Family Medicine. It is his FINAL clerkship/rotation of third year! Only six more weeks and he will officially be a fourth year medical student!