Day one: completed

Yesterday JB completed his first "real" day as a "real" doctor.

Total amount of time gone for the day: 13 hours.

It was a strange realization of what the next year will hold for us. JB leaving very early in the morning. JB coming home very late at night. All this and the military residency is supposed to be less hours and less intense than the civilian. I am concerned for my civilian friends!

There are, however, some rules. These rules include:

• At least 24 consecutive hours off once each week.
• Cannot work more than 80 hours a week (on average) for the month.

The "80 hour work week" is a relatively new creation in residency programs. It was designed to help residents from being worked into the ground. The problem stemmed from the fact that residents are very cheap labor. Because they are so cheap, they could be utilized far beyond what is humanly possible.

At first, many found the new rule, a rule that no one was actually following. I compare this to the rules for NCAA college athletes. There are rules about how many hours we are supposed to be involved with basketball each week. But everyone knew no one was really paying that close of attention to these rules. That's how it was with this requirement until Johns Hopkins, one of the best programs in the country, was "busted" for violating the rule and punished severely. Now, it appears, that this rule is followed very closely. JB was told that if he is ever nearing going over this hour load, he is to immediately talk to one of his superiors so that the situation is avoided.

Many veteran doctors disapprove of the "80 hour work week" requirement. This is primarily due to the fact that they worked more than 80 hours, so the newbies should have to too. However, it is also because many believe that adequate training cannot be achieved without new physicians working an incredible amount of time. I remember my friend Calvin telling us that he was not able to actually get everything done that he needed to in just 80 hours a week. This seems hard to believe, but of course, Calvin is honest, so I believe him. It's just my opinion that if 80 hours isn't enough, than the system is a little warped.

Now mind you, this is all coming from a non-medical person. I am sure if one of my medical friends wrote this post, it would be filled with much more insight. However, I did attend a lecture at Mayo on this topic as my boss was giving a pre-lecture, and I wanted to see it. The speaker showed amazing research on how many more mistakes are made when a physician is working on lack of sleep. It was very eye-opening. Lack of sleep is one of the main reasons mistakes are made.

The speaker also discussed the fact that one of the reasons they like to work a person into the ground is because of "continuity of care". It has also been proven that less mistakes are made when the "crew" doesn't change as often. Mayo, in response, has created an "overlap" of crews. This "overlap" probably costs them millions upon millions of dollars each year. They are having two crews at the hospital at the same time so that they can properly communicate with each other and properly "pass" the patient off. But this means they are paying two crews. Mayo, however, can afford to spend the money so that they stay one of the best hospitals in the world.

All right, enough of me lecturing on a topic I am really not that familiar with!

One of the other difficult things about the next month is that JB is on OB (obstetrics). That means, for the next month, he is seeing pregnant women and delivering babies. Neither of us is really sure how to deal with this fact. Normally, John isn't fazed by much, but this is even difficult for him right now. The hospital averaged 3 deliveries a day and 300 deliveries a month. It's hard to imagine that the commonality of delivering a baby is something that is incredibly uncommon for our family. Well, not even for our family. Every single person in my mom and dad's family has made a baby without incident. Except me. And it appears nearly every person associated with Eglin Air Force Base is doing the same. That's difficult to comprehend.

I'm sure I will discuss this more in the upcoming month in many posts. You'll probably get tired of hearing it. So I won't go into it too deeply right now. For now, please just pray for both of us. When JB came home last night, we talked for awhile about we can handle the next month. Does he talk to me about his day? Does he edit his day? I know where he is all day: delivering other people's babies when we can't have our own. How do I make sense of all of this? How do I think about what he is doing as I am home alone for hours by myself without getting sad? How does he not think about what we are going through while he is doing this? We really aren't sure. He has done these rotations in medical school, but for some reason, this time is much harder for both of us.

Most likely this is because we aren't pursuing infertility treatments anymore. At least not now. In the past we both always thought, "Well soon it will be our turn." We aren't currently feeling that way. Pray that we continue to hope and trust and believe that this is possible for us. That our God can do anything. Just pray that the Lord fills us with peace, trust, and comfort during this next month.