My name is Amber. I am the wife to a PGY-6 guy.
What is PGY, you ask? That simply means my husband
4 years in med school
3 years in residency
+ 3 years of fellowship
PGY- 6
We have been trudging along on this medical journey for over 10 years.
I am tired. My husband is tired.
The other night I almost lost my mind (again). My husband was on call and leaving for a conference the next day, when all you-know-what broke loose at my house. I stood in my kitchen and yelled,
"Can someone just throw me a bone!"
I totally freaked my kids out. But at least it got them quiet.
I've been doing this medical life long enough to know that I am not the only one feeling this way. I know there are other medical spouses that need a bone thrown at them too.
You see, ever since medical school, I have had a dream to create a non-profit organization that would help alleviate some of the financial burdens and offer other forms of support to families going through the medical training years. I also want to set-up an emergency fund for med student/resident families to help when Mother Nature gets a little out of control. And doesn't a medical wives retreat sound heavenly?! I have it all worked out in my head with lots more ideas but little time and very few resources, especially the financial and legal resources.
While I may not be able to pursue my big dreams of that right now, I realized that I can at least toss out little bits of encouragement from those who have been in our shoes. I hope this will give other med student, resident,
and fellow wives (& husbands) a little something to smile about.
My hope for this blog:
I want to give medical spouses who are out in the "real world" and done with the lovely years of training an opportunity to encourage those who are still in it or just beginning. I would love to do this with words of wisdom and by throwing them a bone (little treats) every once in a while. By bridging the gap between post-training and current-training spouses, we can create a better support system within the medical community. My hope is that would cause a "pay-it-forward" effect (or is it affect). So then, the med-student and resident spouses who will receive encouragement through this, will then turn around and do the same for the new med-students and residents. It makes me happy just thinking about it :)
If you would like to help give encouragement to those spouses in training, visit the "be a donor" page.
P.S. If you have any resources that can help me with my big dream of starting a non-profit to support medical training families and spouses, please please please contact me.
