Doctors wear white coats. But what do their spouses wear?

When we first met and got married, my husband Josh wanted to be a math teacher. Since I was also pursuing a career in teaching, I thought this was a great idea. I envisioned both of us teaching together in the same school district for forty years, becoming local superstars! We would know all the kids in town and spend our summer vacations traveling to exotic locations around the globe. But one short year into our marriage, Josh became intrigued with the idea of attending medical school. Before long, he signed up to take the MCAT, and suddenly our lives were headed on a different path than I had ever expected. As the years went by, medical school and residency had a dominating presence in our lives and determined my husband’s work hours, where we lived, my career options, which weddings and funerals we could or could not attend and the level of our financial debt. This often left me feeling upstaged by his career. While I was still my husband’s number-one fan, I simultaneously had feelings of resentment towards his career choice. When Josh started medical school, I was 27. This last January, I turned 40; and my husband has been in school or training during almost all of our 16 years of marriage, including his current position as a surgical critical care fellow. During these years, I’ve learned a lot about myself, and have found a few answers as to why I struggled with resentment. Interestingly, it hasn’t been the career and its demands with which I’ve needed to make ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Source Type: blogs