Missing Sariah or Where I go all the time

Can I start by saying that I miss Sariah? Even if you don't want me to, I'm going to say it: I miss her. It's not like I don't see her either. It's that when I do see her, either my mind is distracted or it's in very short bursts of usually 30-60 minutes (obviously there are exceptions such as date night or Sundays, where I try not to study at all. Those exceptions rock). Such is the life of a medical student.

My day typically starts at about 6:45. That isn't too bad, especially since I had to be at work by 6:30 for my last job. I get ready and, if I'm driving myself, I leave Sariah home to sleep on. My first class starts at 8:00 with lectures every hour until noon most days. These aren't your typical lectures either. We cover a semester's worth of undergrad material in a couple hours. And then do it again the next day! It is honestly like trying to drink from a firehose. In the afternoon, I have a lab or two that keeps me on campus until roughly 5:30. Then I finally get to go home hungry, tired, and often smelling like formaldehyde. I eat and then study again until 10:30 or 11:00.

I'm going to throw in a little something here about how awesome Sariah is. Most of the time when I get home, she is already making dinner, the house has been cleaned, and laundry has been folded. I am constantly amazed by how willing she is to do those things to make my life easier. This has been a huge sacrifice for her. I mean, she gave up a very promising career at an incredible school to follow me out to the middle of nowhere Tennessee. Not only that, but she left behind all of her friends to become a foreigner wandering in a strange land, and strange it is. She is quite honestly alone out here.

School is hard, but I have friends at school. I'm kept busy by the insane amount of information that I need to know. I don't have very much spare time. It's not all that bad though because the things that I'm learning are so interesting. This is what I wanted to do. However, leaving Sariah behind in the morning and not being "home" when I'm home has been one of the hardest things about med school thus far. I miss her. So for the next few years, the image of Sariah that will be most common for me to see is her rolling over to fall back asleep.

In the end, it will be worth it. She'll still be there when all is said and done. Then I'll be able to crawl back in on my side of the bed, put an arm around her, and just be with her.

Missing James or Where does he go all the time?

On Wednesday, I took a delicious cobb-type salad to James at school.  It was nice to see him for a little while while we ate.  What did he do that day?  Oh, not much.  Just learning about ALL of human embryology and fetal development.  No biggie.  What did I do that day?  Dishes.  I washed the heck out of those dishes.  Plus I made that delicious salad, so clearly I'm the winner here.

On Thursday, I actually got to see James for dinner. Then he disappeared into his study room until about midnight.

On Friday, I took James to school, where he studied and took quizzes and such all day, while I did exactly zero productive things, and then I dropped off his dinner for him so he could keep studying while I continued to be unproductive.

On Saturday (last night), at about ten thirty James finally came home from a long grueling day on campus.  I had spent all day reading The Fault in Our Stars instead of making curtains, and had been texting James updates throughout the day: "This book is very witty!"  "Aaah it's the saddest book I've ever even heard of!"  "I like this book.  Come home so I can tell you about it." "Waaah why why why did I even start this book? I hate it!"  "You don't have cancer, do you?"  (Spoiler: that book is about teenagers with cancer.)  James would respond with comments like, "I'm studying."  "Sounds good. Maybe I'll be done in a few hours."  "Noooooooooooooooo not the saddest book!"

James came inside (we're still on Saturday here) and I looked up at him (having finally returned to the making-curtains activity, since the book was over).  I was startled; I had actually forgotten what he looked like a little bit!  When I'd think of him this week, I wouldn't be picturing his face in my mind.  I'd think about getting dinner to him, or how we were going to figure out who got the car that day, or if he was getting enough sleep, or if he was ever able to memorize those stupid acronyms.  I'd forgotten how much I liked his face!

In some ways, it's nice.  It's like dating again!  I got a little shy at first, thinking, "Woah, I married that?  He's amazing!  How did I get so lucky?  Maybe I should've put makeup on or something while reading that book today."  (Let's be honest, though: I would have cried it all off.)  But in other ways, it's really not nice.  I really miss James.  Even when I'm with him, he's thinking about muscles and proteins while we eat, or else we're driving to/from school.  That's all.  He goes to school in the morning and takes classes and studies.  He either comes home for dinner or stays there.  After dinner, he studies either in his study room or at school.  Often I'm already in bed by the time he's done.  (There are only so many dishes you can do in one day, after all.)  It's worse in the week before a test than other weeks, and since his test is tomorrow, he'll have a day or two where he as a few more hours for me.  But then there's another test in two weeks, so...yes.  That's the honest truth about med school wives.  I'll see him in a few years, I guess. He really does try to spend time with me, and I know I have more time with him than many wives; there's just not very much he can give.  For now, this is what James looks like:

My Manipulative Husband

James survived his first week of med school!  His first test is already here (tomorrow), and he's been busy.  He spends almost all of his waking time at school and studying.  We live 20 minutes away from the school, so it's hard for him to give up the 40 minutes of study time to drive there and back so he can study in a group, so next year we'll probably move closer to the school.  Their biggest class so far has been anatomy, which he's loved.

Now, James is going to be a DO, and one of the differences between a DO and an MD is that DOs do osteopathic manipulations.  This means they do stuff to your muscles.  (Remember, chiropractors = bones, DOs = muscles.)  They started in on that this week, and their first lab was finding key features on bones so they can...I don't know...so they can find them.  On people.  And something about muscles.  So James comes home one night this week for dinner and announces, "I need to manipulate you for fifteen minutes tonight.  It's homework."

This was my favorite thirty minutes of the week.  (See?  He doubled his homework time!  He's gonna be a great DO!  Actually, it's mostly because when he was done I said, "I don't think you got them all right.  You should try again.  You're not very manipulative.")  I lay there while he turned my arms, feet, and mostly my head this way and that, trying to press through my muscles to feel landmarks on the bones.  I heard such things as, "Prepare to turn your head laterally," "That can't possibly be too hard, Sariah; I can barely feel it through your muscle here," "Wow, your jaw is in really bad shape! Do you think you can let my study group feel it sometime?" "Where IS that....oh, I was in the wrong place.  It's on your chin," "Oh, that's just your belly button," "Don't be ridiculous, Sariah" and "Your external occipital protuberance is much more pronounced than my lab partner's" (one of my best features! I do what I can to support my husband's manipulation skills).

It was really great, though.  Strange as it sounds, there's something soothing in having someone cradle your face and poke around your skull with their fingers.  He's supposed to learn real manipulations soon (as opposed to poking around your head).  In fact, I'm pretty sure he isn't very good yet and will need lots of practice.  If you come visit us, I'm sure he'll practice on you, too.

The First Day

My first day has come and gone. All things considered, it was a fairly easy day. It was only one lecture and one lab: anatomy. I had to take a couple anatomy classes during undergrad, so I wasn't expecting the material to be anything new. The biggest difference that I can tell so far between med school and undergrad is that I honestly have to memorize know/understand everything that was in that lecture before the next one. All throughout orientation the doctors were saying how med school will snowball if you don't study one day. With the fear of dying in a horrible avalanche of medical knowledge, I have studied roughly 5 hours for one lecture. 5 HOURS! Who does that? If I had heard that someone had spent 5 hours reviewing 1 hour's worth of material, I would have called them crazy. Now, I know better. Medical students do that. This is my life now. Hurray?

On the plus side, it's all very interesting. Anatomy was one of my favorite classes before getting here, so I'm hoping that that will be the case again. The best part about anatomy classes during undergrad was the cadaver lab. There are few things as cool as being able to look inside a body. I know. This sounds kind of weird. But, I'm weird like that. Learning anatomy by touching and feeling everything is awesome. I'm having a hard time finding the right word to describe what it's like seeing inside another human. It's a little bit of awe mixed with a dash of fear with a whole lot of awesome. It's a sacred experience. That may sound strange, but that's honestly how it is. All in all, I'm thinking that anatomy is going to enjoyably difficult.