Residency Life - Part 1

I haven't written about our day to day life in Orthodontic Residency at all. Mainly because I don't think it is that much different than anyone else's life. You get up and do what you need to do, then you try to get enough sleep to do it again the next day. But, let me see if I can give you a glimpse of the different things we face.

Hubs' school is 8-5, just like a regular job. He sees patients the majority of the week. When he is not seeing patients, he is in class or presenting a case or studying. His time is dictated by a schedule and his professors. Unlike a regular job, he doesn't get paid a dime. Actually he pays millions of dimes just to be there each day and work.

Currently, Hubs is in a cleft palette fellowship. Not everyone has this opportunity, so it is super cool that he does. Also, Hubs will take the written part of his board exam in April. Those of you who know my Hubs at all, know that he is diligently preparing. The clinical part of his board exam will be close to or following graduation.

Hubs is also preparing for his thesis. There is lots of research that he needs to do, then he will conduct the testing this summer, then write the paper and then defend his thesis in front of the faculty this fall. So, Hubs has a lot on his plate, not even mentioning the part where he figures out where we should go after this is all over.

When Hubs decided to go back to school, we knew we wanted it to be different than Dental School. He wanted to be less consumed with school life, make more time for us, for friends and for our spiritual growth. During the weeknights and Saturdays, Hubs studies and uses his time to get school stuff done. We try to do something fun with friends or just us on the weekend. We enjoy our small group each week and are pretty involved in the life of our church.

Hubs and I have stopped telling people we are busy. Don't you sometimes get annoyed with people that, every time you ask how they are, they say, "Busy." I feel like they want you to feel bad for them or something. We have come to realize that life is busy, and we like it busy. So, busy = normal in our life and we aren't going to use that as our excuse for anything. If we need to be less busy, we are the ones to make it that way.

One of the biggest adjustments for Hubs was going from "Doctor" to student. We didn't expect this, but  while practicing dentistry, Hubs was the decision maker, the person with the answers, the person whom the staff helped. In residency, Hubs is the student, the one who does what he is told, the one who asks the questions, the one who has to do every aspect of the job without help. Quite the dynamic change.

So, that is a review of what Hubs's life in residency is like, from my perspective. In my next post, I will describe residency life for me.