March MADNESS

Thank goodness Richard is finished with this last rotation. Today I finally began to see signs that my

Selfies helped me see him 

sweet husband was still alive inside of his exhausted frame.  The past month has flown by (as it seems each month does) but for both of us, the months end was welcomed with open arms. Throughout the month, Richard's alarm chimed everyday around 3:15 am or 3:30 and he was out the door before I could even recover from his alarm going off.  He would come home on average around 7 pm. Of course, there are were a few days when he came home around 6:15 but more often this rotation there were later days. He would come home pale and exhausted having worked so hard to do his best for the patients. Richard is 100% of the time a more positive, peppy and encouraging individual than myself and this month it was hard to see him so tired from his hospital life.  The cause: lots of difficult cases, challenging patients/families and the constant need to give 200% to every case.  When he walked into the house last night after work, he had a look of relief on his face that he (we) had survived what he considers his worst month yet.

Richard is on an elective rotation now and he was home by 5:30 tonight. Hurray!!!!  He smiled, laughed, cooked me a great dinner and for the first time in 30ish days, he did not have dictations or computer documentation to do post dinner.

At a wedding in New Orleans
with my best friend, Brooke.

Due to the craziness of the past month and Richard's schedule permitting only 1 day off a week (which never coincided with my weekends off), we basically lived separate lives for the month. I did an insane amount of traveling for various reasons (bridal shower, conference and wedding) and work had me much busier than it has in a while. It was so nice to finally come home last weekend and know that I would be sleeping in my own bed without interruption for a while.

Richard's Greenhouse

With the little bit of daylight that Richard has seen, he's spent a lot of time piddling around our garden. He has worked hard to get things ready so that we'll have lots of vegetables to eat this summer. Out of the blue we had a random night of freezing temperatures (after our plants were in the ground) and Richard created a little green house that seems to have protected our plants very well.

Luka is loving the warm weather 

This month we don't have anything too wild and crazy planned. Richard has his birthday in a little over a week. We will be celebrating his 27th year of life with family and friends in a few different ways. We will also be making a quick trip to Denver to visit with my 91 year old grandmother and a few family members that live there. Both of my parents and my aunts will be visiting as well.

Our Garden

This is our first spring in the house and we love coming home to see what new plants have bloomed in the yard. It is so fun to see what the previous owners planted and working in the yard brings us a lot of happiness.  In the book that I am reading as part of my Side-by-Side bible study or what I commonly call "my support group", we are continuing to read Prescription for the Doctor's Wife. In our most recent chapter, the author shares a quote that hangs in her home and it reads, " Bloom where you are planted."  Seeing all the beautiful
flowers blooming, this quote has been my mantra since reading it.

As things are always up in the air with this crazy lifestyle that we're in, Richard and I are truly blooming. He had an incredible review come in last night that spoke about his compassion and his truly wonderful ability to care for patients. He is blossoming at the hospital in ways that I cannot see daily, but when I do hear it I am overwhelmed with pride for him.  I finally truly feel that I'm "blooming" in my relationships with people here in Greenville and that I am developing that much needed support system.  And together, we are blooming in our ability to survive bad months of not seeing one another and supporting one another throughout this journey. Thank you for helping us "bloom" with your love and support. We are truly grateful to our friends and family as we navigate these unknown territories.

Tulips "blooming" in our yard

February: The Wintery blur

Spring is finally beginning to show its beautiful face here in Greenville. After a cold and occasionally snowy winter, there are signs all around us that it is almost over.  February was a blur of a month and March is quickly passing us by.  Richard was on a geriatric rotation for the month of February and after a few rough months with very little quality time together, we were able to enjoy time with one another (and very often many friends/family). 

 Richard’s first free weekend of the month we had my parents, my aunt & uncle plus some hilarious friends come visit for a fun weekend.  We saw Wicked and ate some wonderful food around town. The following weekend, my bff from childhood came for a quick weekend and we got to see Jason Mraz in concert at the Peace Center.  Poor Richard came down with an awful stomach bug just as Brooke was leaving. It was pitiful to see him so sick but thankfully it was only a 36 hour bug and before I knew it he was requesting a hotdog for lunch! The next weekend we headed to Rock Hill for a visit with Richard’s family where we got to spend good quality time with all of the grandparents, his aunt and uncle, his brother Rob and of course his parents.  Our final weekend we got to spend some good time with one another but yet again we were busy.

The month flew by so quickly and we honestly only had 1 day of just us working in the yard/ doing nothing but being able to spend time with important people was worth everything! Richard’s elective rotations are so few and far between that when he has weekends free we feel the need to go see and visit with people we never have the opportunity to check in with otherwise. As of Monday (3/9) the 3:45 am alarm clock is once again going off and Richard heads into the hospital for long days. This month he will have 1 day off a week (all week days this month) and will be working roughly 80 hours a week. As he kissed me goodbye Monday morning, I jokingly said “see you next month” but there is some truth to the statement.  Luckily this rotation isn’t nearly as bad as some of the others that he has had and we will be able to enjoy dinners together at night. 

In this past rotation we both made an effort to reach out and get involved more with the church that we attend. We attended a community group (week night bible study/ Sunday school class) and met a lot of wonderful people. I've also joined a group of women whose husbands are also physicians. We've got a spectrum of ages from resident wives to women who are seasoned veterans in this life style. It's been a wonderful support and has been very insightful about so many topics. I've enjoyed meeting a few of the other resident spouses and developing friendships with these awesome women. It has been very rewarding for both us to get involved in various groups and it has made use feel more connected to Greenville in an entirely different way. 

We absolutely loved having so many people come visit us in February and hope that this trend will continue throughout 2015.  Richard will finish this next bad month in time for his birthday and then we'll have back to back elective rotations in April and May! Thank you for those of you who support us, call to check in on us, send us letters, who love us and remain constants in our lives. We could not get through this difficult intern year without you.