One of the things that I hate most about call from home is having our husband/father taken away from us because someone had too much to drink and fallen down a flight of stairs, or had an auto accident while intoxicated, or jumped off a balcony because they thought they could fly. Those are all real reasons why the doctor has been called into the ER in the middle of the night for a head/neck/back consult. I hear the stories all the time, which leads me to believe that 2 out of 3 calls he takes are due to alcohol consumption.
I would love to tell these people how I really feel. Do they have any idea how their actions affect others? I know they don't care and they will never see the situation from my point of view, but darn it don't we count. Is it fair that their actions may mean that my husband will get less sleep, see less of his family, and be out on the road with all the other drunks in the middle of the night? Ok, that might be a little over board.
If they must drink to excess and harm themselves can't they do it during the day instead of at night? Is that too much to ask? Probably, yes. So we'll continue to sacrifice sleep and time with family so they can freely consume without regard for the doctors wife. Selfish of me, isn't it.
My husband served his mission in the Philippines and says that killed any desire he ever had try alcohol. He would see families living in squatter shacks, the kids in rags, but the dads still had money to buy their San Miguel beer and expensive vitamin-fortified chicken feed for their fighting cocks. Niiice.
ReplyDeleteThough my husband isn't in residency yet, I feel like I can relate somewhat to you. We just celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. Our fourth baby was born 5 days prior to that. Here's our journey:
4 years undergrad
1 year masters degree
8 years MD/PhD
5 years residency
1-2 years fellowship
I married my husband when he still had 3 years left at BYU and he's now in his 7th year in an MD/PhD program. The plus side of the MD/PhD--full tuition scholarship and yearly stipend (we've yet to go into debt). Down side--FOUR more years of school. Our oldest will be 15 by the time he's done. Good times, good times.