Being married to an E.R. doctor means...
In 2018, I took on #the100daychallenge on Instagram under the tag #marriedtoanERdoc. I challenged myself to draw an illustration a day for 100 days about my life being married to an emergency physician. In the interest of time, I limited myself to a 3"x3" size and no retouching or redos. In choosing to participate in the challenge, I had several goals for myself:
- develop my style while getting faster;
- use consistent characters and limited color palette;
- get better at drawing people and faces;
- communicate story and emotion through simple drawings;
- share silly observations about being married to an ER doctor
I managed to complete 24 of these illustrations before needing to change topics. I played around with different mediums but generally stuck to a mix of FaberCastell Polychromos pencils and watercolor.
Day 1: Meet me and my husband, the ER doctor.
Day 2: Being a married to an ER doctor means ... I have an interpreter whenever I go to see other doctors.
Day 3: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... he frequently brings his patients' illnesses home.
Day 4: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... worrying when he's sick because he still has to go to work (because someone has to be there for the patients. He can try to beg another doctor to cover his shift but since his coworkers already scheduled to work that afternoon or night or specifically asked for the day off, it is unlikely anyone will be available.)
Day 5: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... endless amounts of medical journals, magazines, and mailers (that my husband "might" read so we have to hold on to them).
Day 6, 7 & 8: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... going to bed alone when Dan's on night shift ... but then waking up to find him fast asleep beside me, ... or waking up to no one and freaking out that maybe he fell asleep at the wheel driving home.
Day 9: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... I will always lose at "Whose Day was worse?"
Day 10 & 11: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... knowing the first question new acquaintances will ask Dan after hearing he is an ER Doctor.
Day 12: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... sometimes I need to wait for Dan to change clothes before I can hug him.
Day 13: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... staying up way to late when Dan is on night shift (usually to do something boring like work).
Day 14: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... trying really hard to be quiet so Dan can sleep when he is on a string of night shifts.
Day 15 & 16: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... getting little to no sympathy or support when I come to Dan with medical complaints ... but then listening to him be attentive to the complaints of friends and family.
Day 17: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... when we go on a family ski trip, and my sister gets hurt, Dan accompanies her to make sure she gets good care (and fumes when she gets sh*tty care). It's hard to be in someone else's ER, when Dan knows what needs to be done, but is not allowed to help.
Day 18: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... helping dig the car out when it snows. The hospital needs to be staffed and if those scheduled to work don't show, then the staff that is there can't go home. Thankfully we now live in Austin where this is not a concern.
Day 19: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... sometimes Dan comes home and says, "Guess what I had to do today."
Day 20: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... there is potential for more vacations. Dan can request 7 days off a month. It doesn't mean he will always get them. And it is not PTO—he still has to work his contracted number of hours in the remaining days of the month. And then there is my schedule to factor in. But still.
Day 21: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... making impromptu plans with other non-ER couples can be next to impossible:
(1) Dan’s work schedule is decided 2+ months in advance and
(2) he generally only gets 2 weekends off a month, which are usually already spoken for with family travel or other obligations that
(3) @gozhansky had to specifically request off 3+ months ago.
That only leaves weekdays when most people are busy.
That only leaves weekdays when most people are busy.
Day 22 & 23: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... I'm generally available for girls' nights ... and available to be a Big Sister to Megan each weekend (since Dan is usually off when everyone else is working, and working when others are off, leaving me on my own).
Day 24: Being married to an ER Doctor means ... I've had to attempt to pronounce ridiculous medical terms like the following while helping Dan study for his med school, Step 1, 2, 3 and EM Board exams. It feels like learning to read all over again.
