A Tribute to 3rd Year

This is Matt's LAST official week of third year!!! I am sooo proud of him. He's ready to be done. I think he's especially ready to be done with this rotation (Ob/Gyn). I haven't been too disappointed that this one hasn't been his favorite. :)

As we close up this exciting chapter of our lives, I thought I thought I'd put my interviewing skills to work so that you can all hear Matt's thoughts on third year.

Me: "So, Matt, what was your favorite moment of third year?"
Matt: "My favorite moment of third year? ummm.... this coming friday."
Me: "That doesn't count... it was a past tense question."
Matt: "ummm..... I don't know .... .... .... how many of these tylenol pm's am I supposed to take for a headache?"
Me: "I don't take them for a headache, I take them to go to sleep."
Matt: "ok. .... well, I really liked when I was on ENT and got to see that total laryngectomy. that was pretty sweet.... ... ummm... other than that it's all kind of a blur. But I really liked being able to talk with mrs. x & pray with her. (this was matt's severely depressed/suicidal patient who he
talked with a lot while he was on his psych rotation) ...and being able to hug that guy's daughter and tell her I'd pray for her dad when we found out he had cancer."
Me: "So, what was your favorite part of ob/gyn?"
Matt: "Ummm... the smiles on the mom's faces after they have their babies."
Me: "aww. What about watching the babies?"
Matt: "They're not happy. They're always crying."
Me: "But you don't like just watching them?"
Matt: "Nope, they're covered in cheese."
Me: "What about when we have a baby and it's covered in cheese?"
Matt: "There's always adoption."

Third year is tough for medical students - it's typically the hardest year. They work VERY long hours, without pay and with very little appreciation, and they have to study as well. They put up with residents and attending physicians who are not always nice, not always interested in teaching them, and who sometimes yell at them. They do a lot of paperwork and other "scutwork" that has nothing to do with learning medicine. They do dirty-work. They talk with their patients and make sure their needs are attended to, without taking any of the credit. They love their patients really well.

On top of all of that, Matt got to help plan a wedding this year!! So he deserves LOTS of extra credit! He was great at helping me when I was stressed out this year, without complaining about his own stress. He's been a fantastic husband as well! Always making time for me, even when he's so busy. :) I'm so blessed, and very proud of him. :)

So, where do we go from here? Fourth year starts next week, and Matt's first rotation is going to be an "away" rotation in E.N.T., since that's what he's interested in. And, if you know Matt very well, you would be able to guess that he's doing it in DENVER, CO. :) There's a great ENT program there, so this will give him a good opportunity to see first-hand what the program is like. He'll get to meet the attending physicians, meet the residents, and just see how the program runs. I'm sure they will all be super-impressed with Matt, too! I get to go up with him for his first weekend there, and then I'll go up for a weekend when he finishes the month. We're going to drive through Amarillo to see his parents, Colorado Springs to see my parents, and Castle Rock to see my Kevin and Kelly, so we're excited about that part too! The sad part is that I'll be all alone in Dallas for almost the whole month of July... But this is a great opportunity for him and I'm glad he gets to go.

Congrats on (almost) being done, Matt!!!!