My P-A-S...

Just to ease the minds of the men who read my blog (namely my dad and father-in-law), the acronym in the title has nothing to do with anything feminine. It is safe for you to read on…

When Stephen and I were dating, I used to make fun of all the letters/certifications behind his name. For instance, on his old business card at Elite, it says: Stephen Hasselbring, ATC, LAT. Basically, all those letters mean athletic trainer. I don't even know what the LAT part means (I should ask Stephen, OH WAIT! He is studying! He has seven tests or quizzes in the next two weeks. Can someone say STRESSED? Not a good time to ask questions of little importance! He is understandably a little on edge...) I feel like he has more letters than a doctor would have…which is ridiculous to me.

Regardless, last fall he had to attend the Physician Assistant Conference in Gaitlinburg, TN. When he returned, I noticed that he had to wear a badge around during the conference with his name and PAS following. I thought to myself, “what does the “S” mean?” For those of you who are as slow as I was and took some time to figure it out, it stands for student. (Just in case you are confused, the P-A stands for Physician Assistant) What do I do? I go downstairs and immediately start giving him a hard time. Still to this day, I will say “how’s my P-A-S?” He hates it, so what do I do? Continue to say it! The kicker is he always giggles when I say it to him, so why in the world would I ever stop?

To give you an update on Mr. P-A-S… in May it will be one year that he has been in school. Sometimes I think it has flown by and then there are those bad days when I think he will never be done. Unfortunately, the later is the feeling most days. To be perfectly honest with you, there hasn’t been a day when I think: “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Until last week…

On Tuesday, Stephen had a meeting about his clinical rotations. By the way, clinical rotations equals last year of school and a break from studying. Or you may like to see it the way I do: Clinical Rotations = I partially get my husband back! [Originally, I wrote "get my husband back!" BUT Mr. "I have seven tests coming up and full of optimism!" P-A-S says: "Umm...not really." Hence, the insertion of "partially."]

He will have to complete eight, six week rotations (Two Rotations in Family Practice, One in Internal Medicine, One in ER, One in Pediatrics, One in Surgery, One in Psychiatry, and One is an Elective). I am thinking that the meeting was rather long and boring because Stephen configured a plan. The elective rotation is the last rotation and gives students the opportunity to either: do a rotation in a branch of medicine that wasn’t offered in the other clinical rotations (i.e. dermatology or orthopedics) OR go to the place where you think/have a chance of being hired. Before even going to the meeting, Stephen knew he would go to Elite (where he worked before starting PA school) for his elective rotation. Then, he thought, “Well, why don’t I try to go to Elite for the surgical rotation as well?”

Let me interrupt the story for just a second…

When he came home, I asked him how the meeting went. Response: Good. During dinner, he gets a call from Dr. Elrod, which I thought was weird. But, unbeknownst to me, Stephen had called him earlier and left a message about the rotations, all of which I gleaned from their phone conversation. And yes, I was definitely overhearing the entire conversation. It also wasn’t until I was listening to their conversation that I became aware of all the things I just stated above. I don’t know why I am shocked – but it kills me sometimes that he does not communicate. If I were in his shoes, I would have been talking for an hour about the whole meeting and what I was thinking. Opposites attract, I suppose.

Back to the story…

Dr. Elrod told Stephen that if he could come for two rotations (surgical and elective) that would be the best. He would be with only him for one and then could rotate around and observe the other doctors in the office for the other 6 weeks. Perfect scenario! And good news! His wishes were granted at the end of this week, he will get to spend two rotations at Elite. I think I am happier than he is because I also found out that he could be out of town for a rotation. Bummer… At least I know he will definitely be in town for two of them!

Even though school is tough, he is doing well. Thankfully. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that this is for a short time. Thanks for keeping up with us!