Sacred Sunday

Back in July my husband started his last and final year of training! For anyone who knows, works with or is married to a resident or fellow you know what it's like to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With medical school, family medicine residency, general surgery residency, adult cardiothoracic surgery residency and pediatric congenital heart surgery fellowship he will have committed a total of 15 years of training. Yes you read that right, 15 years! We've been married for six of those years. During those years we have worked through many different schedules, weeks on night shift, trauma schedules of every third day working for nearly 36 hours, on call days  (i.e. in the hospital for over 24 hrs) on top of the scheduled working days, etc. This year has been a little tough though. According to the guidelines every resident has to have at least four days off a month. The last two years of his adult cardiothoracic program it was nice because his four days were used to get two weekends off a  month, though there were quite a few he still had to work a portion of. We were able to get out of the city and enjoy some family time. This year though he only gets every Sunday off. That's it. So if a holiday falls on a Sunday he gets it off but otherwise he is working holidays too. Sundays have become a sacred day for us. A day he gets to spend with the kids,  a day he catches up on sleep and a day for him to catch up on all of the research projects he has going on. That is if he doesn't have to go in for an emergency surgery or transplant. Due to either a fluke on the schedule this week or the fact that he is doing a week in ICU he is getting off the entire weekend and we are out of here! Good bye hustle bustle of the metropolis city; we are putting you in the rear view mirror - not to be seen again until Sunday!