Resident Other

If your spouse is in a residency program that is Q4 or Q3 like my wife I would bet that you find yourself at home with nothing to do quite often. I do. The kicker for me is that when I realized there were married incoming residents I assumed that on a given night more than one resident would be on call, thus leaving me with a fellow resident spouse to hang out with once in a while during call. (by the way, most of her colleagues are female so I would only hang out with husbands) Alas, I was wrong. There are no other spouses to call and play video games. Anyway, so I’ve been trying to fill my call nights with a few things. I know that these will mostly apply for people like me, married without children but hopefully it will help you:

• Netflix: this service is a life-saver, especially for me since I have friends who work in film and make me feel inferior for not having watched this or that. This way, I am quickly catching up to them. 3 at a time has worked really well.
• Exercise: so my wife’s a doctor and it would be very ironic if I did not take care of myself as a doctor would prescribe. Exercising always seemed to get in the way of spending time with her whenever she is home and since she’s on call anyway it’s not like I’m we can do anything together. So if you’ve just gotten home and your spouse is on call, put on the gym shorts and go for it. [As a side note:] A while back I mentioned how I’ve established a habit of waking up with her even if it’s at 4am so we are on the same schedule (call days are an exception — I do not stay up all night). This time, though, instead of complaining about being tired I have started to run a 5K every other morning. Again, I’m a light sleeper, so I’m up at 5am anyway because she is. It has only been a couple of weeks of this and I’ll try to keep you updated on my progress.
• Join a community group: We attend church and let me tell you that has not only made our adaptation to our new city easier, it has given me a chance to hang out with wonderful local people on days that my wife’s on call. Plus, you might also find fellow resident spouses out there. So, I definitely suggest getting involved with a group that might have events with some frequency.
• Create stuff and sell it: Hey you’re probably sitting there wishing you could be doing something creative… and wouldn’t it be nice to get paid for it? Well, granted I’m not creative enough, though I wish I were, Ponoko and Etsy provide an excellent way to be creative and sell stuff. I know, you’re probably thinking that it’s just like EBay, but it’s not. First, they aren’t in auction format and you get to showcase your creation among similar products to people who are actually interested in that kind of product.

So there you go. I apologize for all of you out there with kids. I’m not very versed in that area but I hope that you can still find time to do any of the items above. A very short list, I know. For now movies, exercising and learning stuff on the web, with the occasional group event has worked for me. What do you do? Any suggestions?

Filed under: general, on call, tips